Todd,
Thanks so much for coming to Tallahassee! We've lived here for 20 years and this is your first visit here. I've had to go elsewhere to see your more recent shows.
I enjoyed the show... the solo acoustic approach certainly added a different dimension to the tunes. In spite of this, I do have a few complaints, and since the tour has just begun, it may be worthwhile to make some adjustments. The MP3 bossa nova set was too long (3-4 tunes)... 1 or 2 songs in this setting would have sufficed. Todd seemed to be having a few technical difficulties, which came across as odd when you consider that Todd virtually invented modern music technology! Was this just a joke or was Todd truly adjusting to this setting? The choice of (I believe it was "Hawking" off "Nearly Human") seemed out of place for your final selection during the encore... too long and slow. I greatly missed hearing "A Dream Goes on Forever," which would have worked very well in the solo piano setting, as would " Sometimes I Just Don't Know What to Feel." The Shakespeare in the Park track could have been dumped and surprisingly there was not a single track off any of Todd's post-1980s material. I don't mean to belittle the show.. it was very enjoyable but as a 30-year fan of Todd I felt I should point out some of the shortcomings in the hopes he will liven up the tour a bit. Thanks again for coming!
Regarding Mark Hinson's publicity of the show in the Tallahassee Democrat, I was very appreciative of the generous space and general praise given in advance of the show. However, I dispute two of his statements... for one, he gave the wrong name of Todd's Bossa Nova album,,, "With a Twist". Secondly, he said that Todd/Utopia was all prog rock during the new wave era... clearly not true if he were to listen to the string of albums during this period (Adventures in Utopia, Deface the Music, Swing to the Right, Utopia, and Oblivion... not to mention, his solo works Hermit of MInk Hollow and The Ever Popular Tortured Artist Effect). I'm a big fan of both prog rock and new wave/pop/punk and I appreciate how Todd has evolved and reinvented himself over time.
