There’s coincidences and there’s coincidences. And then there’s David Lee Roth, as mercurial and eccentric a rock n’ roll frontman and personality as has ever lived and likely ever will.
Roth announced his pending retirement over the weekend, telling the Las Vegas Review-Journal that his upcoming five-show residency at House of Blues at the Mandalay Bay will be his swan song as a musician in the public eye.
That Roth is retiring is a bit jarring but not necessarily surprising. DLR has done it all in his multi-act career, and there’s something respectable about calling it quits at 66 years old and quietly enjoying the rest of his life instead of forcing himself out on stage into his 70s and beyond like so many aging rockers do.
But did he predict this exact moment 30 years ago? Is he now just fulfilling his own pre-determined destiny?
Some astute Van Halen / DLR fans recalled a segment of the music video for “A Lil’ Ain’t Enough,” the title track off his 1991 solo album, which predicted this very moment. In one scene towards the end of the clip, Diamond Dave visits a crystal-ball-wielding soothsayer (so ’80s! errr… early ’90s) and flashes into the future all way-screen-like, showing a marquee at Anaheim Stadium that reads “Diamond Dave, THE ABSOLUTE FINAL TOUR: SOLD OUT” as a fat, bloated, old Dave exits a hover car. The date shown on the bottom of the screen in mock-futuristic lettering: October 10, 2021, Dave’s birthday, and just nine days after he ended up announcing his retirement!
Here are the screen shots:
That’s too on-the-mark to be coincidental. It can’t be. Not from Dave. Either way, it’s really friggin’ cool and one last bit of trivia for Van Halen freaks like me.
Announcing the news last week, Roth explained:
“I’ve given you all I’ve got to give. It’s been an amazing, great run, no regrets, nothing to say about anybody. I’ll miss you all. Stay frosty.”
He also revealed that the death of Eddie Van Halen at least partially inspired this decision and that he’s been in regular touch with Alex lately.
Watch the sooth-saying video for “A Lil’ Ain’t Enough” below.