By Glenn Gamboa

Reunion tours, like life, are all about compromise.

No one - not the bands, not the fans, not even the legendary Eddie Van Halen - ever gets everything he wants. But this current Van Halen tour sure does come close.

For more than two hours, this version of Van Halen - which reunites singer David Lee Roth with guitarist Eddie Van Halen and drummer Alex Van Halen and adds Eddie's 16-year-old son Wolfgang on bass, replacing Michael Anthony - did its best to transport the Nassau Coliseum crowd back to 1985, when Roth and the Van Halens first parted ways.

This was an evening of good ol' rock 'n' roll fun, with a setlist that could have been pulled from a tour for the "1984" album and strong, smile- inducing performances from everyone involved.

It's always a thrill to watch Eddie Van Halen work. He is one of the greatest guitarists rock has ever seen, not just for his mastery of blues- influenced rock and the way he welded prog rock and classical elements to it, but for the inventive techniques he uses to build new sounds. There were plenty of examples of that throughout the set - in a raucous "Running with the Devil," in a wild "Unchained" and especially in his massive solo, where he even ended up shredding away on his back for a bit.

Eddie sounded great, but, more importantly, he looked great, all smiles as he did his happy-dance bounce across the stage or proudly butted heads with his son as they played. The stint in rehab that kept the band from performing at their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame earlier this year seems to have done him a world of good.

Roth looked pretty great himself, his patented high-kicks and mic stand twirling all intact, always the flurry of activity to match the musical virtuosos behind him. Ever the showman, Roth was also in better voice than he has been in years, not quite hitting all the high notes he used to, but having the gusto to go for most of them. Sure, it's a little odd to hear the 53-year-old Roth sing about being "Hot for Teacher," but he surprisingly still makes it work.

Perhaps the evening's biggest surprise, though, was Wolfgang, who had some pretty big shoes to fill in replacing the fan favorite Anthony. His backing vocals and harmonies - Anthony's most distinctive contribution to Van Halen - were strong, especially in "You Really Got Me" and the classic "Dance the Night Away."

For a band that traveled such a rocky road to get to this point, none of the pain showed in this incarnation of Van Halen, only the pleasure, which is what they were always about in the first place.

VAN HALEN. Ain't talkin' 'bout love, but David Lee Roth and the Van Halens are definitely "semi-good looking on the streets again." With Ky-Mani Marley. At Nassau Coliseum on Thursday and Madison Square Garden on Tuesday. Seen Thursday.

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