Matt Bailey cuts through the mixed feedback about the infamous rock god has muddied the good (and bad) of Roth’s return to live performing
David Lee Roth returned to the stage last night (Sat, May 3rd) at the M3 Rock Festival in Columbia, Maryland. Roth delivered an all-Van Halen set in a leather three-piece suit that seemed stuck to him like glue with Little Dave nearly making an appearance.
The reaction to Roth’s performance across social media and the blogosphere has been mixed–as is always the case, it seems, with Diamond Dave. But no matter, the fans at M3 loved every minute the iconic frontman spent on stage. I’ll even admit that I began to write a scathing, satirical send-up of the set. But about midway through, I realized that participating in the vaunted pastime of shitting on DLR wasn’t fair. Were there bad moments? Of course. Were there awesome ones too? Absolutely.
One thing it’s fair to say about Roth is he seems to have taken the criticisms about his vocal performance to heart. His last show was as a special guest for Kiss on the very last weekend before the world shut down in 2020. It appears he took those five years off to retool his show to better fit where he’s at now vocally.
At Merriweather, he had a wall of five singers do most of the melodic lifting, freeing him to deliver the frontman antics he’s known for, focusing solely on his stage presence and hyping the crowd. His microphone had tassels that he played with like a fidgety toddler all night long. His beaming grin seemed to reach space, and his leather outfit left little to the imagination.
Yes, there were some great vocal moments too. He started the show by delivering a note-perfect “Panama,” giving hope that maybe he’d stepped onto the M3 stage straight out of a DeLeoran from 1984. “Jump,” as well, was just as one would have hoped. “Jamie’s Crying” was another highlight.
His five singers filled in where needed, like on “You Really Got Me,” which proved out of Roth’s range. And the band sometimes overpowered him, making it hard to tell whether he was hitting the notes or not. (“Hot for Teacher”)
Overall, it was an entertaining night that saw the world’s greatest frontman return to the stage, and to the catalogue that made him a superstar. And really, David Lee Roth was never Steve Perry to begin with. That is to say, Roth’s voice was never really a feature of his time in Van Halen, anyway. So the flack for him not ‘being able to sing’ is silly. He’s a rock god, voice or not.
Just know what you’re getting into if you decide to buy tickets to see DLR. It appears this show and his winery appearance this upcoming September in Northern California won’t be Gigolo Dave’s only shows. He referred to the eagerly anticipated M3 show as his “comeback” multiple times from the stage.
