By DAN AQUILANTE

November 14, 2007 -- VAN HALEN'S reunion concert last night at Madison Square Garden could have been the next storyline for the "Back to the Future" movie franchise.

One of the most popular band's of the '80s takes a time machine to 2007 to play their old songs for a new generation. That was this deja-vu-all-over- again concert from start to finish. Every song was at least 20 years old, while singer David Lee Roth and guitarist Eddie Van Halen looked youthful (especially if you squinted a little).

The music was still smokin' hot and not far off the mark from the way you remember it sounding on vinyl: loud and raw, like a party waiting to happen.

The biggest difference between now and the bad old days, when Van Halen was really young, was the absence of anger. Clenched teeth were traded for smiles during this two-hour, 20-plus-song love fest, in which band and fans alike found renewed appreciation for dusty tunes.

Roth clowned his way through the set, with stage gags like hanging his hat off his zipper (more Velcro than arousal) and wielding his mike stand like a ninja warrior. If you let that distract you, you might not notice just how good he sounds backed by his original partners.

As for Eddie's guitar work, there are few - young or old - who can rip a lead as cleanly and sure-fingered as this 52-year-old.

So, Eddie can really play his ax, and between head-high kicks and kung fu antics, David Lee can really sing. If there was any tension last night, it was only in determining who hit harder during the first few songs.

On the opener and cover of the Kinks classic "You Really Got Me," Roth was commanding. He looked buff in his ringmaster's jacket and stitched leather pants, and he was the total applause hound, bowing deeply to the crazed fans. "Running with the Devil" played a little slow for some tastes.

Drummer Alex Van Halen, as always, was the rock that anchored every song, and Eddie's son Wolfgang mumbled, thumped his bass well, and did a pretty fair job of singing a cover of Roy Orbison's "Pretty Woman."

Roth described the band as "three-quarter original," with 16-year-old Wolfgang as the "one-fourth inevitable." Who knew Diamond Dave could do fractions?

The lowest-common-denominator tune had to be "Hot For Teacher." It was made sexy by Roth's delivery, and Eddie Van Halen's boogie guitar riffs made the crowd shimmy.

If there was any complaint about the show, it was how the sequencing of the set has remained static since the tour opener a couple of months ago. The band should consider mixing the tunes up a little to keep it as interesting for themselves as for the fans.

David Lee Roth (l) and Eddie Van Halen rock the Garden last night. Would you believe buff Eddie is 52?

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