Adam Graham / Detroit News Pop Music Writer

CLEVELAND -- It's several songs into the seventh show of Van Halen's reunion tour, and David Lee Roth -- back with the band for the first time in more than 20 years -- is addressing the sold-out audience during the breakdown of "Romeo Delight."

His bandmates -- guitar god Eddie Van Halen, drummer Alex Van Halen and new bassist (and Eddie's son) Wolfgang Van Halen -- are slowing it down before ramping up the tempo for the song's roaring finale.

"We're building tension," Roth says. "How are we doing?"

Tension is one thing that's never been in short supply with Van Halen. One of the most tumultuous bands in rock and roll history, Van Halen has had the backstage drama, hirings, firings, false starts and breakups of a long-running TV soap opera.

But as the band rolls into tonight's show -- it plays Joe Louis Arena on Saturday and The Palace on Monday -- things are running smoothly. The mood in the air is joyous. Dave and Eddie are smiling on stage and embracing one another like old friends. The only tension, amazingly, is of a musical variety.

Sure, many are griping about the absence of original bassist Michael Anthony, who was sacked in favor of 16-year-old Wolfgang. But Wolfie is proving himself to be a competent player, though he lacks the confidence and stage presence of his band mates (who are each more than three times his age) and doesn't have the vocal chops of Anthony, whose impeccable harmonies were the band's secret weapon.

For the most part, however, things are as they should be, if about a decade too late.

The show opens with a spotlight on Eddie -- lean, shirtless and in white painter's pants -- making his guitar purr as he will throughout the two- hour show. A large curtain is pulled back to reveal Roth, atop a large ramp in front of a jumbo video screen, waving an oversize red flag.

Is the red flag some sort of socialist or communist statement, or does it simply look cool? Who cares, Van Halen's back together!

At 53, Roth is able to out-roundhouse kick anyone half his age, and he proves it by compulsively kicking the air throughout the show. Roth is also clearly well-studied in some sort of jujitsu art form, and his mannerisms and microphone stand twirling resemble that of a master sensei.

More troubling is his ever-present game show smile, affinity for bad matador costumes (he wears three during the show) and his creepy sexual come-ons. At one point, he suggests he'd like to make a "booty call" to a woman in the first row, and "Diamond" Dave looks one randy after-party away from a sexual harassment complaint.

His chemistry with Shreddie seems genuine, however, and they make nice with one another even after the evening's photographers are dismissed. His voice is good enough to carry the show, and his vocals are unmistakably live, and while he may not be able to hit all of his seagull-like caws, he's still Dave.

Eddie has his groove back, and his virtuoso late-show solo is a clear highlight. He's visibly proud of his son, and Wolfgang tries hard to please his pa, though one wonders if Wolfie shouldn't be in school harboring a crush on his teacher rather than on tour night after night playing "Hot for Teacher."

The tour's staging is uninspired -- a round ramp that juts into the audience is underused -- and the set list hits a lull during the middle of the show. But things ramp up at the end, and the show peaks with closing renditions of "Jamie's Cryin'," "Panama" and "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love."

You can gripe about the motivations behind the tour -- too bad it had to come after Dave's disastrous nosedive in radio -- or charge the Van Halen boys with cashing in. But David Lee Roth and Van Halen are together again, and that's good enough for now.

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