If nothing else, this tour has become a valedictory lap of sorts for one of the greatest hard-rock bands of the last 30 years.

By JOHN DUFFY, Correspondent

It was Van Halen's third scheduled performance this year at the Giant Center Sunday night, and this time they actually played.

And though the previous cancellations were barely mentioned -- singer David Lee Roth offering a perfunctory "better late than never..." -- the group certainly played like it needed to make it up to its fans.

The massively successful reunion tour with original singer Roth was originally scheduled to play the Giant Center March 19. In late February, that date was pushed back to April 11.

Days before that show, the entire tour was put on hold for a month; 17 dates in all, due to guitarist and co-founder Eddie Van Halen's need for treatment of an undisclosed medical condition.

After months and even years of just such a reunion never making it past the rumor stages, this show was that much greater a relief to local fans.

When the band took the stage shortly after 8:30 p.m., Eddie seemed as happy as ever to be on stage. Unlike reports from earlier concerts, he even ran around (just a bit) and jumped up and down a few times.

Honestly, a guy that good who has been playing as long as he has cannot still possibly consider this kind of thing work.

The smile hardly left his face all night.

If nothing else, this tour has become a valedictory lap of sorts for one of the greatest hard-rock bands of the last 30 years.

And since none of the songs in the group's set were written any more recently than 1984, the feeling of nostalgia could not be helped. One after another, the hits came -- "Ain't Talking Bout Love," "Panama," "The Cradle Will Rock," "Everybody Wants Some," "Pretty Woman," "Unchained," a thundering "Running With the Devil," a sickeningly fast "Hot For Teacher" and a truly swinging "Dance the Night Away."

And on and on. The set list included the band's first two albums almost in their entirety.

As if reveling in it, the band members took no pains to disguise their age, and just how far back the musical worlds of three of the four men on stage go (Eddie's son Wolfgang on bass not included).

In the middle of "Somebody Get Me a Doctor" -- a song they played without a hint of irony -- they grafted Cream's version of "Crossroads."

"Romeo Delight" featured Roth lifting lyrics from "Stairway to Heaven" and "Magic Bus," with Eddie taking a riff or two from "Whole Lotta Love."

Alex Van Halen's drum solo also referenced Led Zeppelin, utilizing the swirling phaser sound John Bonham was fond of.

Then there was Roth's attempt at a heartfelt remembrance of the group's early days in Pasadena, Calif.; tales of sitting around smoking pot to Bob Marley and Pink Floyd in some friend's blacklight-filled basement, and how they used to empty a friend's ice cream truck out to keep beer cold in it.

You guessed it, cue "Ice Cream Man."

In his extended solo spot, Eddie mixed Syd Barret-like atonal noise and Robert Fripp-styled percolating notes in addition to his patented fret- tapping speed demonstration.

All night, though, it proved tough work for Roth to get the crowd on its feet. The hits of course connected, but some fans' record collections may not be so deep if a note-perfect "Little Dreamer" barely registers.

To a man, nobody on stage showed any disappointment.

And while the song sequence was a mix of the band's first eight thrilling years of hits, the concert was bookended by "You Really Got Me," the Kinks' cover that anchored the group's very first album side, and "Jump," the massive synth-heavy hit that proved their last hurrah with Roth before he left the group in 1985.

It was frustrating then, when, after a night of nearly spot-on renditions of their classics, the group would stumble when playing to the prerecorded synthesizers on "Jump," playing half a step off and at times half a beat ahead.

Oh well, the raining confetti and stage props almost made you think it was 1984, or 1978, or somewhere in between.

David Lee Roth (left) and Eddie Van Halen perform at the Giant Center Sunday night.
Bradley Halladay/New Era Correspondent

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