By Dan DeLuca
Inquirer Music Critic

David Lee Roth is like the guy in that BeyoncÈ song. No matter how many times his ex tells him what a scalawag he is, he can't help but think that when it comes down to it, he's irreplaceable.

So it was no wonder that Van Halen's original vocalist was smiling ear to ear for a full two hours at the sold-out Wachovia Center on Monday night. Because from the power-chord crunch of the opening cover of the Kinks' "You Really Got Me," it was abundantly clear that he'd been right all along.

Never mind Sammy Hagar, and please don't bring up Gary Cherone. For all of Eddie Van Halen's how'd-he-do-that? guitar heroics, the band that takes its name from Eddie and his drummer brother Alex (and now, Eddie's 16- year-old, bass-playing son, Wolfgang) lost every shred of its showbiz pizzazz when Roth walked out the door in 1985.

But after 22 years in exile, and a sketchy-at-best solo career of his own, Diamond Dave is back in the saddle - even if it was actually a giant inflatable microphone that he was riding like a horse during the encore of "Jump."

Is it as if he never left? Not quite. "We're three-quarters old school and one-quarter new school," Roth said at the start of the show, which he and the Van Halens will put on again tonight at the Wachovia. (Some tickets remain.) "Kind of like watching Dragnet on your iPod."

The "new school" referred to the kid in the Valerie Bertinelli haircut, nicknamed Wolfie, who held his own in the spot formerly occupied by booted-out bassist Michael Anthony. Wolfie earned a paternal tousle of his hair by his proud father after "Jamie's Cryin,' " and he bore more baby fat than his 52-year-old dad and the 53-year-old Roth combined.

The old school element was obvious in both the musical approach and physical appearance of the band's twin stars. The grizzled Van Halen - who managed to delay this, the least pretentious of the year's Big '80s reunions (beating out the Police and Genesis, by a long shot) with a stint in rehab earlier this year - was shirtless throughout.

Eddie looked like the character actor Fred Ward as he moved about as nimbly on stage as he does on the fretboard. And as a guitarist who matches thunderous riffage with delicate subtlety, his virtuosity remains jaw-dropping, even if his 10-minute-plus solo toward the end could have benefited from trimming.

As for Roth, he's not quite the physical presence he was on stage, what with his blond mane now shorn and either his too-tight leather trousers or, perhaps, a bad back keeping him from working the stage with leonine vigor - or even seeming able to bend his knees. He can still kick up a leg like a Rockette, but let's just say that during "Jump," he didn't even try to get up off the ground.

But while Roth has never been all that graceful a singer, he's a born entertainer, a guy who in another era would have been a Borscht Belt comedian or an ingratiating variety-show host.

Sure, it was a bit creepy and a little unseemly when he shook up a water bottle and let it squirt between his legs. But as a lewd-and-louche rock- and-roll lounge lizard, Roth really has no competition. And on a cavalcade of tremendously catchy hits ("Dance the Night Away," "Panama") and even lesser-known album cuts ("Atomic Punk," "Unchained") his voice was in sturdy-enough shape.

He also knows his audience. "I'm from the suburbs," he said before the California country-blues "Ice Cream Man." "You know, where they cut down all the trees and then name the streets after them."

Van Halen's 1978-to-1984 heyday corresponded with the explosion of punk and New Wave, genres that got much more critical respect than Van Halen's carefree and licentious hard rock.

But looking back, did anyone come closer to capturing the American teenage experience in their era than Van Halen? "Everybody wants some!" Roth sang with relish, then and now, in pursuit of pleasure. "I want some, too!"

And on Monday at the Wachovia, longtime VH fans remembering the good times got the dose of Diamond Dave they'd been wanting all these years.

[Return to Current Headlines]