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From the Vh1 Special
SH: My only saving grace for a place and a guy like Roth is that people know who I am. I was in that band for 11 years, and David Lee Roth was the enemy!
SH: I thought there would be more similarities going into this. Every night I go beat on his door, whenever you're ready Dave!
DLR: Sam’s always banging on the windshield! A bottle of tequila in one hand, his dick in the other!
SH: This guy, I don't know. There's so much I don't like about Dave. There really is. I'm telling you straight up.
DLR: Are you guys talking? Can you define talk? Can you define get along? (Laughs)
SH: We waste a lot of money with all the extra guys we have to have to meet Dave. We could cut $100,000 a week off this tour.... easy! But, we don't trust each other, Dave and I... Soo (laughs) I don't see why anyone needs seven security guards on this planet... Britney Spears has two.
- (Spoken to Sammy) - Roth was agreed to be interviewed at the precise moment that Hagar steps on stage for his set.
SH: There it is! The key to being an asshole! He doesn’t like me watching! I'm the happiest guy in the world, and if you ever see me bummed out, it’s because that damned Dave did it!
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6/12/2002
SAMMY HAGAR, DAVID LEE ROTH Line Up Additional US Dates
June 12, 2002 0 Comments
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Former VAN HALEN frontmen Sammy Hagar and David Lee Roth have announced a number of additions to their ongoing joint US trek. Here are the latest tour dates, according to Pollstar:
Jun. 15 - Dallas, TX @ Smirnoff Music Centre
Jun. 16 - The Woodlands, TX @ C.W. Mitchell Pavilion
Jun. 18 - Albuquerque, NM @ Journal Pavilion
Jun. 19 - Englewood, CO @ Fiddler's Green Amph.
Jun. 21 - Phoenix, AZ @ Cricket Pavilion
Jun. 22 - Devore, CA @ G.H. Blockbuster Pavilion
Jun. 24 - Universal City, CA @ Universal Amphitheatre
Jun. 25 - Universal City, CA @ Universal Amphitheatre
Jun. 27 - Fresno, CA @ Selland Arena
Jun. 29 - George, WA @ The Gorge
Jul. 23 - Bossier City, LA @ CenturyTel Center
Jul. 25 - Oklahoma City, OK @ Ford Center Arena
Jul. 26 - Bonner Springs, KS @ Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
Jul. 28 - Selma, TX @ Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
Jul. 31 - West Palm Beach, FL @ Mars Music Amphitheatre
Aug. 01 - Tampa, FL @ Ice Palace
Aug. 03 - Antioch, TN @ AmSouth Amphitheatre
Aug. 04 - Atlanta, GA @ HiFi Buys Amphitheatre
Aug. 06 - Raleigh, NC @ Alltel Pavilion @ Walnut Creek
Aug. 07 - Charlotte, NC @ Verizon Wireless Amp. Charlotte
Aug. 10 - Atlantic City, NJ @ Trump Marina
Aug. 11 - Burgettstown, PA @ Post-Gazette Pavilion @Star Lake
Aug. 13 - Scranton, PA @ Coors Light Amph. @ Montage Mtn.
Aug. 14 - Hershey, PA @ Star Pavilion
Aug. 16 - Bristow, VA @ Nissan Pavilion
Aug. 17 - Camden, NJ @ Tweeter Center At The Waterfront
Aug. 19 - Virginia Beach, VA @ Verizon Wireless Virginia Bch. Amp.
Aug. 20 - Holmdel, NJ @ P.N.C. Bank Arts Center
Aug. 22 - Hartford, CT @ ctnow.com Meadows Music
Aug. 24 - Saratoga Springs, NY @ Performing Arts Center
Aug. 25 - Essex Junction, VT @ Champlain Valley Expo
Aug. 27 - Gilford, NH @ Meadowbrook Farm Musical Arts Ctr.
Aug. 28 - Mansfield, MA @ Tweeter Center
Aug. 31 - Darien Center, NY @ Darien Lake Six Flags P.A.C.
Sep. 01 - Syracuse, NY @ New York State Fair
Sep. 06 - Chula Vista, CA @ Coors Amphitheatre
Sep. 07 - Las Vegas, NV @ TBA
Read more at http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/sam...jigyLDSItmM.99
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6/28/02
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SAMMY HAGAR: VAN HALEN Is Over For Good!
July 11, 2002
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Former VAN HALEN frontman Sammy Hagar revealed several interesting items about VAN HALEN's comeback plans during a recent interview with reporter Patrick Berkery of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Among the revelations that are due to be detailed in the article—which is set to be published on August 16th—are the following:
**VAN HALEN is over for good, according to Sam. VAN HALEN bassist Michael Anthony (who's been showing up at a lot of Hagar's recent tour dates) hasn't spoken with the VH brothers since February and they haven't recorded any music, discussed a singer or anything of the sort since last year. Drummer Alex Van Halen sits on the Internet all day (and smokes), while Eddie Van Halen sits in his house and does nothing all day (and smokes). The way Sam sees it, no label, no management, no singer=no band.
**The recent David Lee Roth/VAN HALEN reconciliation rumors: Dave was indeed writing and recording with the band circa 2000. Very quietly, things were broken off because, according to Sammy (according to Michael Anthony), Dave's voice was pretty shot and Eddie was growing incredibly frustrated. Eddie was very intent on writing "radio-friendly" rock, and Dave was into his usual "non sequitur" rock, says Sam. Hence, Dave's proposal to Sammy (again, according to Sammy) to do this tour.
**Dave Lee Roth has taken seven bodyguards with him on his current tour with Hagar.
**VH, Roth and Sammy were offered $50 million to do two shows in Las Vegas in 2001—big pay-per-view deal, the whole shebang. Sammy says they all turned it down immediately except Roth. He also says a whole tour with all parties was also proposed by the same person (a Las Vegas businessman) for dollars that would make your eyes pop out.
Read more at http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/sam...PlPdVBoEmYc.99
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HAGAR/ROTH Second Leg Tour Opener Gets Cancelled
July 19, 2002 0 Comments
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The second leg tour opener for SAMMY HAGAR and DAVID LEE ROTH has been cut from the itinerary. The concert, scheduled for July 23rd at the CenturyTel Center in Bossier City, Louisiana, was cancelled due to "production logistics, according to Pollstar. The tour is now set to kick off in Oklahoma City on July 25th.
Read more at http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/hag...oj5W6D3xyxm.99
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SAMMY HAGAR: DAVE LEE ROTH Is An Asshole!
August 1, 2002
The following item appeared in today's edition of the New York Post:
Sammy Hagar, finished with fellow VAN HALEN frontman David Lee Roth, is dissing Diamond Dave's oversize ego, deteriorating singing voice and vanishing hairline.
Hagar and Roth had been co-headlining this summer's laboriously titled "Sammy Hagar and David Lee Roth Tour 2002: Song for Song, the Heavyweight Champs of Rock and Roll." But after butting heads with Roth non-stop since they began touring in May, Hagar vows never to work with him again.
"The guy is a [bleep]hole," Hagar told PAGE SIX. "He will never go on tour with me again. He's gonna have to draw a crowd on his own."
Hagar and Roth, who were fired from VAN HALEN in 1996 and 1985 respectively, had traded insults for years before declaring a truce for the tour. But Hagar says that Roth's prima donna antics have ruined their relationship.
"He's not a man of his word," Hagar fumes. "Dave came to me because no one wanted to book him by himself, because he's such a flake and he has such a bad reputation. But I just can't work with him anymore."
While Hagar admits that Roth's set of VAN HALEN classics is a crowd-pleaser, he ridicules Roth's decline from swaggering rock god to middle-age nostalgia act. "His voice is not too good. You sit there and go, 'I just saw a guy who was half the singer and half the performer he used to be, who spray-paints his hair on before he goes on stage and still acts like he's in VAN HALEN in 1982!' . . . It's a joke to me, it's like Liberace or something."
One of mop-topped Hagar's favorite targets is Roth's thinning locks. "We were all on the same plane to go to a show in Dallas, and Dave's hair was brown underneath his hat," Hagar tattles. "The night of the show it was raving platinum. I'd hate to be there when he puts that thing on."
