The man IS a pro and made that very clear by never missing a beat despite various technical snafus.
The thing that puzzled me was the extreme degree of intimacy that many of his long-time followers seemed to assume. Why stand and shout at a paid performer like you're heckling your drunk buddy on karaoke night at your local pub? Todd doesn't know you from Adam and really doesn't appear to "need" the banter from sudsy groupies (bold enough to demand autographs in mid-show) to put on his show.
It seems to my non-infatuated ear that ANY performer has bit off more than they can chew to work solo and live when the highlights of their musical career have been done either in the studio (edits, re-dubs, perfectionism) or with a tight and powerful band of sidemen to take up any slack and create a "full" sound.
Yes, he's a tunester par excellence and has that good rock star presence, but personaly I found his sound to be rather forced... like he's not really comfortable out there all alone and his meandering from MP3 to guitar ukelele to piano didn't so much demonstrate his versatility as it did his desperate search to make something "click" with both himself and his audience. IMHO, that magical synergistic moment wasn't found at that show.
The ovations were automatic, backed by tradition... not real enthusiasm. Went home and put on the Utopia album to remind me again why I went to his show. It did the trick.
