Out of all the elder statespeople who received the “Coachella bump” after their special appearances across the two-weekend shitshow extravaganza in the California desert last month, perhaps none was more unexpected than David Lee Roth. The legendary frontman was one of the special guests during Teddy Swims’ set, a literal revolving door onstage which also saw Joe Jonas and Vanessa Carlton join the “Lose Control” singer in front of the sweaty masses. Unsurprisingly, Roth and Swims dueted on the synth classic “Jump,” the sole No. 1 hit the former had during his time in Van Halen. It went so well that they made it a three-peat, the final time at the Stagecoach Music Festival the weekend following Coachella.
At Citizens House of Blues in Boston tonight (May 24), the latest stop on his Don’t Love Me, Rent Me Tour, “Jump” will be just one of the nearly two dozen songs Roth will be pulling from the mighty Van Halen catalog. Unfortunately, he won’t be touching on any of his solo hits, which is puzzling on one level, but likely makes complete sense in the world of DLR. See, the singer has always been a one-of-a-kind character, a key element that made him so compelling in the first place. At 71 years of age, though, he’s gone completely madcap genius. The things he says tend to veer toward mind-boggling, and his actions even more so. Still, he manages to rise to the top – or at least remain a topic of conversation.
Back in the ‘80s, Roth was known for talking circles around questions he had no interest in answering. An interviewer might ask about the genesis of a particular track or album artwork and walk away dazed after getting a crash course in the history of Istanbul’s GDP during the Byzantine Empire. These days, he’s just as nonsensically orating, with occasional nuggets between the lines.
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“I’ve bought property in the American musical fabric that extends beyond timeframe, that extends beyond shoes and haircuts,” he said during one media interaction at Stagecoach. “It includes cowboy hats and yarmulkes.”
Cue the thinking face emoji while we sort that one out. Maybe it’s genius, maybe it’s the ramblings of an icon who’s earned the right to be a lot nutty. Either way, expect Roth to be yelping and shrieking his way through hits “as familiar as the roof of your own mouth” – his words – like “Unchained,” “Panama,” and “Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love.”
And while he long ago lost the range to reach the highs in “Jamie’s Cryin’” or “Dance the Night Away,” Roth has enlisted a quartet of backup singers to do the heavy lifting, inadvertently — but probably by design – delivering fresh insight into songs that already had a foundation rooted in R&B and doo-wop. Per usual, he’s also assembled a crack team of top-tier musicians to do justice to the music led by the guitar histrionics of the late Eddie Van Halen.
A NIGHT WITH DAVID LEE ROTH :: Sunday, May 24 at Citizens House of Blues, 15 Lansdowne St. in Boston, MA :: 7 p.m., all ages, $92 to $136 :: Event info :: Advance tickets
