Gregory Bonnell, THE CANADIAN PRESS

TORONTO - The Van Halen jukebox of hits descended on the first Canadian city of its semi-reunion tour Sunday night, a relentless machine designed solely to whip fans into a frenzy through the high-octane delivery of David Lee Roth-era classics.

The two-hour show left nothing to be desired for Toronto fans who've been waiting more than two decades for Eddie Van Halen and David Lee Roth to share a stage and reprise the back catalogue.

The band delivered obscure treasures like "Little Guitars" alongside monster hits like "Panama."

Diamond Dave's voice was powerful, Eddie's guitar wizardry front and centre.

It was perfect, almost too perfect.

For all Roth's talk about this being a new band and a new beginning, they did not stray from the Van Halen canon of classics committed to vinyl between 1978 and 1984.

This was a nostalgic, hit-delivery machine and no one was complaining.

"Finally, they're together," Michael Campbell, 44, said of Roth rejoining the Van Halen brothers. "They should have done this 20 years ago."

For purists, the reunion has been somewhat marred. Original bassist Michael Anthony, who has logged far more hours in Van Halen than Roth, has been replaced by Eddie's son Wolfgang.

Still, the teenage Van Halen proved his worth Sunday night, taking on Anthony's high harmony parts and even eliciting fist pumps from the crowd as he hit the catwalk.

Alex Van Halen's drum solo allowed the other brother his moment, but the fans saved their fiercest howls of approval for Dave and Eddie.

"I heard you missed us, we're back," Roth, putting extra emphasis on the lyrics to "Hot For Teacher," barked to rapturous applause.

If the old antagonisms between the singer and his virtuoso guitarist still exist there were no visible signs Sunday. The two men embraced several times during the show.

Roth strutted like the proverbial cat that swallowed the canary. His permanent grin seemed to say every chance to sing the old songs was a guilty little pleasure he was willing to share with the world.

The onslaught of classic Van Halen material began with the show's opener, their 1978 cover of The Kinks "You Really Got Me."

"I'm The One" was followed by "Runnin' With The Devil," followed in turn by "Romeo Delight" and "Somebody Get Me A Doctor" - all staples of Van Halen's live show before Roth's acrimonious departure in 1985.

Roth-era Van Halen songs never sounded quite right from the mouths of subsequent singers Sammy Hagar and Gary Cherone. Although strong singers both, Roth's delivery is all about personality and his performance Sunday made it clear there's only one Diamond Dave.

"I'm sitting on top of the world, yes I am," Roth sang with a wink and a nudge in "Beautiful Girls" that suggested he had found his way back to his true calling.

For fans, the feeling was mutual.

"Sammy Hagar was 'a' singer for Van Halen, but David Lee Roth is 'the' singer for Van Halen," said Rob Brayford, 41.

His friend Rob Vaillancourt concurred.

"Dave is the man, that's why everyone is here," said the 42-year old. "If they had a different singer, nobody would see it."

If there were any questions of whether three men in their 50s and a 16- year-old boy could gel and make decades old material spring to life, they were put to rest.

Roth has long lost the whistle-register squeals and yelps of days past, but his voice was strong nonetheless. The band delivered the material like fans remembered it and flaws were hard, if not impossible, to pick out.

Van Halen's signature Frankenstein guitar, the iconic red homemade job featuring random white and black stripes, was used sparingly - taking a back seat to his mainstay these days, a light-brown model of his own design.

It wouldn't have been a Van Halen show if the resident guitar hero didn't take the solo spotlight. Bits and pieces of "Eruption" and "Cathedral" were weaved into a blistering wall of guitar screeches and wails that bounced off the walls of the Air Canada Centre and pierced skulls.

Their shaggy manes may be gone, but Van Halen with Roth delivered every fan's dream - all hits and no filler. A monster machine aimed to please.

Their 1984 hit "Jump" provided the encore material - surely enough to hold the fans until they return Friday for a second sold out Toronto show.

The band returns to Canada before year's end for shows in Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton.

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