Hagar says that he and Roth were supposed to finish their tour Sept. 2 at Jones Beach, but Roth vetoed it. "He said, 'I don't like the venue.' He wanted to play at Madison Square Garden and he wanted to close. He wasn't going to do it, so we canceled the show."
But while New Yorkers won't see Hagar and Roth sharing the same stage, a solo Hagar is playing a free concert Aug. 29 at Irving Plaza. Since it falls close to the one-year anniversary of Sept. 11, half the tickets will be distributed to Port Authority cops and 9/11 rescue workers.
Despite his dislike of Roth, Hagar says the tour was a hit with VAN HALEN fans. "It was always a great audience and it was a great rock and roll show," he said. "If it wasn't for that, I would have put him back in nightclubs were he belongs."
Roth did not return calls for comment.
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8/21/2002
DAVID LEE ROTH, SAMMY HAGAR To Co-Present Award At MTV MUSIC AWARDS
August 21, 2002 0 Comments
The following item appears in today's edition of the New York Post:
David Lee Roth is a forgiving man. The original — and best — singer for VAN HALEN has agreed to co-present an award with his nemesis, Sammy Hagar, at the MTV Music Awards on Aug. 29, sources say, even after Hagar trashed Diamond Dave on PAGE SIX a few weeks back, calling him a "[bleep] hole," likening him to Liberace and making fun of his receding hairline. The feuding front men — both of whom were fired from the band by guitarist Eddie Van Halen — buried the hatchet for a joint summer tour, but were predictably at each other's throats within weeks. Roth and Hagar join host Jimmy Fallon and presenters James Gandolfini, Usher, Kirsten Dunst, Brittany Murphy, Britney Spears, Kylie Minogue, Nelly, Avril Lavigne, Enrique Iglesias, Johnny Knoxville and Lil' Bow Wow. Performers include BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN AND THE E STREET BAND, JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE, PINK, THE HIVES, JA RULE, SHERYL CROW, ASHANTI, EMINEM, THE VINES, NAS, SHAKIRA and P. DIDDY. [end]
In other news, VAN HALEN guitarist Eddie Van Halen apparently joined LESLIE WEST & MOUNTAIN onstage at the House of Blues in West Hollywood, California on Saturday, August 10th for a rendition of "Never In My Life".
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David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar on stage at the 2002 MTV Video Music Awards at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, August 29, 2002.
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8/30/2002
DAVE LEE ROTH's Show Deemed "Too Loud" By Vermont Officials
August 30, 2002 0 Comments
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Last weekend's Champlain Valley Exposition fair in Vermont was fined $5,000 for violation of Essex Junction's noise ordinance after former VAN HALEN singer DAVE LEE ROTH's performance there was deemed "too loud" by the local officials.
Essex Police Chief David Demag said there were 32 calls complaining about the noise at Sunday night's show, according to the Associated Press.
"It was very annoying," said Robert Durham, who lives about 600 feet from the fairgrounds. "I had the air conditioner on ... and I could still hear it with the doors and windows closed."
Tom Oddy, director of special events, said Roth's crew had been told repeatedly to turn down the volume.
The volume would drop, then come back stronger than ever, Oddy said.
"I've never seen that attitude, ever, with a show," Oddy said.
Fair officials and police said they feared halting the noisy performance by the 46-year-old singer would upset the audience.
Read more at http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/dav...cHIwpzPXwjs.99
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September 2002
Sammy Hagar is beating a 20-foot-tall blue tequila bottle with a guitar. Video clips of busty girls frolicking on spring break play on a 30-by-60-foot video screen over his head. A man behind me with a rebellious look in his eye thrusts his right fist into the air. He could be a middle-aged version of the boy in “The Power of One,” except for the David Cassidy part in his hair, the thick gold chain around his neck and his black T-shirt embossed with the enigmatic slogan “It’s not just football!”
Hagar hauls back his red Stratocaster and takes a swing. His yellow “Got Tequila?” T-shirt is drenched in sweat and cinches around his arm, restricting his windup. His blue-and-yellow Jams — not shorts that look like Jams, but Jams, from 1984 — threaten to wedgie. He makes contact, the tequila bottle cracks and streamers and confetti shoot at the crowd. The ex-Van Halen frontman sticks out his chest and subsequently his middle-aged belly, and the crowd chants, “Sammy! Sammy!” He is a demigod on stage. He is Bono on agave.
I stand in the 20th row of the Champlain Valley Fair stadium, just outside Burlington, Vt., among 7,000 Van Halen fans. Beyond the fairgrounds, green fields studded with white-and-black Holsteins stretch toward Canada and Lake Champlain. I am not at the concert entirely of my own volition. My friend bought me a $42 ticket and asked me to accompany him. Still, I have torn the sleeves off my T-shirt. I am pumping my fists to the music. I can’t help it, the scene is surreal. It’s outrageous, fantastic. Sammy Hagar has re-created 1988.
But not for long. This is the first volley in a bizarre rock ‘n’ roll battle that kicked off May 29 at Cleveland’s Blossom Center and will wrap up Saturday, Sept. 7, in Las Vegas. Hagar’s world is about to crash down around him. A man is sitting backstage, ready to tear it apart. The man is anxious, thrumming his fingers, listening to the hum of the bus generator as he applies layer upon layer of makeup.
He is the last person a Van Halen fan would expect to see at a Sammy Hagar show, and he is plotting to blow Sammy away. He’s said it to the press. He’s said it to Sammy. He is Diamond David Lee Roth, and as far as he is concerned, when Van Halen replaced him with Sammy Hagar in 1986, the flagship band of ’80s hard rock ceased to exist.
Hagar spins around and around through the confetti, under the lights, his arms out to the side like Jesus, or Job. He is 53 and exhausted at the end of a 90-minute set, not to mention a 30-year career. He is also wasted. He downs three margaritas by the time he sings “Why Can’t This Be Love” — Van Halen’s first hit single with the new singer in 1986 — halfway through the set. The alcohol loosens him up, and at the end of the song Hagar grabs the mike and exclaims in his rough, signature howl, “It doesn’t get any better than this! ‘Cause Sammy’s starting to cop a little buzz!” Then he rears back and kicks his leg, but his knee is bent and he looks like he is trying to step over a low fence.
It is incredible and sad at once, the last gasp of an international rock ‘n’ roll star. Images of George Foreman and Elvis in their comeback bids come to mind. Hagar tries to drink two Coronas at the same time later in the song and creates a foamy mess, not to mention the ensuing awkward silence reminiscent of church supper performances when the performer looks like he might actually be having a better time than the audience.
Hagar’s stage is set up like a cantina, and he treats it like one as he shamelessly promotes his personal brand of Cabo Wabo tequila with banners and gimmicks. His show is obscene. It is the ’80s to a T. A vintage video of Hagar driving a black Ferrari flickers on the screen behind him when he sings “I Can’t Drive 55,” the smash single on his 1984 solo album, “VOA.” On “Mas Tequila,” he grabs a trumpet and, with a little help from the synthesizer, lays down a solo that ends with fireworks shooting out of the instrument.
While Roth preens his platinum hair and prepares to take the stage, Hagar kicks his show into high gear, bringing 40 fans seated on either side of the drums to the mike for his closing tune, “Dreams.” It’s a sentimental classic from “5150,” and Hagar’s band, the Waboritas, nail it. Near the end of the song, Hagar is manhandled by a fan in a collarless white button-down shirt. Hagar fends him off and yells, “You guys are fucking awesome!” Then he launches into a series of oddly timed jumping jacks.
“If Sammy Hagar and David Lee Roth can do a tour together, there could be hope for the Middle East. We could straighten the fools out,” Hagar said in an Aug. 14 interview with USA Today. “Bono told me I had to do it for world peace,” Roth quipped.
Hagar and Roth’s “Heavyweight Champs of Rock ‘n’ Roll” tour began as the brainchild of a Las Vegas promoter who was trying to create a Van Halen reunion. When Alex and Eddie Van Halen wouldn’t have anything to do with the two ex-frontmen, Roth approached Hagar about touring together. Hagar agreed and the two held a press conference to announce the most unlikely touring duo in rock history. The absurdity of it soon became its main appeal: The two singers openly hated each other.
