TORONTO -- Who says reunions don't work?

Witness Van Halen's sold-out show on Saturday night at the Air Canada Centre which saw the '70s rock vets reunite with Sammy Hagar, who acted as the band's frontman from 1985-1996.

I won't get into all of the gory details of the band's lead singer soap opera but the short story is that Hagar, 56, took over from original frontman David Lee Roth only to be replaced himself by Extreme's Gary Cherone for one album -- 1998's poorly received Van Halen III and a subsequent tour.

Hagar and Roth even toured together at one point in a gimmicky trek dubbed Sans Halen.

Add to the melodrama the fact that guitar god Eddie Van Halen, 49, battled tongue cancer over the past few years, and you have the makings of what could have been the end of this group.

Thus the excitement at seeing Van Halen, including original drummer Alex Van Halen, 51, and bassist Michael Anthony, 50, together again on Saturday night for their first stop in Toronto in six years.

Now that the thin but muscular-looking Eddie is feeling better -- did I really see him smoking a cigarette? -- and Hagar has been welcomed back into the Van Halen fold, all seems to be right within that particular rock universe.

At least for now.

"It's been three weeks on tour (so far)," Hagar said. "From the first show it felt like we never stopped!"

The group kicked off their 2-hour-and-5-minute concert at the ACC with Jump -- a Roth-era song which Hagar now feels comfortable singing live. (Sadly, Runnin' With The Devil was not one of them despite being on a set list from an earlier show.)

However, Jump set the bar high and it took almost another hour before the endlessly energetic group would reach the same soaring heights. The fact that each musician also got their turn in the spotlight with extended solos, including Hagar who strapped on an electric guitar and sang two songs from his solo career -- Eagles Fly and Deeper Kind Of Love -- didn't help matters in the pacing department.

And Hagar also went a bit overboard signing autographs of everything handed to him -- hats, shirts, and even a couple of licence plates.

Eddie's lightning fast moves, however, were a pleasure to watch as the audience erupted into chants of "Eddie! Eddie! Eddie!" after his staggering solo display and he seemed genuinely moved.

"It's so good to be back," he acknowledged.

Helping Van Halen create an intimate mood was a stage that kept the foursome close together with audience pits on either side, enabling fans to get up close and personal.

There was also what appeared to be a land mine hovering above them that housed a large video screen.

Both Hagar and a shirtless Eddie were particularly incapable of standing still with both of them constantly moving around the stage when they weren't lying down on it.

Van Halen is ostensibly touring in support of a second greatest hits collection, The Very Best of Van Halen, which is in stores on July 20.

Three new songs were recorded for the new disc and two of them -- Up For Breakfast and It's About Time -- were trotted out on Saturday night.

The fans, however, wanted to hear the hits and they shouted loudest and punched air hardest for anthems such as Unchained, Why Can't This Be Love, Best Of Both Worlds, Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love, Right Now, You Really Got Me, Panama and When It's Love.

JAM! Rating: 3.5 out of 5