Band performs same songs, same order, but shows no signs of boredom.
By STEVE FRYER
The Orange County Register

Van Halen was ripping its way through "Hot For Teacher" when the band stopped on a dime, and singer David Lee Roth addressed the crowd: "How're we doing so far?"

He could have been talking about this particular show, Tuesday at the Honda Center, or this tour, an unlikely reunion in this season of unlikely reunions.

So far, so good. What a difference three years and one singer makes. Compared to the lemon that was the previous Van Halen reunion, with Sammy Hagar at the microphone, this is a fine-tuned sports car in showroom shape.

Van Halen's second swing through Southern California on this tour, going so well that now it will stretch into 2008 (meaning drummer Alex Van Halen will have to update the "'07 Van Halen" lettering on his bass drum), has them doing the same 23 songs in the same order as they have done every night. Sure, it would be nice for them to mix in a different song here or there like some bands do, because people will go to multiple shows. And maybe Roth can dig up another "back when we were kids in Pasadena ... " story to replace the "everybody has a friend like Kenny" tale he tells before "Ice Cream Man."

But what the heck. If all the shows are as fun as Tuesday's, and if the band doesn't get bored or stale playing the same set list night after night, then go for it, guys. The capacity crowd at the Honda Center dug it, singing along with Roth, helping out Eddie and Wolfgang Van Halen with the backup vocals, riffing with Eddie and bobbing heads to Alex's big beats.

The credit for this better-than-'04 tour is split three ways.

It starts, as everything does in this band, with Eddie. He is healthy, a lean-and-fit 52-year-old who seemed inebriated on stage in '04 but obviously is clean on this trip. Still, the wish here is that this mouth- cancer survivor would stop smoking, although he did limit himself to two cigarettes during this show, unlike the chain-smoking event of '04.

And maybe that has a lot to do with having 16-year-old son Wolfgang in the band, on bass. Dads don't want to mess up in front of the kids. Wolfgang is a fine bassist, too, and you smile when you see this cherubic boy who still looks a little out of place in his rocker-black clothes playing with the old man and his old man's pals.

Thirdly ... while Van Halen made some good music with Hagar, Roth is the square peg in the square hole. He fits.

Sure, Roth is a ham, and overacts like Jeff Goldblum. But he still has the charm, and his singing was better than expected. Early reviews indicated he was skipping the trademark yelps and shouts, but those were intact Tuesday, and his voice really came through with strength all night, especially on "I'll Wait" and "Little Guitars."

Roth still did some leg kicks -- not like he did in the early '80s, but some of those kicks he did Tuesday would put other 53-year-olds in traction, and he spins the light saber as good as the Star Wars-obsessed boy who lives across the street from me.

One thing for Roth to drop, though: that rhythmic gymnastics thing with the flag. Leave that to the 4-foot tall Romanians.

As someone who never has been a fan of drum solos, the Alex Van Halen solo went too long. The band could have thrown in a good song during that space of time: "Light Up the Sky," D.O.A." or "Top Jimmy" would have been better than the drum solo.

Set-list highlights: an impossibly faster take of "Hot for Teacher" (blame/credit the 16-year-old bassist, perhaps?); "Mean Street" (with that great guitar intro by Eddie); "Panama" (with Eddie bouncing all over the stage); and the personal favorite, "Unchained" (just a fun song, and outstanding drum work by Alex).

The Honda Center itself can be hit-or-miss on sound quality. This was a "miss" night. The sound bounced all over the place, creating a muffled effect.

The opening act was Ky-Mani Marley, one of the younger of the 13 children sired by the late-great Bob Marley. Ky-Mani, 31, sounds a great deal like dad, and even did two of dad's more-famous songs, "No Woman No Cry" and "I Shot the Sheriff" during a nice set that brought some enjoyable tropical vibes to a cool, rainy evening.

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