Watch: David Lee Roth Covers Billy Joel’s ‘New York State of Mind’ in Grand Ronde, Oregon

The Van Halen frontman is deep into his summer solo run, bringing unexpected covers and rarities to the stage.

David Lee Roth brought a Billy Joel detour to his Don't Love Me, Rent Me Tour, covering ‘New York State of Mind' for the crowd in Grand Ronde, Oregon. The 1976 track, originally from Joel's fourth album Turnstiles, is a well-traveled standard that has drawn interpretations from artists including Barbra Streisand and Tony Bennett. Roth's version adds a distinctly rock-flavored chapter to that lineage.

Roth Takes ‘New York State of Mind' to the Pacific Northwest

The Grand Ronde stop gave Roth's audience something they almost certainly did not see coming. Slipping Billy Joel's ‘New York State of Mind' into a set built around Van Halen's catalog and his own solo work is the kind of left-field move that has always defined Roth's showmanship. Joel released the song in 1976 on Turnstiles, his fourth LP, and it has since become one of the more covered tracks in the classic rock and pop songbook.

The Don't Love Me, Rent Me Tour launched earlier this month in Spokane, Washington, and is scheduled to run through the summer before closing on Aug. 7 in Sturgis, South Dakota. The Grand Ronde date falls in the middle of that run, and the setlist has already been generating attention beyond the Joel cover.

Rarities and Surprises Filling Out the Setlist

The Oregon show was not the only moment of the tour generating buzz. According to Ultimate Classic Rock, Roth performed ‘Little Dreamer,' a track from Van Halen's self-titled 1978 debut, for the first time in nearly 20 years during his set. For fans who have followed Roth's career across both his Van Halen tenure and his solo output, that kind of deep cut carries real weight.

Pulling a song out of a nearly two-decade absence is a meaningful gesture on a tour like this. It signals that Roth is treating the Don't Love Me, Rent Me run as something more than a nostalgia circuit, actively revisiting corners of his catalog that have been dormant for years.

Coachella Momentum Feeding Into the Tour

Roth arrived at this tour with fresh momentum from a high-profile Coachella appearance. He surfaced as a surprise guest during Teddy Swims' set at the festival, and the two performed Van Halen's 1984 hit ‘Jump' together. The pairing proved popular enough that they repeated it during Coachella's second weekend and again at Stagecoach.

Swims, speaking to Good Morning America, was effusive about the experience. ‘He's been so generous, and was like, Man, I'll follow you on tour and get up there with you every night if you want,' Swims said of Roth. ‘He's the freaking man. Van Halen's my favorite band. He's the best singer of all time.' Swims also described how the connection formed organically: the two happened to be rehearsing near each other, and Swims approached Roth directly. ‘I sat with him and asked him everything. He was so gracious to share his rum and Cokes with me, and talk to me about all his crazy stories, so I asked if he wanted to come play with me,' Swims said. ‘He's the coolest guy in the world. What you see on stage is what you get all the time, 24 hours a day. He's a real rockstar.'

What we know

• David Lee Roth covered Billy Joel's ‘New York State of Mind' during a concert in Grand Ronde, Oregon.
• Billy Joel originally released ‘New York State of Mind' in 1976 on his fourth album, Turnstiles.
• Roth's Don't Love Me, Rent Me Tour kicked off in Spokane, Washington, and is scheduled to wrap Aug. 7 in Sturgis, South Dakota.
• According to Ultimate Classic Rock, Roth performed ‘Little Dreamer' from Van Halen's debut album for the first time in nearly 20 years during his tour.
• Roth appeared as a surprise guest during Teddy Swims' Coachella set, performing ‘Jump,' and the two later repeated the collaboration at Coachella's second weekend and at Stagecoach.
• Teddy Swims told Good Morning America that Roth offered to join him on tour every night after their Coachella performance.

The take

David Lee Roth covering Billy Joel is a reminder of something easy to forget: before he became synonymous with spandex and arena rock excess, Roth was a student of American popular music in its broadest sense. His vocal influences have always ranged well beyond hard rock, touching blues, jazz phrasing, and the kind of saloon-singer swagger that ‘New York State of Mind' demands. The cover fits his range more naturally than it might appear on paper.

The Don't Love Me, Rent Me Tour also arrives at an interesting moment for legacy rock acts. The Coachella appearances with Teddy Swims introduced Roth to a generation of listeners who know ‘Jump' primarily as a cultural artifact rather than a lived concert memory. That kind of cross-generational visibility has become increasingly valuable for artists of Roth's era, and the Swims collaboration suggested genuine chemistry rather than a calculated marketing exercise.

Pulling ‘Little Dreamer' out of a nearly 20-year retirement is the kind of detail that separates a serious touring artist from one simply running through the hits. Van Halen's 1978 debut remains one of the most seismic debut albums in rock history, and revisiting its deeper cuts signals that Roth is engaging with his own legacy rather than just cashing in on it. For audiences in smaller markets like Grand Ronde, that level of investment in the setlist matters considerably.

Why it matters

For classic rock fans, a David Lee Roth tour that includes deep Van Halen cuts, unexpected covers, and genuine cross-generational collaborations represents something rarer than a standard nostalgia run. The Grand Ronde show illustrates that Roth is approaching this tour with a performer's curiosity rather than a greatest-hits autopilot. That distinction matters in an era when legacy acts face constant pressure to simply deliver the familiar. Audiences willing to follow Roth into Billy Joel territory are being rewarded with a more unpredictable and ultimately more interesting live experience.

What's next

The Don't Love Me, Rent Me Tour continues through the summer. The run is scheduled to conclude on Aug. 7 in Sturgis, South Dakota. No additional guest appearances beyond those already reported have been confirmed in available sources.

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