“This is why I truthfully do not like [Roth],” Hagar said in an Aug. 9 interview with TimesLeader.com. “He acts like he’s the fucking guy and I’m just a piece of shit. He’s demanding to close shows and all this stuff. I want to slap this guy back down. Before, I was like, ‘Dave’s a good guy, and he deserves to be in the light,’ but we got out there, and he’s acting like he’s a god and I’m the fucking opening act.”
The conflict smacks of the late comedian Andy Kaufman’s fabled rivalry with wrestler Jerry Lawler, enough that some question whether it’s real. If not, the two are playing their roles perfectly. The first point of contention revolved around who would open and close the concerts. Roth MC’d Van Halen from 1978 to 1985, and his purist fans always considered him the only voice of the band. In Diamond Dave’s mind, he was the clear choice for a closer. But Hagar, who led the group from 1986 to 1996, points out that he sold 42 million records with the Van Halen brothers. The two reached a political resolution. They flipped a coin on the Howard Stern show and have been rotating ever since.
“I think [Hagar will] be remembered for throwing a great party,” Roth, who now refuses interviews, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “I’ll be remembered for being a great party … I’m competing with the guy in Limp Bizkit, with Bono. It’s precision and fury. Nine moves that rule the world, and it would take you 20 years to learn them, dear.”
With what looked like a nuclear situation brewing, Hagar and Roth shocked crowds this summer by keeping their cool and delivering as close to a Van Halen show as their fans could hope for. While Hagar plays more songs from his successful solo run, Roth, whose career fizzled after Van Halen, sticks strictly to old favorites. The tour has been such a hit that Roth and Hagar added 27 gigs in August and September to the original schedule. Last week the pair presented the “Best Rock Video” at the MTV Music Awards.
Regardless of the good intentions, though, there is no doubt that Roth has something to prove.
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We are standing in the beer tent drinking Budweiser from 16-ounce cups. The smell of Al’s Famous Frys and air-rifle reports from “Shoot Out the Star” drift through the tent doors. We hear the drum intro for “Hot for Teacher” and run to our seats. What awaits us is nothing short of shocking.
Roth is wearing metallic, skin-tight silver and blue pants. His hair is bleached white. His skin looks plastic and is stretched across his face. His eyes bulge like he’s got the bends. Diamond Dave is wearing a blue bandanna around his neck and I can’t help but think that it hides a tracheotomy. But the strangest thing about him is not unfamiliar. It’s been Roth’s calling card for 30 years. It’s the smile. The smile, an almost guilty gesture, gives the impression that Roth is not exactly sure what is going on around him. It’s wide, cartoonish and, quite simply, scary.
But the man is in shape and he is singing — and singing much better than you would imagine a 46-year-old could. His pseudo-James Brown dance moves, which scored him points in MTV’s early days with “Dancing in the Street” and “Panama,” seem the same. They start off fast and then jumble into a confusing series of clogging kicks and slides — ultimately ending in Roth stopping himself before he falls over and screaming, “Yoooww!” His trademark martial-arts moves follow a similar rhythm. (Roth studies kendo twice a week in a hall he built in his house.) They are fast, seemingly random, and they end in some type of drastic punch or swing.
He’s got the crowd in his hand, though. And it is nice to see. Roth’s latest single, “Look at All the People Here Tonight!” earned the distinction in 2000 of being the first single released to radio exclusively through the Internet. Roth still has some of the moves, too. In the middle of “Panama,” he yells at a woman in the front row, “That’s not a smile — that’s assault with a deadly weapon!” The crowd nearly loses control. Then he shakes a beer and spurts it from between his legs. The stagehands brace for riot.
The music is about partying. No, it is a party. In an article on the release of “5150,” Rolling Stone tagged Van Halen’s era the “power-party rock arena.” Disco had suffocated the social consciousness of the ’60s, and by the ’80s pop musicians like Van Halen just wanted to have a good time. In a decade when the Gipper was all that stood between humanity and nuclear holocaust, rock ‘n’ roll became a release valve — not to create change, but to dust reality in a haze of neon and frizzy hair. Pot was out, cocaine was in. Thinking out, pleasure in. The ’80s was the decade of the yuppie, the preppie, “Dynasty” and Pac-Man. It was an age of hedonistic irresponsibility, when introspection and intellectualism were beat.
Roth is doing his best to re-create the landscape. On “Dance the Night Away,” lead guitar Brian Young, from the Hollywood-based Van Halen tribute band the Atomic Punks, proves himself with a light-speed, Eddie-esque solo. His long, curly brown hair shakes and bobs as he plays. James LoMenzo, from White Lion, backs him on bass.
During “Runnin’ With the Devil,” the man with the David Cassidy hair bobs his head to the bass drum, but he has forgotten the words to the song. He mumbles them and raises his fist above his head again. Roth switches to a red bandanna in “You Really Got Me,” and I remember a particular Christmas morning in grade school listening to the song on a Radio Shack clock radio, waiting for my parents to wake up.
After a tight arrangement of “Beautiful Girl,” Dave breaks out of his frontman shell and addresses the crowd directly. “This is America,” he says. “This carnival, this is my childhood. My family used to drive through Vermont when I was little. This is Americana — like eating fried chicken and drinking iced tea.”
He is connecting with the audience, and we love him for it. Then a girl in the front row distracts his attention: “Am I gonna have to make a booty call during work?” Pause. “Yoooww!”
By the time Roth dives into “Pretty Woman,” the entire stadium is dancing. Diamond Dave is carrying the microphone stand around like a metal detector and my friend and I are hopping up and down. Roth is winning the war, and he knows it.
In the break before “Ice Cream Man,” Roth seems to be losing his mind. He is electric. He yells things into the mike like: “The power of the universe and this shit is wild!” Young strums in the background. The bass kicks in. A girl screams. Roth yells, “One nation under cable television!”
Roth opens “Ice Cream Man” playing an acoustic guitar with a white panel on the front. His smile is about to blow. He busts out a minute of 12-bar blues, then the band backs him. Roth sets the guitar vertically on the stage and lets it fall. A roadie grabs it before it hits the ground. Roth pirouettes in a surprisingly deft motion and grabs the mike. A roundhouse kick. Then the smile.
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It’s the final encore. Everyone knows what Dave is going to play. High school gyms crave the rhythm, old football uniforms and scratchy rayon prom dresses listen anxiously for the melody. Then it starts. The synthesizer first, then the drums, bass and guitar. Finally, Roth grabs the mike and lights into Van Halen’s only No. 1 single in the band’s 25-year run.
Can’t you see me standing here/ I got my back against the record machine/ I ain’t the worst that you’ve seen/ Oh can’t you see what I mean?/ Might as well jump!
And we do. Roth is going wild. You know Hagar is backstage tapping his foot. The band is grooving and if only Hagar would come out, right now, the rift would be bridged. Just tonight, under the glow of the orange stockyard lights. But he doesn’t and Roth finishes on the stage alone, very much alone amid the lights and speakers and mega-stage of the heavy metal ’80s that in 2002 have become a scratchy memory in the high 100s of the FM dial.
As the synth winds down and Roth climbs the drum pedestal to perform his final signature move — and perhaps sign off for good from an era when frosting went in your hair, accessorizing required electricity and hip-hop was cutting edge — it doesn’t matter that Sammy, Eddie, Michael and Alex aren’t there with him. Because times have changed, and you can’t expect the band to change with them. Elvis never played punk. Morrison never sang Duke. When rock ‘n’ roll insists on marching ahead like a Midwestern flash flood, all its fans can hope for is a glimpse of what was once great.
Roth drops his head and the lights of the fair seem to brighten. The Gravitron whips in circles; the Zipper bobs up and down. Children’s screams rise from the midway. That synth is barely hanging on now. The pope has been shot. Reagan’s been shot. John Lennon has been shot. Roth squats in front of the drums, readying for his stunt. Michael Jackson’s hair catches fire; Run-D.M.C. goes platinum; doctors discover the AIDS virus.
Roth leaps off the stage and reaches for his toes. One leg is almost straight, the other is bent at an odd angle. It’s like looking back in time through a beer bottle. But the music is the same, or at least close enough. Roth has transported us through the concave glass, and at that moment every person in the audience is a skinny, awkward, high school freshman, hopeful, terrified, young.
