The backing vocals were the saving grace of the night, which isn't how it should be. That's the only way one could even sing along, if you wanted to attempt to. It disrupted the "groove," so to speak.

Roth was either ahead of the band, behind the band or adding new lyrics and embellishments to nearly every cut, save for maybe "You Really Got Me" and "I'll Wait." VH songs in my opinion aren't built for scat, jiving or whatever the fuck Roth was doing.

Had everyone been on the same page, the new songs wouldn't have suffered as much as they did. February's A Different Kind of Truth is a great rock album, and it deserved better on Sunday.

I wish that on Sunday night, Roth had been at the show the Van Halens were at, because it would have sounded great. He was in an alternate Vegas dimension in front of a million-piece orchestra where he had to fill up two hours of dead air. But with Alex and Eddie onstage, you have to let them breathe and wreck shop.

David Lee Roth is a storyteller, a song-and-dance man and a shamelessly naughty rock god. That's why his legend looms so tall in the minds of most men and women who have ever spent anytime with his VH catalog.

I would pay to see him hold court like William Shatner just did on his traveling Broadway show this past spring, weaving tales nightly about his vast sea of indiscretions and eating the world alive.

But Sunday night he was depriving a band that is firing on all cylinders of wiping the floor with a multigenerational crowd that was rightfully hungry for a revelatory show. I get that Roth is Roth is Roth, and that's how Roth do, but sweet Jesus, do it somewhere else with someone else.

For their part, Wolf and Eddie looked to be having fun, and Eddie and Roth seemed to be able to share air space with each other. Everyone onstage took Roth's antics rather well, God bless them.

What's the solution? Well, the band's current tour hits Dallas tonight and closes in New Orleans Tuesday. Roth has said in one of his video posts that the band is playing great but the touring grind isn't conducive to having fun, so they are taking another break after NOLA.

Seems to me after Sunday night that it's not past press target Eddie to blame for the problems, but it's Roth. But that's just an outsider's view, of course, and I could very well be a slave to a sound a band made in 1976.

Same old story. So do you bring back Sammy Hagar -- fat chance sez everything he has said in the past year and, well, ew -- or do you fold the tent and start fresh? These songs are too fun to lock away. I don't know, and at this point all you can do is wonder whether or not 1982 was in fact the best year in Roth's life.

Ya know, a Roth hologram would at least know the words to "Panama."

Personal Bias: I am a huge Van Halen and Roth fan. I have been since I could crawl and hear sound. But last night's show broke my jaded heart. On the way out, I dreaded having to get back in front of a computer to bag on a band that has been with me since before I could write my own name.

For the past six months, all I have talked about is their new album and this concert, and I watched at least three of the band's concerts from this tour online. When I saw where my seats were last night, I nearly shat my jorts. Old Travis Coates is my homeboy right now. Van Halen will never sound as good live as they sound blaring in your car on your day off or at a house party, or even on a tinny radio in your bathroom.

The Crowd: Like I said, Van Halen spans generations. Right before the show started, half the venue was entranced by the appearance of comedian George Lopez, who was making his way to his seat for the show. For most working comedians, he might as well be Hitler. He even distracted the crowd on the floor from seeing Alex's entrance, but that's not his fault. Ex-wife of Eddie and Wolf's mother Valerie Bertinelli was also in the house. She smelled nice.

Overheard In the Crowd: "Just play the goddamned song."

Random Notebook Dump: Did Diamond Dave really spend three minutes talking about the juicer on his bus, selling lemonade in Indiana, and show us home video footage of his dog? Yes, he did.