By John Katsilometes | October 1, 2021 | Las Vegas Review-Journal

Decades ago, David Lee Roth shouted, “And the cradle will rock.”

The vaunted showman rocked our world Friday morning.

“I am throwing in the shoes. I’m retiring,” Roth said in a phone conversation that was more a spoken-word performance than interview. “This is the first, and only, official announcement. … You’ve got the news. Share it with the world.”

With that, Diamond Dave announced he is ending the Van Halen era and his own stage career with his five shows at House of Blues at Mandalay Bay on New Year’s Eve, New Year’s Day, Jan. 5 and Jan. 7-8.

He quickly added, “I’m not going to explain the statement. The explanation is in a safe. These are my last five shows.”

And tickets are on sale at 10 a.m. Saturday.

Roth started the conversation by saying, “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.”

Roth then said he had just spoken to Alex Van Halen, his friend for 50 years and co-founder of the legendary rock band Van Halen.

“Al and I have been talking, and I can’t speak for him just yet,” Roth said, “but he knows what I am about to say.” He added, “We speak to each other constantly, two or three times a day. We laugh like pirates.”

Roth also had mentioned he’d been thinking about “the departure of my beloved classmate recently,” a clear reference to guitar god Eddie Van Halen, who died of throat cancer on Oct. 6. The singer also made an oblique reference to his own mortality, as he 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 said.

He mentioned Eddie Van Halen being the first member of Van Halen to pass.

“I thought I might have been the first, frankly … ‘Hey Ed, objects in the rear-view mirror are probably me,’” Roth allowed. “And my doctors, my handlers, compelled me to really address that every time I go onstage, I endanger that future.”

Nonetheless, Roth plans to lay it out totally in the House of Blues shows.

“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 got a band that is doing what Al and I used to call a ‘block,’ that means 75 rehearsals for one show,” Roth said. “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 the call without taking a single question. His sendoff:

“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.”

prince stole most of his stage persona so he should

funkman88 said:

There's some grim speculation that Dave might be ill...I really hope that's not the case. It's good to read that he and Alex VH are communicating again. I'm sure he's still shook by Eddie's passing. Glad I got to see them when I did...I also hope that his Vegas shows are packed and they sell out.

Well, his voice is shot now...so he should. Glad I got to see DLR with Van Halen and Kool And The Gang in 2012.

purplethunder3121 said:

Well, his voice is shot now...so he should. Glad I got to see DLR with Van Halen and Kool And The Gang in 2012.

I saw that show too. Dave's voice was awful that night, but it was worth the price just to see Eddie. He's a true virtuoso. I had the pleasure of seeing VH in the late 70's and early 80's. They were awesome!

His singing skills are weak, so blah. He has lots of money from the tours they did with VH. The old albums keep selling and they are played on the radio all the time.

He lives in Japan.

Dave has a new song

Is it any good?

MickyDolenz said:

Dave has a new song

He should call it Lo-Rez Vocalization.

He should have retired after Eat 'Em and Smile.

There isnt too much else he can do outside of these vegas style shows. His vocal issues limit him and now with Eddie gone, going out doing Van Halen songs doesnt really have a place, people forget that outside of the album in 2012, VH was not doing anything since VH3 except for a Best of that had some new tracks with Sammy but nothing was going on, plus there has never been any type of effort to remaster reissue the bands work to keep it out there like many others do, this was a point that was brought up while Eddie was alive and it was unknown he was ill publically.

Good move.

His voice is gone, and probably, he has started to feel the pain in the joints.

If he's retiring, it's because he knows he can't go on.

Enjoy your retirement, Dave; you'll always be the Hair-Metal Primadonna of the '80s.

steakfinger said:

He should have retired after Eat 'Em and Smile.

funkman88 said:

prince stole most of his stage persona so he should

i really like Dave - but that staement is far from realistic.

funkman88 said:

prince stole most of his stage persona so he should

Untrue. These people came up at the same time. Do your homework. Van Halen's first album, and Prince's, both came out in 1978.

They both had early releases through 1984, both skipping 1983.

1978: Van Halen / For You

1979: Van Halen II / Prince

1980: Women and Children First / Dirty Mind

1981: Fair Warning / Controversy

1982: Diver Down / 1999

1984: 1984 / Purple Rain

No one stole shit from anyone, bubba. It was just the time and era. Lotta folks were doing the same thing as these two folks. Both were too busy handling their own lives to worry about the other.

He retired a few years back lol