Roth lands. I think for a second that his knee has buckled, but he’s still standing. Triumphant. A warbling, electric hum resonates from the guitars, the synth fades. We raise our fists. Roth has won, but it doesn’t matter. We are thankful. We don’t want him or Hagar to leave. We don’t want to go home to our laptops and multidisc changers. You can’t find this on an MP3. Roth bows. It is over. His shape disintegrates as the lights fade. Then he is gone, and all that is left are the multicolored bulbs of the Ferris wheel, spinning around and around and around.
Porter Fox is a freelance writer living in Portland, Maine. His travel, fiction and news writing has appeared in Outside, Men's Journal, Sports Afield, Powder and elsewhere.
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9/4/2002
SAMMY HAGAR, DAVID LEE ROTH Deny Rift On Tour
September 4, 2002 0 Comments
Former VAN HALEN vocalists Sammy Hagar and David Lee Roth may not be the best of friends, but they were cordial to each other on the road — despite rumors to the contrary. Backstage at the MTV Video Music Awards, Roth and Hagar talked about the state of their relationship.
When asked if things were patched up between them, Roth responded: "Well, can you define patched up? (laughs) It turned into a color...What is rock 'n' roll without a little bit of conflict, without a little bit of a drama? But I think that most of what's been going on with the Roth/Hagar tour is purely for your listening and dancing pleasure. Come on, what's the worst that a couple of rock stars could possibly do? A little slap fighting, an elaborate healing process and a reunion tour."
Addressing the rumors that a wall had to be built between Roth and Hagar, Dave said, "Actually, I think it was Sam who insisted that a wall be built between the two camps, and every night now it looks like a rap festival with all the police presence."
Meanwhile, Hagar denied that a huge rift had developed between the two.
"Right now walking off the stage with Dave, he was talking about going to a titty bar," Sammy stated. "You know, I said, 'Hey I'm with my wife, but I'll ask her,' you know?"
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9/5/2002
SAMMY HAGAR: VAN HALEN Reunion Is Inevitable
September 5, 2002 0 Comments
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A reunion between Sammy Hagar and his former VAN HALEN bandmates is "inevitable," the singer told MTV backstage at last week's MTV Video Music Awards, shortly after presenting an award with David Lee Roth. "I mean come on, how could it not [happen]?"
While Hagar confessed that he hasn't spoken with either of the Van Halen brothers (Eddie and Alex) in quite some time, he has spent a lot of on- and off-stage time with bassist Michael Anthony, who has been regularly flying in to join Hagar during his live performances.
"Mikey hasn't even heard from Eddie or Alex," Hagar explained. "I just think when they're ready to surface, they'll do it.
"It's not that I'm crying for [a reunion]," clarified Sammy. "I'm happy. I'm totally happy. [But] I don't think I could say I am never going to play with those guys again and it will never happen. And God forbid something happened to one of us and then it could never happen. I'd be very regretful.
"So I think it's inevitable," he reiterated. "So I think we'll do it. And hopefully we'll do it like right here in the VMAs sometime or something."
Read more at http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/sam...OGEMwTL6rYJ.99
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DAVID LEE ROTH: I Was Ready To Kick SAMMY HAGAR's Ass
September 8, 2002 0 Comments
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The following item comes to us courtesy of today's edition of the New York Post:
David Lee Roth says he was ready to deliver a beat-down to his fellow fired VAN HALEN frontman Sammy Hagar after Hagar trashed him on PAGE SIX a while back. Hagar, who was co-headlining a tour with Roth at the time, likened Diamond Dave to Liberace, called him an "a--hole" and made fun of his receding hairline. "I called him out in front of about 20 people after his famous PAGE SIX harangue," Roth said on Howard Stern's radio show. "He backed down. I guess he didn't want to hurt his strumming hand." Roth, who holds a black belt in karate, explained their backstage blow-ups by saying: "Two big dogs eating out of one big bowl." But he'd tour with Hagar again. "I'd sign up the day after tomorrow. I think the only one who didn't have fun on the tour was Sam."
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HOWARD STERN HAS ROTH BACK ON AFTER THE TOUR
It’s very obvious during this interview that Howard gets under Dave’s skin when he points out that Roth is wearing a thong.
HS: Why is he so miserable in your opinion?
DLR: Ohh, I don't know! 2 Big dogs, 1 big dog bowl? He's'a little cranky from the sugar in the tequilla.
HS: what happened on tour? Did you guys become close? Were you friends at all?
RQ: Did you share any intamacy at all?
DLR: No, uh, you know, it was, it was uh, I always thought that Sam would be the very best at either warming up or cooling down! You know? (Laughs)
DLR: I called Sammy out in front of about 20 people in the backstage area after his famous page 6 Kerrang, and uh, we were dually separated, cuz then it was like a rap show backstage with armed policemen and everything. His management was threatening me. Restraining orders, and so forth.
HS: But you're a karate expert? Is that correct?
DLR: I think that Sam probably would never take a chance of hurting that strumming hand.
RQ: I have to say something! David Lee is wearing a thong!
HS: Are you wearing a thong!?
DLR: I'm not wearing a thong!
RQ: Turnaround! Turnaround! Let Howard See!
HS: What's the matter with you! Let me see your ass! Let me see it!
RQ: (Cackling in the background)
Go ahead! He's got a pantyline! It's a thong! (Farting noises)
HS: You got a panty line in there?
DLR: I went to Scores last night, got a thong stuck in my throat.
HS: Did you go to Scores last night?
DLR: Only the best cultural events!
HS: Did you go to Scores last night?
DLR: I sneak around! I make sure I go to all the private, all the best places.
BB: So the Van Halen thing - the Van Halen brothers, you'll never work with those guys again? That's done?
DLR: No! It's a possibility in the future, but how long are you gonna hold your breath? You know? The only sin that Eddie Van Halen has ever really been guilty of is wasted time. You know? If you want to know the value of one second, ask the guy who just missed a motorcycle accident by one seond.
HS: There was a lot of time that you could have spent working on music and being together but a lot of this is so much nonsense is what you're saying? I think?
DLR: Yeah, After how many Summers are you gonna hold your breath? We're here right now, we're larger than life. I'm an action figure now, I'm not even a rockstar anymore.
HS: Right.
DLR: When I stood up at the MTV Awards here, I thought, Jesus, I remember you, I looked out at the audience, I looked at the Director, I looked at Sam and said, "I don't remember you!" (Laughs)
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And now... a word about Dave From Sammy Hagar
Let's talk about David Lee Roth. When the two of you toured together several years ago, you didn't hit it off. I would've thought that perhaps the two of you might've sat around trading war stories.
"I tried. When we did the Sam and Dave tour, that's how I envisioned the it - the two of us getting together after the shows, having some drinks and crackin' up and laughin' about shit. What I really hoped was that it would've forced the Sam and Dave Van Halen reunion, where we all do it together. That would've been a super fan tour. That ain't about me, it ain't about Dave, it ain't about Ed and Al, it ain't about Mikey - that's about the fans. But Van Halen are not friendly towards their fans. All Van Halen have ever done is drive a wedge between themselves and their fans. They've made great music, but they don't do anything for the fans. I'm very different in that respect, as you know. I owe it all to my fans and I never want to have the wall between us.
Did you even get to talk to Dave about doing a big reunion tour with everybody involved?
"I'll tell you, Dave's a strange guy. I don't like to talk about him because I don't know him. He is, without a doubt, the weirdest fucker I've ever met in my life! [laughs] You can't get close to him. He's all fake. It's like there's nobody there. You talk to him and it's like you're talking to a friggin' robot. The guy's got his raps down, and that's that. You do an interview with him and you'll get the 10 answers to every question that he's got prepared, but you'll never get anything else. He doesn't dig in.
You're saying that he's scripted.
"All scripted. Dave's the opposite of me. I have never had a script, and I couldn't follow one if you gave it to me. We're so different, and that's why the tour didn't work. I don't even care about that guy. I don't care about him being in the band. He's so off my radar, he's so not in my world, it's like he doesn't exist. He's talented, he's got his thing, he's cool for people who like that show-biz shit. He's fine. But as far as Van Halen making a record… I don't see how Dave and Eddie can spend 15 seconds in a room together. That goes for Al, too. And I heard they don't, so I don't see them making a record."
