Concert review: Van Halen at MGM Grand

By Josh Bell

Monday, May 28, 2012 | 2:30 p.m.

When Van Halen announced the indefinite postponement of more than 30 dates on its current tour, rumors started flying that the members were fighting and that the reunion with singer David Lee Roth was about to fall apart. But if Roth and Van Halen brothers Eddie and Alex are squabbling behind the scenes, there was no evidence of it onstage at the band’s Sunday-night concert at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. Roth and the Van Halens (including Eddie’s son Wolfgang, who replaced original bassist Michael Anthony several years ago) seemed to get along just fine, smiling and goofing around with each other while running through two hours of Roth-era Van Halen hits, along with a few obscurities and songs from recent Roth-fronted album A Different Kind of Truth.

Eddie Van Halen matched up to his living-legend status on the guitar, and his 10-minute solo was easily the highlight of the show. That was only partially because he’s such a guitar virtuoso; while Eddie and his brother sounded great during the rest of the concert (and Wolfgang is a perfectly capable bassist), Roth’s vocals were consistently the weak link. Roth has never been an amazing singer, but he often sounded like he wasn’t even trying, half-heartedly talk-singing through songs like “Runnin' With the Devil,” “Tattoo” and “You Really Got Me.” On that last one, Roth babbled out only about half the lyrics, turning one of the band’s most popular hits into the low point of the show.

“My role is largely ceremonial,” Roth joked at one point, but he did behave more like a cheesy master of ceremonies than a rock singer. His jerky dance moves have become less endearing, and he led into “Ice Cream Man” with a long, rambling speech about his dogs that turned into an old Borscht-belt joke. Roth’s cheesiness is part of his appeal, and the audience mostly ate it up. But the goodwill built up by corny jokes couldn’t compensate for the dreadful harmonies during “Dance the Night Away,” or any of the other bum notes. The Van Halen clan is still a musical powerhouse, but their frontman needs to focus a little more on singing and a little less on showmanship.

Setlist:

“Unchained”

“Runnin’ With the Devil”

“She’s the Woman”

“The Full Bug”

“Tattoo”

“Everybody Wants Some!!”

“Somebody Get Me a Doctor”

“China Town”

“Hear About It Later”

“(Oh) Pretty Woman”

Drum solo

“You Really Got Me”

“The Trouble With Never”

“Dance the Night Away”

“I’ll Wait”

“And the Cradle Will Rock…”

“Hot for Teacher”

“Women in Love…”

“Beautiful Girls”

“Ice Cream Man”

“Panama”

Guitar solo

“Ain’t Talkin’ ’Bout Love”

“Jump”