David Lee Roth will soon have more time to jump and dance the night away. The former Van Halen lead singer said he plans to retire following a set of shows in Las Vegas in January. Roth, 66, announced his decision almost a year to the day lead guitarist Eddie Van Halen died after a years-long battle with cancer.
“I am throwing in the shoes. I’m retiring,” Roth told the Las Vegas Review-Journal Friday. “This is the first, and only, official announcement… You’ve got the news. Share it with the world.” Roth said his last five shows will be at the House of Blues at Mandalay Bay on New Year’s Eve, New Year’s Day, Jan. 5, Jan. 7, and Jan. 8. Tickets will go on sale Saturday morning.
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“I’m not going to explain the statement. The explanation is in a safe. These are my last five shows,” Roth said. He added that he made the decision after his latest conversation with Van Halen co-founder Alex Van Halen. He also said he was thinking about the “departure of my beloved classmate recently,” referring to Eddie Van Halen’s death on Oct. 6, 2020. Eddie died at 65, and Roth turns 67 on Oct. 10.
“I am encouraged and compelled to really come to grips with how short time is, and my time is probably even shorter,” Roth told the Review-Journal, adding that his friends’ death inspired his team to compel him to “really address that every time I go on stage, I endanger that future.”
Roth still plans to give his fans the best show he can in January. “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,” the “Panama” singer said. “That’s what I did for the last 50 years.”
Roth said his own backup band is ready to provide Van Halen fans with shows that will remind them of the group’s glory days. “We are bringing it in classic VH style. Alex and I are the only version, that was his message,” he said. “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.”
Van Halen released their first album in 1978, with Roth as the band’s original lead vocalist. He quit the band in 1985 and was replaced by Sammy Hagar. Roth returned for a brief stint in 1996 but rejoined the band in 2012. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the group in 2007. After Eddie’s death last year, his son Wolfgang Van Halen announced that the group would not return. Wolfgang toured with his own band, Mammoth WVH, during the summer as the opener for Guns N’ Roses.ย
