Could it really be 1984 again? Bertinelli was at the HP Pavilion in San Jose with a different boyfriend, most likely there to see her 16-year-old son with ex-husband Eddie Van Halen (young Wolfgang has taken over as bassist for the groundbreaking rock band). But while the past is the past, Sunday night’s sold-out show proved that Van Halen has aged as gracefully as anyone could have realistically expected.

This is definitely the way to do the nostalgia tour, offering something new, just enough of the old and at least one really hard-rocking Roy Orbison cover. The fact that original singer David Lee Roth and the Van Halens have made it this far - more than 20 dates into their 2007 American tour, which continues Saturday night in Oakland - speaks to either their maturity or some particularly strong legal language in their touring contract.

Roth has bailed or been jettisoned from the band at least twice, while successors Sammy Hagar and Gary Cherone have at least three more departures between them. But the Van Halens and Roth were all hugs and kisses the other night, even if the act seemed more than a little scripted. More important, the band sounded quite good, seeming to feed off the youth of Wolfgang and the enthusiasm of its aging audience members, many of whom brought their own small children.

Eddie and Alex Van Halen sounded sharp, which was probably to be expected. Even during Eddie’s darkest hours, he could still knock out “Eruption” from muscle memory. Eddie also looked really good, replacing that just-crawled-out-of-the-trash-bin look of last year with whitened teeth, short hair and a lean, toned body that looked as if he had been working out with Iggy Pop’s trainer.