Steve Vai Explains David Lee Roth’s Happiness After Canceled Gigs

You know how they say, ‘any press is good press?’ Well, it seems like our beloved David Lee Roth stands by these words with all his might. You see, while recently speaking on the Metal Hall of Fame, guitar hero Steve Vai recalled how excited and pleased Dave was upon hearing that their reunion show was canceled.

So, Vai was set to perform with former bandmates, who recorded 86’s ‘Eat ‘Em and Smile,’ as they reunited for their 30th anniversary as a band back in 2015. While the former bandmates were waiting by the stage at the Lucky Strike Live in Hollywood, the fans filled up the venue quickly. Surely, everyone was excited, from the audience to the band, and Roth was planning to make an unannounced appearance.

However, the gig was canceled at the last minute as the fire marshal arrived at the scene, as things had started to take a chaotic turn, with long, long lines continuing down the streets. So, after all the chaos and the marshals’ arrival, Steve guessed that the show would be canceled and decided to let Diamond Dave know they couldn’t take the stage. To his surprise, Dave was pleased by this news.

“I was standing out on the stage with the curtain, just about to hit the first chord, [of] the ‘Yankee Rose,’ when they shut it down,” recalled Vai while talking about the reunion show, reliving the moments of him waiting in the back before getting on the stage. “He [Dave] was waiting for me to hit the chord.”

However, Steve Vai realized that the show wouldn’t take place, so he announced the news to Roth and got a surprising reaction. The guitarist revealed, “And when we couldn’t play, I had to go back and say, ‘Dave, this thing is not gonna happen because the fire marshall’s here; it’s a mad house.’ And he goes, ‘Perfect! We’ll get more press out of it by not playing than playing.’ Man, was he right?”

Thus, it’s evident that for David Lee Roth, anything leading to some press is beneficial since he might make it to the headlines. In this case, it was a canceled show. For Vai, the singer was right as, at the time, the cancelation did cover a few headlines, and Roth left the venue by signing a few autographs for the fans while apologizing that the band was too popular.