SH: My only saving grace for a place and a guy like Roth is that people know who I am. I was in that band for 11 years, and David Lee Roth was the enemy!
SH: I thought there would be more similarities going into this. Every night I go beat on his door, whenever you're ready Dave!
DLR: Sam’s always banging on the windshield! A bottle of tequila in one hand, his dick in the other!
SH: This guy, I don't know. There's so much I don't like about Dave. There really is. I'm telling you straight up.
DLR: Are you guys talking? Can you define talk? Can you define get along? (Laughs)
SH: We waste a lot of money with all the extra guys we have to have to meet Dave. We could cut $100,000 a week off this tour.... easy! But, we don't trust each other, Dave and I... Soo (laughs) I don't see why anyone needs seven security guards on this planet... Britney Spears has two.
- (Spoken to Sammy) - Roth was agreed to be interviewed at the precise moment that Hagar steps on stage for his set.
SH: There it is! The key to being an asshole! He doesn’t like me watching! I'm the happiest guy in the world, and if you ever see me bummed out, it’s because that damned Dave did it!
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6/12/2002
SAMMY HAGAR, DAVID LEE ROTH Line Up Additional US Dates
June 12, 2002 0 Comments
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Former VAN HALEN frontmen Sammy Hagar and David Lee Roth have announced a number of additions to their ongoing joint US trek. Here are the latest tour dates, according to Pollstar:
Jun. 15 - Dallas, TX @ Smirnoff Music Centre
Jun. 16 - The Woodlands, TX @ C.W. Mitchell Pavilion
Jun. 18 - Albuquerque, NM @ Journal Pavilion
Jun. 19 - Englewood, CO @ Fiddler's Green Amph.
Jun. 21 - Phoenix, AZ @ Cricket Pavilion
Jun. 22 - Devore, CA @ G.H. Blockbuster Pavilion
Jun. 24 - Universal City, CA @ Universal Amphitheatre
Jun. 25 - Universal City, CA @ Universal Amphitheatre
Jun. 27 - Fresno, CA @ Selland Arena
Jun. 29 - George, WA @ The Gorge
Jul. 23 - Bossier City, LA @ CenturyTel Center
Jul. 25 - Oklahoma City, OK @ Ford Center Arena
Jul. 26 - Bonner Springs, KS @ Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
Jul. 28 - Selma, TX @ Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
Jul. 31 - West Palm Beach, FL @ Mars Music Amphitheatre
Aug. 01 - Tampa, FL @ Ice Palace
Aug. 03 - Antioch, TN @ AmSouth Amphitheatre
Aug. 04 - Atlanta, GA @ HiFi Buys Amphitheatre
Aug. 06 - Raleigh, NC @ Alltel Pavilion @ Walnut Creek
Aug. 07 - Charlotte, NC @ Verizon Wireless Amp. Charlotte
Aug. 10 - Atlantic City, NJ @ Trump Marina
Aug. 11 - Burgettstown, PA @ Post-Gazette Pavilion @Star Lake
Aug. 13 - Scranton, PA @ Coors Light Amph. @ Montage Mtn.
Aug. 14 - Hershey, PA @ Star Pavilion
Aug. 16 - Bristow, VA @ Nissan Pavilion
Aug. 17 - Camden, NJ @ Tweeter Center At The Waterfront
Aug. 19 - Virginia Beach, VA @ Verizon Wireless Virginia Bch. Amp.
Aug. 20 - Holmdel, NJ @ P.N.C. Bank Arts Center
Aug. 22 - Hartford, CT @ ctnow.com Meadows Music
Aug. 24 - Saratoga Springs, NY @ Performing Arts Center
Aug. 25 - Essex Junction, VT @ Champlain Valley Expo
Aug. 27 - Gilford, NH @ Meadowbrook Farm Musical Arts Ctr.
Aug. 28 - Mansfield, MA @ Tweeter Center
Aug. 31 - Darien Center, NY @ Darien Lake Six Flags P.A.C.
Sep. 01 - Syracuse, NY @ New York State Fair
Sep. 06 - Chula Vista, CA @ Coors Amphitheatre
Sep. 07 - Las Vegas, NV @ TBA
Read more at http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/sam...jigyLDSItmM.99
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6/28/02
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SAMMY HAGAR: VAN HALEN Is Over For Good!
July 11, 2002
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Former VAN HALEN frontman Sammy Hagar revealed several interesting items about VAN HALEN's comeback plans during a recent interview with reporter Patrick Berkery of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Among the revelations that are due to be detailed in the article—which is set to be published on August 16th—are the following:
**VAN HALEN is over for good, according to Sam. VAN HALEN bassist Michael Anthony (who's been showing up at a lot of Hagar's recent tour dates) hasn't spoken with the VH brothers since February and they haven't recorded any music, discussed a singer or anything of the sort since last year. Drummer Alex Van Halen sits on the Internet all day (and smokes), while Eddie Van Halen sits in his house and does nothing all day (and smokes). The way Sam sees it, no label, no management, no singer=no band.
**The recent David Lee Roth/VAN HALEN reconciliation rumors: Dave was indeed writing and recording with the band circa 2000. Very quietly, things were broken off because, according to Sammy (according to Michael Anthony), Dave's voice was pretty shot and Eddie was growing incredibly frustrated. Eddie was very intent on writing "radio-friendly" rock, and Dave was into his usual "non sequitur" rock, says Sam. Hence, Dave's proposal to Sammy (again, according to Sammy) to do this tour.
**Dave Lee Roth has taken seven bodyguards with him on his current tour with Hagar.
**VH, Roth and Sammy were offered $50 million to do two shows in Las Vegas in 2001—big pay-per-view deal, the whole shebang. Sammy says they all turned it down immediately except Roth. He also says a whole tour with all parties was also proposed by the same person (a Las Vegas businessman) for dollars that would make your eyes pop out.
Read more at http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/sam...PlPdVBoEmYc.99
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HAGAR/ROTH Second Leg Tour Opener Gets Cancelled
July 19, 2002 0 Comments
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The second leg tour opener for SAMMY HAGAR and DAVID LEE ROTH has been cut from the itinerary. The concert, scheduled for July 23rd at the CenturyTel Center in Bossier City, Louisiana, was cancelled due to "production logistics, according to Pollstar. The tour is now set to kick off in Oklahoma City on July 25th.
Read more at http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/hag...oj5W6D3xyxm.99
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SAMMY HAGAR: DAVE LEE ROTH Is An Asshole!
August 1, 2002
The following item appeared in today's edition of the New York Post:
Sammy Hagar, finished with fellow VAN HALEN frontman David Lee Roth, is dissing Diamond Dave's oversize ego, deteriorating singing voice and vanishing hairline.
Hagar and Roth had been co-headlining this summer's laboriously titled "Sammy Hagar and David Lee Roth Tour 2002: Song for Song, the Heavyweight Champs of Rock and Roll." But after butting heads with Roth non-stop since they began touring in May, Hagar vows never to work with him again.
"The guy is a [bleep]hole," Hagar told PAGE SIX. "He will never go on tour with me again. He's gonna have to draw a crowd on his own."
Hagar and Roth, who were fired from VAN HALEN in 1996 and 1985 respectively, had traded insults for years before declaring a truce for the tour. But Hagar says that Roth's prima donna antics have ruined their relationship.
"He's not a man of his word," Hagar fumes. "Dave came to me because no one wanted to book him by himself, because he's such a flake and he has such a bad reputation. But I just can't work with him anymore."
While Hagar admits that Roth's set of VAN HALEN classics is a crowd-pleaser, he ridicules Roth's decline from swaggering rock god to middle-age nostalgia act. "His voice is not too good. You sit there and go, 'I just saw a guy who was half the singer and half the performer he used to be, who spray-paints his hair on before he goes on stage and still acts like he's in VAN HALEN in 1982!' . . . It's a joke to me, it's like Liberace or something."
One of mop-topped Hagar's favorite targets is Roth's thinning locks. "We were all on the same plane to go to a show in Dallas, and Dave's hair was brown underneath his hat," Hagar tattles. "The night of the show it was raving platinum. I'd hate to be there when he puts that thing on."
