Roth pokes fun at past spats with Eddie Van Halen

David Lee Roth poked fun at his rocky relationship with Eddie Van Halen at the first of the band’s Hollywood Bowl shows last weekend.

The singer and lead guitarist have fallen out numerous times down the years, with Roth being replaced by Sammy Hagar in 1985 before returning in 2007.

Roth gave the Bowl crowd on Saturday night a ‘dance lesson’ in which he made fun of Jon Bon Jovi’s hand gestures, before alluding to the past tensions between himself and EVH.

He says: “Bon Jovi has made a career of what we call the half-Jesus. Rumour has it that Jon is kind of at odds with the guitar player. Imagine the odds of that shit happening?

“The difference is Edward and I agree to apologise every couple of summers and come out and share the good news with you. The best years of my life, the high points of all my life, onstage with you, homeboy. I will always do the half-Jesus towards you, Eddie Van Halen.”

Van Halen’s widespread North American tour wrapped up with the two Hollywood Bowl shows. During an August show in New Jersey, Roth stopped the gig to have it out with a fan who threw a beer on stage.

Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.