It Happens to all of us, sadly

[TongueNGroove]

Diamond David Lee Roth in the house here, WHOOOOO!

It is sad to see David get old... He went from the Mean Streets, to the Yankee Rose, to Sensible Shoes.

I love yah David, never leave us!
Roth2.jpg

[Terry]

And I think that recent below picture was taken in 2015, so he's even older than that now.

Yeah, he's up there. He's...what? Mid-60s now? Seems even older, because his career peak was when he was in his mid 20s through his early 30s. And when you think of the type of performer he was and the music he was playing when he was peaking, when you see him onstage these days it's - understandably so - an adjustment one as a fan has to make.

He can't jump around anymore.
He can't move the way he used to.
He can't sing as well, and the high-end shrieks he used to be able to conjure up in the CVH days are gone forever.

And you can either accept that, or it eventually reaches the point where you can't make any more concessions for age: the realization that what you enjoyed about what he did back in the day...you can't get that stuff no more now live. It's gone forever.

Gives me no particular smug, smarmy joy to admit that Roth is past it, and it ain't coming back.

Van Halen. Classic...Van...Fucking...HALEN.

I loved that fucking band. 6-pack still gets the job done. That stuff has still held up, even if the band hasn't.

[ZahZoo]

Live every day like it's your last day... one day you'll be right!

It's not sad at all that we all age... it's something that we should celebrate every day. The number of summers survived doesn't mean at a certain number 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, etc... that all of a sudden what you can't do matters. What really matters is you are alive and living that life!!

DLR wasn't just a jumper, mover and definitely, in many facets, was not a stellar singer. Diamond Dave was/is an entertainer, song writer, artist, comedian, smart-ass and most of all human.

I don't see any expiration date or mandatory retirement age for any of those attributes.

I really wish that someone close to David Lee Roth and the Van Halen brothers would kick their lazy asses off the couch and make em get out there, be dangerous and keep living until you run out of road...

[ZahZoo]

Some new pics just surfaced recently... Let's get back to talking hair... LOL

From the Brent Shapiro Foundation Summer Spectacular at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on September 7, 2018.

[ZahZoo]

Does this look like a sad picture of old age..?

[ZahZoo]

Some video... Story telling and rambling as usual.

[ZahZoo]

The high pitched, strained voice lives on...

Whoever that is playing guitar does it justice...

[ZahZoo]

Get Ready...

[Nitro Express]

Some video... Story telling and rambling as usual.

There will come a day when youth will pass away bloop what will they say about me? Dave is going to be one of those old people who will not shut up and talks your ear off about the good ol days. He will also be grabbing the staff girls asses at the old folks home. He will be the guy they will start sedating.

[Nitro Express]

Live every day like it's your last day... one day you'll be right!

It's not sad at all that we all age... it's something that we should celebrate every day. The number of summers survived doesn't mean at a certain number 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, etc... that all of a sudden what you can't do matters. What really matters is you are alive and living that life!!

DLR wasn't just a jumper, mover and definitely, in many facets, was not a stellar singer. Diamond Dave was/is an entertainer, song writer, artist, comedian, smart-ass and most of all human.

I don't see any expiration date or mandatory retirement age for any of those attributes.

I really wish that someone close to David Lee Roth and the Van Halen brothers would kick their lazy asses off the couch and make em get out there, be dangerous and keep living until you run out of road...

When you are young you are dumb but your dick works great. When you are old you are smart enough to con people into doing what you want but your dick don't work too good.

[Nitro Express]

Does this look like a sad picture of old age..?

Some cheap candy for the sugar daddy.

[Terry]

Live every day like it's your last day... one day you'll be right!

It's not sad at all that we all age... it's something that we should celebrate every day. The number of summers survived doesn't mean at a certain number 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, etc... that all of a sudden what you can't do matters. What really matters is you are alive and living that life!!

DLR wasn't just a jumper, mover and definitely, in many facets, was not a stellar singer. Diamond Dave was/is an entertainer, song writer, artist, comedian, smart-ass and most of all human.

I don't see any expiration date or mandatory retirement age for any of those attributes.

I really wish that someone close to David Lee Roth and the Van Halen brothers would kick their lazy asses off the couch and make em get out there, be dangerous and keep living until you run out of road...

To be sure, ultimately Roth was an entertainer.

I'd assume by default that most of we humans are most of all human.

For myself, his athleticism and his vocal approach were a large part of what made him entertaining to me. His comedic attitude helped inform his lyrics on occasion, obviously. Doubtless he had a quick wit and sense of humor. Never considered the guy a stand up comedian, and by this point a lot of his Rothisms and one liners have been rehashed to the point of ineffectiveness for me.

