David Lee Roth @ Lucas Oil Live, Thackerville, OK

Words and photos by Duane Clawson

In the words of the Kinks' frontman Ray Davies, “Rock bands will come, and rock bands will go, but rock and roll will go on forever!” No one can ever say that David Lee Roth is not making the most of his forever moment in rock and roll. At 70 years old, the former Van Halen vocalist has come out of a self-imposed retirement. In the spring the Roth camp announced a 20-city tour dubbed the Roth Show. Alrighty then, it has been 40-plus years since the last time I saw Mr. Roth live, let’s go to Oklahoma and see how he is fairing!

As the stage illuminates, Roth casually strolls in from stage right, with all his rock star swagger still intact. “Can you hear me out there?” he asks the Oklahoma audience. A small cheer went up, Roth repeated the question again but this time with the famous David Lee Roth howl, reaping a much larger response! I was not sure how this show was going to go but judging from the opening notes of “Panama”, I was going to enjoy this band. If there has ever been one thing that is predictable about David, he is going to have a great band behind him!

Alright, “Panama” sounded surprisingly good, the following song “Drop Dead Legs”, not so much. Maybe not so much as in sound, again the band is great, but this song was all about Dave. Cornball theatrics and silly posing for phone pics made this tune about eight minutes longer than it should have been..

Before this turns into a concert bashing review, I will say first and foremost, you must give this man credit. There are very few 70-year old rock stars out there doing a 90-minute show. Gone are the jumps, kicks, and slides of the Van Halen era but he still is continuously working the stage. Prowling, giving the audience what they came to see, history! When he was not trying too hard, old classics like “Jamie’s Cryin” sounded just as good as they did back in the day.

I was surprised to find the setlist contained no solo material. In retrospect, I somehow got the feeling this was this show was Dave’s nod to the late great Eddie Van Halen. Without a doubt, Roth could still find a proper range on masterpieces like “Oh Pretty Woman”, “Hot for Teacher”, and “Ain’t Talkin’ bout Love.” Rock and roll’s original master of ceremonies brought the night to a close with a “give it everything you have” version of Van Halen's “Jump”! As I watched the crowd file out of the theater, it was hard not to notice there were several me’s in attendance. Some of us just like David, taking in the last gasps of youth through the music.

Thank you to David Lee Roth’s management for allowing MTC MAG to be front and center! And thank you to Lucas Oil Live and Winstar Casino for their hospitality!

Photos of the show are below: