Pop Music Review : David Lee Roth as a Natty Lounge Lizard

You had to feel sorry for David Lee Roth at the House of Blues on Tuesday--not because in the six years since his last Los Angeles appearance he’s gone from filling the Forum to playing a 1,000-capacity club, but because he’s gone from being perhaps the most entertaining figure in hard rock to perhaps the most irrelevant man in music.

The former Van Halen singer has traded in his old long-haired, leering, party-boy image for that of a short-haired, natty lounge lizard. But where he once worked with the most knowing wink in show biz, on Tuesday he looked as if he didn’t have a clue. His mugging and sub-Vegas patter came off like a Robin Williams parody but with no punch lines.

His new songs bounced around aimlessly from hard-rockers to fake R&B; to failed social commentaries. And although the crowd came alive for such old faves as Van Halen’s “Panama” and “Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love” and Roth’s hit versions of “Just a Gigolo” and “California Girls,” they were pale memories of past glories.

Ironically, it’s Roth’s old persona that could serve a needed role these days. A hard-rock harlequin might be the perfect antidote to the oppressive seriousness of current rock, an oasis of cool relief from the anguish and rage of Young America.

Where have you gone, Diamond Dave? A nation turns its lonely eyes to you.