David Lee Roth kicked off his new Las Vegas show at the House of Blues on Wednesday night with a set packed with Van Halen classics like “Panama,” “Jamie’s Cryin’,” “Jump” and “Atomic Punk.” He also added a sprinkling of solo tunes, like “Just Like Paradise” and his cover of Louis Prima’s “Just a Gigolo.”
Here’s video of “Unchained” where he briefly dons an Elvis Presley wig to honor The King on what would have been his 85th birthday.
The kickoff of David Lee Roth Rocks Vegas is the start of an extremely busy year for the singer; he’ll open up for Kiss on an extensive arena tour while playing Vegas during the breaks. It’ll be, by far, his most active year as a touring artist in quite a long time.
In a new interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal, he said he’s enjoying the challenge of playing the relatively small confines of the House of Blues. “It’s nice and tight, you can see everybody’s faces, you can see eyebrows,” he said. “I’ve said that dogs are more popular than cats because they have eyebrows. You can tell what the dog is thinking. Kitty cats, they’re like strippers: You can’t tell what they’re thinking.”
Van Halen hasn’t performed since a 2015 summer tour, and Roth hinted again to the paper that the band might be over. “Ed’s not doing well, and singing and dancing is a perishable skill,” he said. “If you have the capacity, it’s something that has to be used routinely, if not for the thrill of it and the magic of creating with other incandescent spirits.”
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Roth continues his Las Vegas residency on Friday and Saturday and then will meet up with the Kiss tour in Manchester, New Hampshire, on February 1st. He has dates on the books through October 2nd, in Fort Worth, Texas. Eddie and Alex Van Halen, meanwhile, are continuing to keep a very low profile and have yet to announce any future plans.