Sammy Hagar Promises Surprise Guest at ‘Acoustic-4-A-Cure’ Benefit Show

For the second year in a row, Sammy Hagar is uniting some of Northern California's biggest rockers to help fight pediatric cancer — and he says the bill for this year's Acoustic-4-A-Cure concert is even better than he's allowed to say.

During an interview with the Marin Independent Journal, Hagar promised that there will be at least one special guest at the May 15 show, but refused to offer details, saying only, "I can’t tell you who it is. He wants to be a surprise."

Crediting Neil Young's long-running Bridge School benefit series with inspiring him to launch his own charity concert, Hagar explained why Acoustic-4-A-Cure — which last year featured appearances from James Hetfield and Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong, among others — maintains a local focus when lining up talent for the bill.

"We want to keep expenses down," he pointed out. "You can’t fly people in from other towns and put them up in big suites. Half of the people on this show live pretty high, and you can’t lowball them."

Fortunately, he still has a pretty big pool to draw from — this year's lineup includes returning performers Hetfield and Joe Satriani, as well as Train singer Pat Monahan, Alice in Chains' Jerry Cantrell and Chickenfoot/Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith, not to mention Hagar himself — who will also act as the evening's host and emcee.

"I am a closet emcee-comedian," he told the paper. "I feel it is my calling that, later on in my life, I could do the Grammy Awards and be the host of this and the host of that. I feel that I could pull that gig off — and I’m kind of interested in it, believe it or not."

For more information about the show, which will be held tomorrow night at the Masonic in San Francisco, visit the Acoustic-4-A-Cure website.

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