Van Halen

No, really, this time they mean it (probably): Van Halen are touring again with David Lee Roth, which is good news—at least for those of us who were eight when they broke up and spent our teens thinking of VH mostly as that band from the Crystal Pepsi commercial. The catch (there's always one) is that Michael Anthony won't be along. This time, Van Halen contains 25 percent more Van Halen, with Eddie's teenage son Wolfgang filling in on bass (seeing as how musical acts with "Wolf" in their name are popular and all). No word on whether, being too young to play a Jack Daniels bass, Wolfgang will have to settle instead for a Sunny D bass. As much complaining as this personnel change might inspire, the possibility of seeing Diamond Dave and Eddie on the same stage doing something besides scowling at each other should be worth at least part of the ticket price. Filling out the rest of the value for your rock entertainment dollar: at least six years' worth of hits from the band that justified arena rock's existence, from the wall-to-wall hits of their debut through the scuzzy white-dude funk of 1981's whompass Fair Warning, up till the synth-drenched, teacher-ogling, Lamborghini-revving ultrablockbuster 1984.
Wed., Oct. 24, 7:30 p.m., 2007