Roth and Hagar are both well received by this ear. I've always hated the effing debate.
I too am a fan of both versions of VH. I actually sort of consider them diffent bands. I saw VH w/ Dave 6 times and VH w/ Sammy six times. Also saw Dave twice solo and Sam twice solo. (I used to go to a lot of concerts) I have seen most of the big bands of the late 60s-the early 90s (the who, stones, U2 no Zeppelin however)and will say that VH fronted Dave absolutely blew every one of them off the stage live. I am certainly jacked that Dave is going out on the road with them this summer and will likely catch a couple of the shows (even with Wolfgang on bass).
I had a cool experience this summer for all of you VH fans. I went to see Hagar and "the other half" at KC. Me and a buddy who is a big Sammy fan did the VIP thing where we got to watch the show from behind the stage on a platform. The show was awesome, got autographs during the show from Sammy and Mike Anthony. The best part was this: During "Best of Both Worlds", Sammy led all of the folks on the platform (prob about 150) in a conga line across the stage. Me and my buddy were almost the last ones in line. I got i big handshake onstage from Mike Anthony. So then as Im walking across the stage, I see Hagar with his arm around my buddy singing so I go to take a picture. After I take the photo, Sammy comes up to me, sticks the mic in my face and let's me sing most of an entire verse of the song. For an old VH freak like me, that was a peak experience.
At the end of the show, one of the roadie guys comes up and hands me and my buddy each one of the bottles of Cabo Wabo that were sitting on the amps in front of us to take home. Definitely worth the $250.
Not a bad experience, eh?