David Lee Roth has announced his retirement following his upcoming Las Vegas shows at the House of Blues. The legendary voice and frontman of Van Halen revealed the news to The Las Vegas Review-Journal, explaining, “I ask that you bear with me here. Please try not to interrupt. I’m going to close my eyes and take you on a ride. . . Al (Van Halen) and I have been talking, and I can’t speak for him just yet, but he knows what I am about to say. We speak to each other constantly, two or three times a day. We laugh like pirates.”
He referenced guitarist Eddie Van Halen's 2020 death, by saying, The departure of my beloved classmate recently. . . I thought I might have been the first, frankly. I might have thought the Marlboro Man would’ve got me. 'Hey Ed, objects in the rear-view mirror are probably me.' And my doctors, my handlers, compelled me to really address that every time I go onstage, I endanger that future.”
Roth declared, “I am throwing in the shoes. I’m retiring. This is the first, and only, official announcement. . . You’ve got the news. Share it with the world. I know that when I am in the audience, whether you come out with a ukulele or a marching band, all I ask you give me everything you’ve got to give. That’s what I did for the last 50 years. I’m not going to explain the statement. The explanation is in a safe. These are my last five shows.”
He went on to say, “I’ve got a band that is doing what Al and I used to call a ‘block,’ that means 75 rehearsals for one show. We are bringing it in classic VH style. Alex and I are the only version, that was his message. There is no other variation. There is no torch being passed. There is no other side to this coin. This is classic, in-your-face Van Halen.”
Roth ended by saying, “I’ve given you all I’ve got to give. It’s been an amazing, great run, no regrets, nothing to say about anybody. I’ll miss you all. Stay frosty.”
David Lee Roth is set to perform at Las Vegas' House of Blues on New Year's Eve (December 31st), followed by four 2022 performances on January 1st, 5th, 7th, and 8th.
Author Greg Renoff received raves for his Van Halen biography, Van Halen Rising: How A Southern California Backyard Party Band Saved Heavy Metal. In the book Renoff explained that what David Lee Roth lacked in vocal prowess was covered by his passion and total dedication to delivering onstage: “One of the people I talked to was the bass player in Red Ball Jet — that was the band Dave formed after the Van Halen brothers turned him down the first time. He said from the first time he saw Dave — so this is even before Red Ball Jet — he said he saw him play in a park, on the same bill. These are like high school kids, everybody else is kinda swaying to the music while they play — y'know, Dave goes out there, he's got, like the Mick Jagger rooster tail going out of the back of his jeans and he's, like, y'know, grinding and doing these things and everybody's, like 'We were just having lunch with you in the cafeteria six hours ago — what are you doing, man?!' Like, y'know? But that was who he was. He was entrainment first all the time from the get-go. No. It's about the show. It's about being an entertainer.”