New version now available
David Lee Roth has released a new studio live version of Van Halen’s 1984 classic “Panama.” Roth shared the version of Friday with a title of “Roth lives! Panama – David Lee Roth studio live” but no description.
Van Halen News Desk reports the song is from a May 2022 recording session when Roth and his band recorded 14 songs within a two hour period “live.” It’s unclear what else the band recorded.
The track is the third solo single the former Van Halen frontman has shared in recent months. In July, Roth released surprised dropped “Pointing at the Moon,” a piano/acoustic guitar ballad, and “Nothing Could Have Stopped Us Back Then Anyway,” a song about his former band.
The former two songs stem from a 2007 recording session with guitarist and bassist John 5, drummer Greg Bissonette, keyboardist Brett Tiggle and percussionist Luis Conte. Five songs from those sessions were released as part of The Roth Project in 2020.
Despite what appears to be affirmations for Van Halen, Roth seems to be holding up any potential Eddie Van Halen tribute that’s been rumored in recent months. SiriusXM radio host Eddie Trunk shared during an episode of Trunk Nation SiriusXM recently that Roth is the reason nothing has been solidified with Eddie’s son Wolfgang indirectly confirming those rumors.
Roth announced his retirement last fall with a “career-ending residency” at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. However, “due to unforeseen circumstances related to COVID and out of an abundance of caution for those working and attending the shows,” the entire thing was canceled, even after the addition of new shows with Roth giving Fox News a cryptic tease about not actually retiring.
“There’s always a tomorrow for a singer. Not so much for a trombone player these days, okay?” he says. “How many times did Rocky retire? Seven. I think number three was my favorite? How many times did Rambo have to come out of retirement in order to make the sequel?”
https://youtu.be/bj5djJ6NMTE
