Even worse than seeing Utopia at a bar in Browns Mills, NJ once, this was dreadful! Plans were to meet an old friend from college, in "A-town" to do dinner and see the show. Historically and with the help of the TR Connection I schedule trips to see Todd performances in places that are otherwise compelling,.... NYC, New Orleans, LA, San Francisco... no disrespect to other communities, just as long as I'm going to travel, the destination might as well offer a broad spectrum of things to do. Aside from being equidistant to our respective homes, this locale didn't have much else going on.
We called the "Crock" and were informed the show was starting at 10:30! Late for a school night when combined with a 2 hour drive home, if you get my drift. So I entered the venue with this foreboding thoughts of "What was I thinking!"
Understand, I am not a "quiet you're at a concert" type at all, and I've been known to quaff pints with the best of them, but this place, though not crowded, was generating a cacophony of shooter fueled noise, that was increasing exponentially by the minute.
The awful acoustics mixed with the distilled "Spirits" within the crowd created a toxic brew! From the outset, it appeared Todd was trying to sing over the din and to my ear was ripping up his voice. Early on it was very evident he was exasperated, maybe was so before he took the stage. Commenting at one point that the venue's owners wanted him to start even later and how much more fun would that have been.
Ever watch golf on TV. Some idiot always yells as soon as the player on screen strikes the ball in an attempt to be heard on TV?
When some knucklehead yelled "where's the band"? once too often, Cool was lost! I was left thinking...Like what part of "Solo Acoustic" confused you?
Loved one retort "I was in Hawaii, before coming here, where were you,?" Almost as good as the "I tip more than you'll ever earn!" line I heard someone say once.
Ripping at his guitar strings and literally beating on the piano during Viking, confirmed for me that this wasn't going well at all! Nor was it likely to get better any time soon!
Not enjoying this spectacle, I turned to my friend as "Compassion" began, noted this is getting ugly, said Adios and split. I left hoping he would save his voice for B.B. Kings, where I had a bigger evening planned.
No sooner did I start driving than my Bud called to say "He walked off!" My response.. Good for Him!
After reading that he came back out, Good for those for whom this was their only opportunity to see a show!
