Steve Vai recently talked about the canceled 2015 reunion show with David Lee Roth and why it actually turned out for the best. In an interview with Guitar Interactive Magazine, Vai said the show’s cancellation got them more attention than the performance itself would have.
The plan was for Vai to reunite with Roth, bassist Billy Sheehan, and drummer Gregg Bissonette for a one-off show at the Lucky Strike club in Los Angeles. But just as they were about to start playing, the fire marshal shut the event down because the venue was overcrowded.
Recalling the moment, Vai said, “I was standing there. I was going to hit the first chord, and we were going to take off. Somebody came to me and said that they’re kicking everybody out. ‘They’re shutting the place down. The fire marshal is here. You’re way, way over capacity, and there’s thousands and thousands of people in the street.'”
Vai initially wanted to go ahead with the show despite the warnings. “I’m like, ‘Not going to play! I’m going to play.’ He’s like, ‘You’ll be fined.’ I said, ‘OK, fine me. I’ll pay it. How much is the fine?’ And the guy goes, ‘Really?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I’ll pay the fine.'”
But the situation escalated quickly. “So, he runs away, and he comes back, and he goes, ‘The fine is five thousand dollars.’ I’m like, ‘OK, great! Here we go.’ And he said, ‘The place will shut down. They’ll lose their license if you play. They’re kicking, pulling people out now. Also, you can go to jail, you know, and the club owner can get in a lot of trouble.’ So, at that point, what am I going to do?”
In the end, they called off the show. But Vai noted that the media coverage after the cancellation turned out to be more valuable. “It worked out. We got more press out of the fact that we didn’t play than if we did,” he said.
“I went backstage, I went back right after I decided not to hit that chord and start the show. I said to Dave, ‘You’re not going to believe this. We can’t play. The fire marshals are kicking everybody out.’ He goes, ‘Perfect. We’ll get more press out of it than if we played.’ And, sure enough, it was on the cover of newspapers around the world. It was the funniest thing.”
Vai’s history with Roth goes back to 1985 when he joined the former Van Halen frontman’s band alongside Sheehan and Bissonette. Their debut album, ‘Eat ‘Em and Smile,’ came out in 1986, reached number four on the Billboard 200 chart, and sold over two million copies.
