Roth Eat 'Em And Smile reunion will happen

David Lee Roth’s planned reunion with the lineup from his solo album Eat ‘Em And Smile will happen following last month’s last-minute cancellation.

The band’s one-off concert at Lucky Strike Live in Hollywood on November 25 was cancelled due to overcrowding in the venue – but bass player Billy Sheehan confirms that they will be going ahead with the comeback at a later date.

The band have not yet said whether the reunion will be in the form of a show or a world tour.

The Hollywood gig would have seen guitar hero Steve Vai, bassist Sheehan, Ringo Starr drummer Greg Bissonette and keyboardist Brett Tuggle play the album together for the first time in 30 years.

Steel Panther vocalist Ralph Saenz, also known as Michael Starr, was also to join them onstage.

Sheehan said: “The fire department shut down the whole show before we got on stage. And did we ever have a surprise for you. Such is life. The place was so crowded and the line continued down to Hollywood Blvd all night. Just too many people.”

California Rock News caught footage of a disappointed Roth leaving the Hollywood and Highland Centre on November 25. He can be heard apologising to fans, adding that they would find another venue to stage the reunion.

He asked bystanders: “Should we go to the Hollywood Palladium, maybe?”

Roth recently toured North America with Van Halen.

Former TeamRock news desk member Christina joined our team in late 2015, and although her time working on online rock news was fairly brief, she made a huge impact by contributing close to 1500 stories. Christina also interviewed artists including Deftones frontman Chino Moreno and worked at the Download festival. In late 2016, Christina left rock journalism to pursue a career in current affairs. In 2021, she was named Local Weekly Feature Writer of the Year at the Scottish Press Awards.