Hagar says that he and Roth were supposed to finish their tour Sept. 2 at Jones Beach, but Roth vetoed it. "He said, 'I don't like the venue.' He wanted to play at Madison Square Garden and he wanted to close. He wasn't going to do it, so we canceled the show."
But while New Yorkers won't see Hagar and Roth sharing the same stage, a solo Hagar is playing a free concert Aug. 29 at Irving Plaza. Since it falls close to the one-year anniversary of Sept. 11, half the tickets will be distributed to Port Authority cops and 9/11 rescue workers.
Despite his dislike of Roth, Hagar says the tour was a hit with VAN HALEN fans. "It was always a great audience and it was a great rock and roll show," he said. "If it wasn't for that, I would have put him back in nightclubs were he belongs."
Roth did not return calls for comment.
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8/21/2002
DAVID LEE ROTH, SAMMY HAGAR To Co-Present Award At MTV MUSIC AWARDS
August 21, 2002 0 Comments
The following item appears in today's edition of the New York Post:
David Lee Roth is a forgiving man. The original — and best — singer for VAN HALEN has agreed to co-present an award with his nemesis, Sammy Hagar, at the MTV Music Awards on Aug. 29, sources say, even after Hagar trashed Diamond Dave on PAGE SIX a few weeks back, calling him a "[bleep] hole," likening him to Liberace and making fun of his receding hairline. The feuding front men — both of whom were fired from the band by guitarist Eddie Van Halen — buried the hatchet for a joint summer tour, but were predictably at each other's throats within weeks. Roth and Hagar join host Jimmy Fallon and presenters James Gandolfini, Usher, Kirsten Dunst, Brittany Murphy, Britney Spears, Kylie Minogue, Nelly, Avril Lavigne, Enrique Iglesias, Johnny Knoxville and Lil' Bow Wow. Performers include BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN AND THE E STREET BAND, JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE, PINK, THE HIVES, JA RULE, SHERYL CROW, ASHANTI, EMINEM, THE VINES, NAS, SHAKIRA and P. DIDDY. [end]
In other news, VAN HALEN guitarist Eddie Van Halen apparently joined LESLIE WEST & MOUNTAIN onstage at the House of Blues in West Hollywood, California on Saturday, August 10th for a rendition of "Never In My Life".
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David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar on stage at the 2002 MTV Video Music Awards at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, August 29, 2002.
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8/30/2002
DAVE LEE ROTH's Show Deemed "Too Loud" By Vermont Officials
August 30, 2002 0 Comments
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Last weekend's Champlain Valley Exposition fair in Vermont was fined $5,000 for violation of Essex Junction's noise ordinance after former VAN HALEN singer DAVE LEE ROTH's performance there was deemed "too loud" by the local officials.
Essex Police Chief David Demag said there were 32 calls complaining about the noise at Sunday night's show, according to the Associated Press.
"It was very annoying," said Robert Durham, who lives about 600 feet from the fairgrounds. "I had the air conditioner on ... and I could still hear it with the doors and windows closed."
Tom Oddy, director of special events, said Roth's crew had been told repeatedly to turn down the volume.
The volume would drop, then come back stronger than ever, Oddy said.
"I've never seen that attitude, ever, with a show," Oddy said.
Fair officials and police said they feared halting the noisy performance by the 46-year-old singer would upset the audience.
Read more at http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/dav...cHIwpzPXwjs.99
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September 2002
Sammy Hagar is beating a 20-foot-tall blue tequila bottle with a guitar. Video clips of busty girls frolicking on spring break play on a 30-by-60-foot video screen over his head. A man behind me with a rebellious look in his eye thrusts his right fist into the air. He could be a middle-aged version of the boy in “The Power of One,” except for the David Cassidy part in his hair, the thick gold chain around his neck and his black T-shirt embossed with the enigmatic slogan “It’s not just football!”
Hagar hauls back his red Stratocaster and takes a swing. His yellow “Got Tequila?” T-shirt is drenched in sweat and cinches around his arm, restricting his windup. His blue-and-yellow Jams — not shorts that look like Jams, but Jams, from 1984 — threaten to wedgie. He makes contact, the tequila bottle cracks and streamers and confetti shoot at the crowd. The ex-Van Halen frontman sticks out his chest and subsequently his middle-aged belly, and the crowd chants, “Sammy! Sammy!” He is a demigod on stage. He is Bono on agave.
I stand in the 20th row of the Champlain Valley Fair stadium, just outside Burlington, Vt., among 7,000 Van Halen fans. Beyond the fairgrounds, green fields studded with white-and-black Holsteins stretch toward Canada and Lake Champlain. I am not at the concert entirely of my own volition. My friend bought me a $42 ticket and asked me to accompany him. Still, I have torn the sleeves off my T-shirt. I am pumping my fists to the music. I can’t help it, the scene is surreal. It’s outrageous, fantastic. Sammy Hagar has re-created 1988.
But not for long. This is the first volley in a bizarre rock ‘n’ roll battle that kicked off May 29 at Cleveland’s Blossom Center and will wrap up Saturday, Sept. 7, in Las Vegas. Hagar’s world is about to crash down around him. A man is sitting backstage, ready to tear it apart. The man is anxious, thrumming his fingers, listening to the hum of the bus generator as he applies layer upon layer of makeup.
He is the last person a Van Halen fan would expect to see at a Sammy Hagar show, and he is plotting to blow Sammy away. He’s said it to the press. He’s said it to Sammy. He is Diamond David Lee Roth, and as far as he is concerned, when Van Halen replaced him with Sammy Hagar in 1986, the flagship band of ’80s hard rock ceased to exist.
Hagar spins around and around through the confetti, under the lights, his arms out to the side like Jesus, or Job. He is 53 and exhausted at the end of a 90-minute set, not to mention a 30-year career. He is also wasted. He downs three margaritas by the time he sings “Why Can’t This Be Love” — Van Halen’s first hit single with the new singer in 1986 — halfway through the set. The alcohol loosens him up, and at the end of the song Hagar grabs the mike and exclaims in his rough, signature howl, “It doesn’t get any better than this! ‘Cause Sammy’s starting to cop a little buzz!” Then he rears back and kicks his leg, but his knee is bent and he looks like he is trying to step over a low fence.
It is incredible and sad at once, the last gasp of an international rock ‘n’ roll star. Images of George Foreman and Elvis in their comeback bids come to mind. Hagar tries to drink two Coronas at the same time later in the song and creates a foamy mess, not to mention the ensuing awkward silence reminiscent of church supper performances when the performer looks like he might actually be having a better time than the audience.
Hagar’s stage is set up like a cantina, and he treats it like one as he shamelessly promotes his personal brand of Cabo Wabo tequila with banners and gimmicks. His show is obscene. It is the ’80s to a T. A vintage video of Hagar driving a black Ferrari flickers on the screen behind him when he sings “I Can’t Drive 55,” the smash single on his 1984 solo album, “VOA.” On “Mas Tequila,” he grabs a trumpet and, with a little help from the synthesizer, lays down a solo that ends with fireworks shooting out of the instrument.
While Roth preens his platinum hair and prepares to take the stage, Hagar kicks his show into high gear, bringing 40 fans seated on either side of the drums to the mike for his closing tune, “Dreams.” It’s a sentimental classic from “5150,” and Hagar’s band, the Waboritas, nail it. Near the end of the song, Hagar is manhandled by a fan in a collarless white button-down shirt. Hagar fends him off and yells, “You guys are fucking awesome!” Then he launches into a series of oddly timed jumping jacks.
“If Sammy Hagar and David Lee Roth can do a tour together, there could be hope for the Middle East. We could straighten the fools out,” Hagar said in an Aug. 14 interview with USA Today. “Bono told me I had to do it for world peace,” Roth quipped.
Hagar and Roth’s “Heavyweight Champs of Rock ‘n’ Roll” tour began as the brainchild of a Las Vegas promoter who was trying to create a Van Halen reunion. When Alex and Eddie Van Halen wouldn’t have anything to do with the two ex-frontmen, Roth approached Hagar about touring together. Hagar agreed and the two held a press conference to announce the most unlikely touring duo in rock history. The absurdity of it soon became its main appeal: The two singers openly hated each other.
“This is why I truthfully do not like [Roth],” Hagar said in an Aug. 9 interview with TimesLeader.com. “He acts like he’s the fucking guy and I’m just a piece of shit. He’s demanding to close shows and all this stuff. I want to slap this guy back down. Before, I was like, ‘Dave’s a good guy, and he deserves to be in the light,’ but we got out there, and he’s acting like he’s a god and I’m the fucking opening act.”
The conflict smacks of the late comedian Andy Kaufman’s fabled rivalry with wrestler Jerry Lawler, enough that some question whether it’s real. If not, the two are playing their roles perfectly. The first point of contention revolved around who would open and close the concerts. Roth MC’d Van Halen from 1978 to 1985, and his purist fans always considered him the only voice of the band. In Diamond Dave’s mind, he was the clear choice for a closer. But Hagar, who led the group from 1986 to 1996, points out that he sold 42 million records with the Van Halen brothers. The two reached a political resolution. They flipped a coin on the Howard Stern show and have been rotating ever since.
“I think [Hagar will] be remembered for throwing a great party,” Roth, who now refuses interviews, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “I’ll be remembered for being a great party … I’m competing with the guy in Limp Bizkit, with Bono. It’s precision and fury. Nine moves that rule the world, and it would take you 20 years to learn them, dear.”
With what looked like a nuclear situation brewing, Hagar and Roth shocked crowds this summer by keeping their cool and delivering as close to a Van Halen show as their fans could hope for. While Hagar plays more songs from his successful solo run, Roth, whose career fizzled after Van Halen, sticks strictly to old favorites. The tour has been such a hit that Roth and Hagar added 27 gigs in August and September to the original schedule. Last week the pair presented the “Best Rock Video” at the MTV Music Awards.
Regardless of the good intentions, though, there is no doubt that Roth has something to prove.
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We are standing in the beer tent drinking Budweiser from 16-ounce cups. The smell of Al’s Famous Frys and air-rifle reports from “Shoot Out the Star” drift through the tent doors. We hear the drum intro for “Hot for Teacher” and run to our seats. What awaits us is nothing short of shocking.
Roth is wearing metallic, skin-tight silver and blue pants. His hair is bleached white. His skin looks plastic and is stretched across his face. His eyes bulge like he’s got the bends. Diamond Dave is wearing a blue bandanna around his neck and I can’t help but think that it hides a tracheotomy. But the strangest thing about him is not unfamiliar. It’s been Roth’s calling card for 30 years. It’s the smile. The smile, an almost guilty gesture, gives the impression that Roth is not exactly sure what is going on around him. It’s wide, cartoonish and, quite simply, scary.
But the man is in shape and he is singing — and singing much better than you would imagine a 46-year-old could. His pseudo-James Brown dance moves, which scored him points in MTV’s early days with “Dancing in the Street” and “Panama,” seem the same. They start off fast and then jumble into a confusing series of clogging kicks and slides — ultimately ending in Roth stopping himself before he falls over and screaming, “Yoooww!” His trademark martial-arts moves follow a similar rhythm. (Roth studies kendo twice a week in a hall he built in his house.) They are fast, seemingly random, and they end in some type of drastic punch or swing.
He’s got the crowd in his hand, though. And it is nice to see. Roth’s latest single, “Look at All the People Here Tonight!” earned the distinction in 2000 of being the first single released to radio exclusively through the Internet. Roth still has some of the moves, too. In the middle of “Panama,” he yells at a woman in the front row, “That’s not a smile — that’s assault with a deadly weapon!” The crowd nearly loses control. Then he shakes a beer and spurts it from between his legs. The stagehands brace for riot.
The music is about partying. No, it is a party. In an article on the release of “5150,” Rolling Stone tagged Van Halen’s era the “power-party rock arena.” Disco had suffocated the social consciousness of the ’60s, and by the ’80s pop musicians like Van Halen just wanted to have a good time. In a decade when the Gipper was all that stood between humanity and nuclear holocaust, rock ‘n’ roll became a release valve — not to create change, but to dust reality in a haze of neon and frizzy hair. Pot was out, cocaine was in. Thinking out, pleasure in. The ’80s was the decade of the yuppie, the preppie, “Dynasty” and Pac-Man. It was an age of hedonistic irresponsibility, when introspection and intellectualism were beat.
Roth is doing his best to re-create the landscape. On “Dance the Night Away,” lead guitar Brian Young, from the Hollywood-based Van Halen tribute band the Atomic Punks, proves himself with a light-speed, Eddie-esque solo. His long, curly brown hair shakes and bobs as he plays. James LoMenzo, from White Lion, backs him on bass.
During “Runnin’ With the Devil,” the man with the David Cassidy hair bobs his head to the bass drum, but he has forgotten the words to the song. He mumbles them and raises his fist above his head again. Roth switches to a red bandanna in “You Really Got Me,” and I remember a particular Christmas morning in grade school listening to the song on a Radio Shack clock radio, waiting for my parents to wake up.
After a tight arrangement of “Beautiful Girl,” Dave breaks out of his frontman shell and addresses the crowd directly. “This is America,” he says. “This carnival, this is my childhood. My family used to drive through Vermont when I was little. This is Americana — like eating fried chicken and drinking iced tea.”
He is connecting with the audience, and we love him for it. Then a girl in the front row distracts his attention: “Am I gonna have to make a booty call during work?” Pause. “Yoooww!”
By the time Roth dives into “Pretty Woman,” the entire stadium is dancing. Diamond Dave is carrying the microphone stand around like a metal detector and my friend and I are hopping up and down. Roth is winning the war, and he knows it.
In the break before “Ice Cream Man,” Roth seems to be losing his mind. He is electric. He yells things into the mike like: “The power of the universe and this shit is wild!” Young strums in the background. The bass kicks in. A girl screams. Roth yells, “One nation under cable television!”
Roth opens “Ice Cream Man” playing an acoustic guitar with a white panel on the front. His smile is about to blow. He busts out a minute of 12-bar blues, then the band backs him. Roth sets the guitar vertically on the stage and lets it fall. A roadie grabs it before it hits the ground. Roth pirouettes in a surprisingly deft motion and grabs the mike. A roundhouse kick. Then the smile.
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It’s the final encore. Everyone knows what Dave is going to play. High school gyms crave the rhythm, old football uniforms and scratchy rayon prom dresses listen anxiously for the melody. Then it starts. The synthesizer first, then the drums, bass and guitar. Finally, Roth grabs the mike and lights into Van Halen’s only No. 1 single in the band’s 25-year run.
Can’t you see me standing here/ I got my back against the record machine/ I ain’t the worst that you’ve seen/ Oh can’t you see what I mean?/ Might as well jump!
And we do. Roth is going wild. You know Hagar is backstage tapping his foot. The band is grooving and if only Hagar would come out, right now, the rift would be bridged. Just tonight, under the glow of the orange stockyard lights. But he doesn’t and Roth finishes on the stage alone, very much alone amid the lights and speakers and mega-stage of the heavy metal ’80s that in 2002 have become a scratchy memory in the high 100s of the FM dial.
As the synth winds down and Roth climbs the drum pedestal to perform his final signature move — and perhaps sign off for good from an era when frosting went in your hair, accessorizing required electricity and hip-hop was cutting edge — it doesn’t matter that Sammy, Eddie, Michael and Alex aren’t there with him. Because times have changed, and you can’t expect the band to change with them. Elvis never played punk. Morrison never sang Duke. When rock ‘n’ roll insists on marching ahead like a Midwestern flash flood, all its fans can hope for is a glimpse of what was once great.
Roth drops his head and the lights of the fair seem to brighten. The Gravitron whips in circles; the Zipper bobs up and down. Children’s screams rise from the midway. That synth is barely hanging on now. The pope has been shot. Reagan’s been shot. John Lennon has been shot. Roth squats in front of the drums, readying for his stunt. Michael Jackson’s hair catches fire; Run-D.M.C. goes platinum; doctors discover the AIDS virus.
Roth leaps off the stage and reaches for his toes. One leg is almost straight, the other is bent at an odd angle. It’s like looking back in time through a beer bottle. But the music is the same, or at least close enough. Roth has transported us through the concave glass, and at that moment every person in the audience is a skinny, awkward, high school freshman, hopeful, terrified, young.
