By Jason Kellner

Reno got rocked like it was 1984 Thursday night at the Reno Events Center, when Van Halen plowed its way through nothing but hits (and a lot of deep album cuts) from the David Lee Roth-era of the band.

Fresh out of a stint under a doctor's care (again) for Eddie Van Halen following the cancellation of several shows in March, the band stopped here as a warm up for the resumption of its tour Saturday in Las Vegas. For the most part, the band sounded and looked pretty good.

They're well-preserved, with Eddie and David both looking rather ripped for men in their 50s. In fact, 16-year-old Wolfgang Van Halen, subbing on bass for Michael Anthony, was the heaviest guy on stage. But who better to replace Anthony than another Van Halen? The young dude is a fine bass player, great backing vocalist, and he even helped dad Eddie work his wah- wah pedal.

Playing from the same set list that's been used since the reunion began last year, the band opened with the Kinks' "You Really Got Me" while Roth strutted down a ramp to the stage in some leather outfit possibly borrowed from Siegfried and Roy. They rambled through favorites like "Runnin' With the Devil," "Beautiful Girls" and (possibly one too many) lesser-known songs like "Little Guitars" and "Romeo Delight," all atop a fairly simple stage with a drive-in size movie screen and modest lighting.

Despite past animosity between David Lee Roth and Eddie Van Halen and a couple false starts in the reunion department in the past 10 years, there was no bad blood to be seen on stage. Eddie and Dave both wore genuine grins, with Dave's huge, clown-like permagrin looking a bit creepy at times.

"Better late than never, huh?" Roth asked the near-capacity crowd, before jumping back into 1978's "I'm the One."

"We're a new band with the same s---ty attitude," he added, letting everyone know that it was the original, sex-crazed party band that was on stage that night. The last time Van Halen was in Reno, it was 1992 during the Sammy Hagar era, but not a note from the Hagar days was heard.

The band was in top musical form, with Eddie ever the astonishing guitarist and brother Alex pummeling away on his massive drum set (why do those showy drummers always have a gong that's never played, anyway?). Even Roth didn't hold back, save for a few of the banshee screams that went missing. The band played every song in its original key, evidence that Roth can still hit the highest highs, or at least back off subtly when he can't.

But when the keyboards were called to duty on "I'll Wait," and later for the encore of "Jump," it was like the band was ashamed of the sound so heavily used in 1984. The keyboard sounds were heard, but nobody was playing them -- at least no visible person.

But the crowd stayed on its feet the whole time, a sure sign that this band can still whip an aging fan base into a frenzy. Nearly two hours, a drum solo and guitar solo later, the band didn't seem to let up. They closed with "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love" and "Jump" amid a confetti storm, a giant inflatable microphone and not exactly a whole lot of jumping. Roth pulled out only a few helicopter kicks during the show, but not the high- flying scissor kicks he once did.

I'd say the band pulled it off, but I left feeling just slightly underwhelmed, particularly with ticket prices maxing out at $150. It's a good thing they're getting this reunion out of the way now, because 10 years from now, it would look pretty silly.

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