"If Sammy Hagar and David Lee Roth can do a tour together, there could be hope for the Middle East. We could straighten the fools out," Hagar said in an Aug. 14 interview with USA Today. "Bono told me I had to do it for world peace," Roth quipped.

Hagar and Roth's "Heavyweight Champs of Rock 'n' Roll" tour began as the brainchild of a Las Vegas promoter who was trying to create a Van Halen reunion. When Alex and Eddie Van Halen wouldn't have anything to do with the two ex-frontmen, Roth approached Hagar about touring together. Hagar agreed and the two held a press conference to announce the most unlikely touring duo in rock history. The absurdity of it soon became its main appeal: The two singers openly hated each other.

"This is why I truthfully do not like [Roth]," Hagar said in an Aug. 9 interview with TimesLeader.com. "He acts like he's the fucking guy and I'm just a piece of shit. He's demanding to close shows and all this stuff. I want to slap this guy back down. Before, I was like, 'Dave's a good guy, and he deserves to be in the light,' but we got out there, and he's acting like he's a god and I'm the fucking opening act."

The conflict smacks of the late comedian Andy Kaufman's fabled rivalry with wrestler Jerry Lawler, enough that some question whether it's real. If not, the two are playing their roles perfectly. The first point of contention revolved around who would open and close the concerts. Roth MC'd Van Halen from 1978 to 1985, and his purist fans always considered him the only voice of the band. In Diamond Dave's mind, he was the clear choice for a closer. But Hagar, who led the group from 1986 to 1996, points out that he sold 42 million records with the Van Halen brothers. The two reached a political resolution. They flipped a coin on the Howard Stern show and have been rotating ever since.

"I think [Hagar will] be remembered for throwing a great party," Roth, who now refuses interviews, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "I'll be remembered for being a great party ... I'm competing with the guy in Limp Bizkit, with Bono. It's precision and fury. Nine moves that rule the world, and it would take you 20 years to learn them, dear."

With what looked like a nuclear situation brewing, Hagar and Roth shocked crowds this summer by keeping their cool and delivering as close to a Van Halen show as their fans could hope for. While Hagar plays more songs from his successful solo run, Roth, whose career fizzled after Van Halen, sticks strictly to old favorites. The tour has been such a hit that Roth and Hagar added 27 gigs in August and September to the original schedule. Last week the pair presented the "Best Rock Video" at the MTV Music Awards.

Regardless of the good intentions, though, there is no doubt that Roth has something to prove.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

We are standing in the beer tent drinking Budweiser from 16-ounce cups. The smell of Al's Famous Frys and air-rifle reports from "Shoot Out the Star" drift through the tent doors. We hear the drum intro for "Hot for Teacher" and run to our seats. What awaits us is nothing short of shocking.

Roth is wearing metallic, skin-tight silver and blue pants. His hair is bleached white. His skin looks plastic and is stretched across his face. His eyes bulge like he's got the bends. Diamond Dave is wearing a blue bandanna around his neck and I can't help but think that it hides a tracheotomy. But the strangest thing about him is not unfamiliar. It's been Roth's calling card for 30 years. It's the smile. The smile, an almost guilty gesture, gives the impression that Roth is not exactly sure what is going on around him. It's wide, cartoonish and, quite simply, scary.

But the man is in shape and he is singing -- and singing much better than you would imagine a 46-year-old could. His pseudo-James Brown dance moves, which scored him points in MTV's early days with "Dancing in the Street" and "Panama," seem the same. They start off fast and then jumble into a confusing series of clogging kicks and slides -- ultimately ending in Roth stopping himself before he falls over and screaming, "Yoooww!" His trademark martial-arts moves follow a similar rhythm. (Roth studies kendo twice a week in a hall he built in his house.) They are fast, seemingly random, and they end in some type of drastic punch or swing.

He's got the crowd in his hand, though. And it is nice to see. Roth's latest single, "Look at All the People Here Tonight!" earned the distinction in 2000 of being the first single released to radio exclusively through the Internet. Roth still has some of the moves, too. In the middle of "Panama," he yells at a woman in the front row, "That's not a smile -- that's assault with a deadly weapon!" The crowd nearly loses control. Then he shakes a beer and spurts it from between his legs. The stagehands brace for riot.

Recent Stories