Or, more pointedly, I only consider Roth as an entertainer currently if what he is doing is still entertaining to me. Over the last decade, that has proved to be less and less the case.

Which isn't to say he fails to entertain me just because he is getting older, but I'm not going to pretend his getting older hasn't had an impact.

The reason it has proved to be less and less the case is that most of his activities have consisted of fronting Van Halen reunion tours. And that will always bring up the inevitable comparison between then vs. now. The most interesting stuff of the last decade was the ADKOT album. I'd like to see Van Halen do another album. I'd have far more interest in that than another greatest hits tour. I liked the ADKOT album. By all means, the band should do more of that. The band SHOULD get their asses up off the couch, take some chances and not waste time. Understandably, the band has opted to pretty much play it safe. It's a lucrative strategy. I was hoping 2012, with the new album, the Café Wha? gig, the amount of promotion that went into the new album...all of that I was hoping would lead to an era of productivity that wasn't focused on replicating the past. It hasn't panned out this way.

But I can't expect Roth to chuck what he has going with Van Halen and return to his floundering solo career - and, let's face it, in commercial terms his solo output from 1998 to 2006 can only be categorized as floundering - because it's just not reasonable for me to expect Roth at his age to try to put a new solo band together and hit the road for 50 to 100 dates a year in small venues, State Fairs, County Expos and the like. Not when fronting Van Halen is still viable.

[Terry]

Does this look like a sad picture of old age..?

Oh, I'm sure Dave is still having fun. He has never had difficulty amusing himself.

Those clips were, as is all too typical as of late, painful to listen to far as the vocals went.

Hey, whatever. If Roth is still chugging along doing what he does and enjoying it, good for him. I don't wish the guy any ill will. If other people enjoy what Roth is doing these days with the type of performances he gave in those clips, good for them.

I just...no. You know? Just...can't. It doesn't work for me anymore. And this is coming from someone who enjoyed the No-Holds-Bar-B-Que.

I don't even know what would work for me at this point far as Dave goes. From the 2012 tour up until today he just has that enduringly annoying live vocal approach I can't get behind or buy into because it sounds awful to me. Far as his schtick, I get this is just Dave being Dave. I can take the age, the hairpieces, the bizarre wardrobe choices, the bad jokes. When the vocals go to shit, it's just fucking done.

[ZahZoo]

Yeah the lack of athleticism was inevitable... surprised Dave can even walk considering all the drum riser splits jumps, flying drop kicks, etc... that he pulled off shit-faced and didn't actually destroy his knees, hips and spine.

I keep returning to the quality of Dave's performances during the 2007/2008 tour... I think physically he could still perform at that level. It was busy enough to be visually entertaining.

Vocally... Dave needs to go do another Bluegrass record. Whatever he did to prepare for that album forced him to improve his vocal performance exponentially which shined during the 07/08 tour... more so than even any of his live singing performances 10-15 years prior. By the time they got back on tour in 2012 Dave had reverted back to his previous phone it in performance style.

Now about this new bleached, crew-cut look...

[Terry]

And I was fine with his vocal output on the 2007/2008 tour. I was actually quite surprised that Roth took that tour as seriously as he did in terms of the preparation he did for it. Precisely because I had seen him perform in 2005 and 2006, and that strained yelping was very evident for both of those shows. It was very clear very shortly into the 2008 gig I saw that Roth had done his homework, refined what he was doing vocally and prepared/rehearsed in a manner that would maximize what he had left in the tank. He wasn't "forgetting the fucking words, man!" and was singing largely in key.

And it sounded great.

By the time 2008 rolled around, I had seen Roth post-1996 Debacle in 1999, the Sam and Dave tour, 2005 and 2006. So I was used to the gradual waning of his physical abilities. I wasn't expecting drum riser splits. I saw him visibly lose his footing trying a high kick in 2006, and he nearly took a digger onstage. He barely kept his balance, and my thought then was, well, he shouldn't be doing that stuff anymore...because he can't anymore, and that's fine. And it seemed in 2008 that Roth had come to terms with his hair: he doesn't have much of it left, and he had wisely ditched that bizarre platinum blonde hair weave wig several years prior. He's got short hair...okay. Fine. Like, 1999 to 2003 was Roth trying too hard to hold onto his 1980s appearance, and with each passing year he was coming up more short than the previous one.

2008, I could give a shit about the karate gymnastics going by the wayside. Same for the screams. Same for the hair. The bar was just set at Roth singing the tunes decently. He hurdled that lowered bar.

Exactly right that by the time 2012 rolled around, Roth took a step backward. Because he could? Dunno. Problems with the "onstage blowers" (lack of backstage blowers?)? Dunno. Awful vocals ever since. Fixable? Perhaps.