VAN HALEN singer David Lee Roth will retire after the last concert of his Las Vegas residency in January. “I’m throwing in the shoes,” Roth told the Las Vegas Review-Journal on Friday (August 1). “I’m retiring. This is the first, and only, official announcement. … You’ve got the news. Share it with the world.”
He added: “I’m not going to explain the statement. The explanation is in a safe. These are my last five shows.”
Roth also reflected on the passing of his longtime bandmate, legendary VAN HALEN guitarist Eddie Van Halen, who died of cancer a year ago.
“I thought I might have been the first, frankly,” Roth said. “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 on stage, I endanger that future.
“I am encouraged and compelled to really come to grips with how short time is, and my time is probably even shorter,” he added.
Roth will return to at Mandalay Bay’s House Of Blues in Las Vegas for a new series of shows that will kick off with a New Year’s Eve performance, followed by four concerts in January 2022.
“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,” he said. “That’s what I did for the last 50 years. 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.”
In March 2020, Roth postponed the final six shows of his Las Vegas residency due to the coronavirus pandemic that is spreading across the globe.
Roth‘s latest Vegas residency kicked off on January 8, 2020 with a 15-song set that included 10 VAN HALEN classics and five songs from his solo career. Backing the now-66-year-old singer were lead guitarist Al Estrada from the VAN HALEN tribute band ERUPTION, rhythm guitarist Frankie Lindri, bassist Ryan Wheeler, keyboardist Danny Wagner and drummer Mike Mussleman.
Roth explained that he chose Vegas as the place to debut his new band because “this is where you come to celebrate and do the victory dance, whatever that means to you.”
In February/March 2020, Roth performed as the opening act for the North American leg of KISS‘s “End Of The Road” farewell tour.
Roth‘s 2020 Vegas residency wasn’t the first time he had set up shop in Sin City. Back in 1995, Roth completed a Las Vegas engagement at Bally’s Hotel and Casino and another short run at MGM Grand.
