Hagar, Felder, Benatar, More Play ’17 Acoustic Benefit

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Sammy Hagar greets Dave Grohl at The Fillmore (Uncredited photo via Hagar’s Facebook page)

Back on May 15, 2017, Sammy Hagar and James Hetfield held their fourth Acoustic-4-A-Cure IV, at The Fillmore in San Francisco, CA. The annual fundraising event benefits UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital and has consistently attracted big name classic rock talent. 2017’s was no exception.

Acoustic-4-A-Cure has become one of the year’s hottest tickets, with legendary artists performing acoustic sets, epic collaborations and impromptu jams from the stages of intimate and storied San Francisco venues like The Fillmore.

2017’s three-hour concert featured veterans and newcomers to the event, with Dave Grohl (more on him later), for instance, sitting in for Hetfield, who was away on tour with Metallica. Hagar got things started with a four-song set which included a cover of Van Halen’s “Right Now.”

Other performers included Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo, Mick Fleetwood, Dave Grohl, Vic Johnson, Sarah McLachlan, Steve Vai and Bob Weir. Don Felder performed several Eagles favorites including “Hotel California” and “Tequila Sunrise” with Fleetwood accompanying him on drums.

[Eagles songs typically get pulled from YouTube; this one snuck in…]

Watch Benatar and hubby Giraldo perform a familiar hit…

Grohl’s set, with the Foo Fighters’ Taylor Hawkins and the Wallflowers’ Rami Jaffee, featured a new song, “The Sky is a Neighborhood.”

The benefit was created by Bay Area rockers Hagar and Hetfield, whose vision was to raise needed funds and awareness for the pediatric cancer research by throwing a must-see concert for fans and donating all of the proceeds to UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital. In past years, artists including John Mayer, Melissa Ethridge, Joe Satriani, Adam Sandler, Nancy Wilson, Tommy Lee and others have rocked (acoustically) the sold-out benefit concerts.

Following the 2017 concert, Hagar wrote on his Facebook page: “Every year Acoustic-4-A-Cure gets more and more special and unique – I love this event, thank you!” He turned 73 on October 13, 2020.