David Lee Roth is having much more fun than you are
· louderBy Fraser Lewry
( Classic Rock )
published 27 November 2024
And he's proved it once again, paying tribute to New York City via the medium of dance
In a world riven by war and division, hope is sometimes hard to find. But hope is what you'll find on the YouTube channel of David Lee Roth.
Roth's latest video finds the former Van Halen frontman dancing. There's nothing new in this, of course – in 2012, he released footage in which he boogied to the O'Jay's proto-disco classic Love Train for two and a half hours – but his latest performance is particularly joyful.
In the clip, Roth dances to Balloon, by Jamaican dancehall star Busy Signal. It's not the first time he's used the song – seven months ago he uploaded a sepia-tinted ragtime routine set to the same music – but the new version is different in that Roth appears to be paying tribute to New York, performing in front of a trio of screens depicting images associated with the city.
There's footage shot from a moving car as it closes in on Times Square. There are photos of iconic local businesses – Katz's Deli on East Houston, Umberto's Clam House on Mulberry, The Lenox Lounge in Harlem, etc – and there are album covers associated with the city: John Coltrane's Blue Train, Lou Donaldson's Sunny Side Up, Sonny Rollins' Newk's Time, all released on fabled New York jazz label Blue Note. And there's footage of tap legend John W. Bubbles, the first black dancer to perform at Radio City Music Hall.
Through it all, Roth whirls and pirouettes and wields a bright orange mic stand, grinning and gurning and looking for all the world like the happiest man alive.
David Lee Roth brings joy, and we salute him for that.
David Lee Roth - Balloon - YouTube
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Online Editor at Louder/Classic Rock magazine since 2014. 38 years in music industry, online for 25. Also bylines for: Metal Hammer, Prog Magazine, The Word Magazine, The Guardian, The New Statesman, Saga, Music365. Former Head of Music at Xfm Radio, A&R at Fiction Records, early blogger, ex-roadie, published author. Once appeared in a Cure video dressed as a cowboy, and thinks any situation can be improved by the introduction of cats. Favourite Serbian trumpeter: Dejan Petrović.
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