David Lee Roth is kissing his storied stage career goodbye.
The 66-year-old rock icon announced Friday that he plans to retire in January after playing a final run of five shows in Las Vegas.
“I am throwing in the shoes. I’m retiring,” the former Van Halen frontman told the Las Vegas Review Journal. “This is the first, and only, official announcement. … You’ve got the news. Share it with the world.”
Roth still has a handful of shows he plans to honor at the House of Blues at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas; the first is on New Year’s Eve and the last is slated for Jan. 8, 2022.
“I’m not going to explain the statement,” he continued. “The explanation is in a safe. These are my last five shows.”
Roth also admitted he’s been thinking a lot about “the departure of my beloved classmate recently,” referencing his former bandmate Eddie Van Halen, who died of cancer last October.
“I am encouraged and compelled to really come to grips with how short time is, and my time is probably even shorter,” Roth said. “I thought I might have been the first, frankly. … And my doctors, my handlers, compelled me to really address that every time I go on stage, I endanger that future.”
He added: “I’ve given you all I’ve got to give. It’s been an amazing, great run, no regrets, nothing to say about anybody.”