Roth lands. I think for a second that his knee has buckled, but he’s still standing. Triumphant. A warbling, electric hum resonates from the guitars, the synth fades. We raise our fists. Roth has won, but it doesn’t matter. We are thankful. We don’t want him or Hagar to leave. We don’t want to go home to our laptops and multidisc changers. You can’t find this on an MP3. Roth bows. It is over. His shape disintegrates as the lights fade. Then he is gone, and all that is left are the multicolored bulbs of the Ferris wheel, spinning around and around and around.
Porter Fox is a freelance writer living in Portland, Maine. His travel, fiction and news writing has appeared in Outside, Men's Journal, Sports Afield, Powder and elsewhere.
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9/4/2002
SAMMY HAGAR, DAVID LEE ROTH Deny Rift On Tour
September 4, 2002 0 Comments
Former VAN HALEN vocalists Sammy Hagar and David Lee Roth may not be the best of friends, but they were cordial to each other on the road — despite rumors to the contrary. Backstage at the MTV Video Music Awards, Roth and Hagar talked about the state of their relationship.
When asked if things were patched up between them, Roth responded: "Well, can you define patched up? (laughs) It turned into a color...What is rock 'n' roll without a little bit of conflict, without a little bit of a drama? But I think that most of what's been going on with the Roth/Hagar tour is purely for your listening and dancing pleasure. Come on, what's the worst that a couple of rock stars could possibly do? A little slap fighting, an elaborate healing process and a reunion tour."
Addressing the rumors that a wall had to be built between Roth and Hagar, Dave said, "Actually, I think it was Sam who insisted that a wall be built between the two camps, and every night now it looks like a rap festival with all the police presence."
Meanwhile, Hagar denied that a huge rift had developed between the two.
"Right now walking off the stage with Dave, he was talking about going to a titty bar," Sammy stated. "You know, I said, 'Hey I'm with my wife, but I'll ask her,' you know?"
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9/5/2002
SAMMY HAGAR: VAN HALEN Reunion Is Inevitable
September 5, 2002 0 Comments
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A reunion between Sammy Hagar and his former VAN HALEN bandmates is "inevitable," the singer told MTV backstage at last week's MTV Video Music Awards, shortly after presenting an award with David Lee Roth. "I mean come on, how could it not [happen]?"
While Hagar confessed that he hasn't spoken with either of the Van Halen brothers (Eddie and Alex) in quite some time, he has spent a lot of on- and off-stage time with bassist Michael Anthony, who has been regularly flying in to join Hagar during his live performances.
"Mikey hasn't even heard from Eddie or Alex," Hagar explained. "I just think when they're ready to surface, they'll do it.
"It's not that I'm crying for [a reunion]," clarified Sammy. "I'm happy. I'm totally happy. [But] I don't think I could say I am never going to play with those guys again and it will never happen. And God forbid something happened to one of us and then it could never happen. I'd be very regretful.
"So I think it's inevitable," he reiterated. "So I think we'll do it. And hopefully we'll do it like right here in the VMAs sometime or something."
Read more at http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/sam...OGEMwTL6rYJ.99
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DAVID LEE ROTH: I Was Ready To Kick SAMMY HAGAR's Ass
September 8, 2002 0 Comments
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The following item comes to us courtesy of today's edition of the New York Post:
David Lee Roth says he was ready to deliver a beat-down to his fellow fired VAN HALEN frontman Sammy Hagar after Hagar trashed him on PAGE SIX a while back. Hagar, who was co-headlining a tour with Roth at the time, likened Diamond Dave to Liberace, called him an "a--hole" and made fun of his receding hairline. "I called him out in front of about 20 people after his famous PAGE SIX harangue," Roth said on Howard Stern's radio show. "He backed down. I guess he didn't want to hurt his strumming hand." Roth, who holds a black belt in karate, explained their backstage blow-ups by saying: "Two big dogs eating out of one big bowl." But he'd tour with Hagar again. "I'd sign up the day after tomorrow. I think the only one who didn't have fun on the tour was Sam."
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HOWARD STERN HAS ROTH BACK ON AFTER THE TOUR
It’s very obvious during this interview that Howard gets under Dave’s skin when he points out that Roth is wearing a thong.
HS: Why is he so miserable in your opinion?
DLR: Ohh, I don't know! 2 Big dogs, 1 big dog bowl? He's'a little cranky from the sugar in the tequilla.
HS: what happened on tour? Did you guys become close? Were you friends at all?
RQ: Did you share any intamacy at all?
DLR: No, uh, you know, it was, it was uh, I always thought that Sam would be the very best at either warming up or cooling down! You know? (Laughs)
DLR: I called Sammy out in front of about 20 people in the backstage area after his famous page 6 Kerrang, and uh, we were dually separated, cuz then it was like a rap show backstage with armed policemen and everything. His management was threatening me. Restraining orders, and so forth.
HS: But you're a karate expert? Is that correct?
DLR: I think that Sam probably would never take a chance of hurting that strumming hand.
RQ: I have to say something! David Lee is wearing a thong!
HS: Are you wearing a thong!?
DLR: I'm not wearing a thong!
RQ: Turnaround! Turnaround! Let Howard See!
HS: What's the matter with you! Let me see your ass! Let me see it!
RQ: (Cackling in the background)
Go ahead! He's got a pantyline! It's a thong! (Farting noises)
HS: You got a panty line in there?
DLR: I went to Scores last night, got a thong stuck in my throat.
HS: Did you go to Scores last night?
DLR: Only the best cultural events!
HS: Did you go to Scores last night?
DLR: I sneak around! I make sure I go to all the private, all the best places.
BB: So the Van Halen thing - the Van Halen brothers, you'll never work with those guys again? That's done?
DLR: No! It's a possibility in the future, but how long are you gonna hold your breath? You know? The only sin that Eddie Van Halen has ever really been guilty of is wasted time. You know? If you want to know the value of one second, ask the guy who just missed a motorcycle accident by one seond.
HS: There was a lot of time that you could have spent working on music and being together but a lot of this is so much nonsense is what you're saying? I think?
DLR: Yeah, After how many Summers are you gonna hold your breath? We're here right now, we're larger than life. I'm an action figure now, I'm not even a rockstar anymore.
HS: Right.
DLR: When I stood up at the MTV Awards here, I thought, Jesus, I remember you, I looked out at the audience, I looked at the Director, I looked at Sam and said, "I don't remember you!" (Laughs)
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And now... a word about Dave From Sammy Hagar
Let's talk about David Lee Roth. When the two of you toured together several years ago, you didn't hit it off. I would've thought that perhaps the two of you might've sat around trading war stories.
"I tried. When we did the Sam and Dave tour, that's how I envisioned the it - the two of us getting together after the shows, having some drinks and crackin' up and laughin' about shit. What I really hoped was that it would've forced the Sam and Dave Van Halen reunion, where we all do it together. That would've been a super fan tour. That ain't about me, it ain't about Dave, it ain't about Ed and Al, it ain't about Mikey - that's about the fans. But Van Halen are not friendly towards their fans. All Van Halen have ever done is drive a wedge between themselves and their fans. They've made great music, but they don't do anything for the fans. I'm very different in that respect, as you know. I owe it all to my fans and I never want to have the wall between us.
Did you even get to talk to Dave about doing a big reunion tour with everybody involved?
"I'll tell you, Dave's a strange guy. I don't like to talk about him because I don't know him. He is, without a doubt, the weirdest fucker I've ever met in my life! [laughs] You can't get close to him. He's all fake. It's like there's nobody there. You talk to him and it's like you're talking to a friggin' robot. The guy's got his raps down, and that's that. You do an interview with him and you'll get the 10 answers to every question that he's got prepared, but you'll never get anything else. He doesn't dig in.
You're saying that he's scripted.
"All scripted. Dave's the opposite of me. I have never had a script, and I couldn't follow one if you gave it to me. We're so different, and that's why the tour didn't work. I don't even care about that guy. I don't care about him being in the band. He's so off my radar, he's so not in my world, it's like he doesn't exist. He's talented, he's got his thing, he's cool for people who like that show-biz shit. He's fine. But as far as Van Halen making a record… I don't see how Dave and Eddie can spend 15 seconds in a room together. That goes for Al, too. And I heard they don't, so I don't see them making a record."
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