Hey everybody….!! What a great show. And for many more reasons then just the concert itself. I'll start by saying this was my 16th Todd concert with my first being at the Long Island Arena, Commack, NY in 1977. It was during the RA tour with Cheap Trick opening the show..
Anyway "Here we go…".. My wife Dorte & I arrived at the theatre way early and were first on line. We reserved dinner theatre tickets two months earlier so we were going to be directly in front of TR. As it ended up, we were right under his microphone stand and at times involved in the show with OH. We sat with friends we met at last year's concert in June so we had a full table of rabid TR fans ready to wear…!!
The show opened with a Celtic band named 'Green Man'. They were really tight and played excellent. We bought the CD they had for sale and hung with the guitar player for a while after the show. Todd began around 8 - 8:30pm.. Sound was very good and the audience of 250 - 350 were jazzed and into it all night. The set list reads pretty consistently with past shows though he did shuffle things a bit as they went along. (For a shot of the setlist check out my photo of it, we were that close). Overall it was an excellent show with only one broken string all night. Voices were tight, no re-do's on any song, clean sound on everything other than 'There goes my Inspiration', and solid lighting and energy.. We really enjoyed it.
After the show we hung out and hoped to meet TR. It was about 12am and there were probably 5-10 of us left when I decided to check the front of the theatre (everyone was at the back door, as the band usually exits that way). We had met Todd last year in the front so I walked in the theatre, past the few remaining vendors, and casually just walked into the show area to find Todd alone with perhaps 3-4 roadies working on the stage and with his son Rebop playing by the drum kit. I introduced myself and we spoke for about 5 minutes about NY, Hawaii, the show, tour, etc. It was totally cool... He autographed a photo I had of him which I took in 1978 at his house in Lake Hill (Woodstock), NY and we reminisced about that and meeting at the Ventura show last year (he signed another photo I took of him at his house in 1978 last year as well). He also autographed the lyrics booklet out of 'One Long Year' as I am a Patronet member and received it that same day, June 15th…!! How cool is that…!! So I left outside with him and met my wife, took photos with him (See photos) and off we went home….
What another great night and memory. Hope all of you can see Todd and the band on this tour. I won't say this was the best show I've ever seen, but it is one in an evolving timeline and history which I have had with Todd for the past 23 years. There always seems to be something new to look forward to as each show establishes its own place, with its own memories in my life, my families, and now thankfully with my wife of three years.
Make your own memories.
Steve & Dorte Di Giorgi
sdigiorgi@digiorgi.com
