One of the most interesting tours of 2025 is former Van Halen front man David Lee Roth’s tour. Roth’s last full tour was back in 2020 opening up for KISS. That tour got cut short due to the pandemic. So when Roth’s name appeared as headliner for this years M3 festival, their was lot of chatter if there would be more dates, Soon enough after, Roth announced a 21 city tour. Also, the other buzz was what Roth did to fill out his backing band. Roth enlisted five background singers do do not only the harmonies, but fill in other parts of the vocals when needed. This show in Verona, NY was the only within NY state (outside of the NYC area).
Roth and his whopping 9 piece backing band took the stage at 8:10pm. The band included 5 background vocalists, a keyboardist, drummer, guitarist and bassist. The band opened the show by digging into Van Halen’s ‘1984’ album in “Panama.” Roth dressed in all black leather, really looked physically fit. He seemed to be in great spirits and taking in the adulation that was given to him. The backing band he enlisted was amazing. Any guitar player that Roth plays with with have that extreme pressure to come close to the virtuoso playing of Eddie Van Halen. Al Estrada was certainly up to the task for the entire evening. Estrada was solid in his playing and didn’t overplay any parts at all. The background singers were on top of the vocals and really added those powerful harmonies that former Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony is known for. Roth shared stories at times during the show. He talked about how he had to learn how to ride a bike at a very young age so he can ride his bike back and forth to school. He played with various microphone stands during the show including twirling a modified one during “Mean Street.” He also donned a cowboy hat for a short time during “I’m the One.”
Of course, there are two elephants in the room that have people chattering about when it comes to David Lee Roth live performances. They are; why is Roth only doing Van Halen songs and how is his voice holding up? I’ll tackle the first question first. Roth had a very successful solo career and for him not to touch on a few of those solo songs like “Yankee Rose,” Goin’ Crazy” or “Just like Paradise” really is doing his longtime fans an injustice. Second, are his vocals. Roth is famously known for his showman tactics but never was put on a pedestal for his vocal prowess. This was back in his heyday of the late 1970’s and 80’s. With a significant amount of time passing, that also has affected his vocals (like it would any other vocalist). If you take those factors into consideration then it won’t be a surprise when you witness Roth live in concert. Roth was smart by enlisting quality musicians to surround himself with. It let Roth do what he does best. That is, concentrating on being a great front man!
Setlist:
Panama (Van Halen song)
Drop Dead Legs (Van Halen song)
I’m the One (Van Halen song)
I’ll Wait (Van Halen song)
You Really Got Me (The Kinks cover)
Runnin’ With the Devil (Van Halen song)
Romeo Delight (Van Halen song)
Dance the Night Away (Van Halen song)
Mean Street (Van Halen song)
Atomic Punk (Van Halen song)
Jamie’s Cryin’ (Van Halen song)
Unchained (Van Halen song)
Oh, Pretty Woman (Roy Orbison cover)
Ain’t Talkin’ Bout Love (Van Halen song)
Hot for Teacher (Van Halen song)
Everybody Wants Some!! (Van Halen song)
Jump (Van Halen song)
We would like to thank Cami Holmes from Alta World Touring for the credentials to review the show.
