charleston, wv 2/9/03 (end of 1st leg)

Review by Anthony Rogers (Switch to
)
2/10/2003

well i cant say enough about how happy i was seeing todd finally in my home state after so many years...what a great way to cap a new tour (despite the very few asshole news reviewers) that in my opinion (and ive been seeing him for several decades now) features his best singing in years.. between this tour and the last h and o tour-there is a marked change as i have said-there is high end consistency and clarity that defies the nature a man of todds age..well his voice was staggering again and i only hope you folks in the midwest (me included, ill be at a few more) get his voice in this shape..well lets break the news-this performance (which is post edited) will see heard/broadcast april 4 and will also go out on tv at a later date...as for the set up..house band, host..

first of all you need to understand the significance of this..TODD was the big big cheese here-the headliner-he came out last..first they told how it was-showed us the applause lights, first up was soony landreath and he about set the roof on fire-monster monster slide player who wrote some cool stuff and played slide as creatively as ive ever seen-he was up in the srv rarified air..superb..next up steven fearing, canadian songwriter...good songs, a bellowing voice and a real funny guy..again- way inside his thing--another good tunesmith...next was code talkers- and ill be frank, i didnt get it...i dont understand why this colonel bruce hampton is so revered..his playing was really elementary-the other guitarist was fabulous-reminded me of jesse-he kept taking those jazzy leads (a la jesse born to sythn) and no bassist...my least fave but no so long to be boring..then 2nd hour began--steve forbert who played tunes off the new album of jimmy rodgers songs..real great-he fucked up on one and started over....still just spot on pro- great gravely (exactly halfway to tom waits) voice. oh, btw each palyed about 20 mins- now there were tunes by the band-intro- a song by this girl (that im sorry to say sucked) and a great piano solo by wv jazz great bill thompson..spring is here (remember-b cast date 4/4)...before that richard x heyman came out with his wife on bass and the drummer from belew's band, the bears and played only a few tunes and split right before thompsons solo..then the headliner, the man in the spotlight-it was awesome..he came out dressed well..launched into lcm, nailed it, onto cliche' and had the crowd hanging on the end of a pin...after that, he got the bad news that some signal from his guitar was defective in some way--didnt sound bad in the house at all...a little low...anyway- while they make a joke about him not wanting a mono gtr signal...he launched impromtu off mike (techies fixing the problem at his feet)- into west virginia girls .....sings 2 verses-the crowd goes nuts for it...then the prob is fixed and its back to biz-but he says..there are 8 more verses that diss your state..actually not really-it says wv women are hot, but wv men are...anyhow-youve heard the story-i was hoping he would play it the crowd would have loved it-it was nice seeing a few verses anyway..into lys...another good one-then a letter perfect tie you down...crowd loves it.......next off is hammer (which i wouldnt have picked but again he knew the crowd-they clapped along- and oddly enough at the end of the song had gotten to clapping ON the beat..very strange-cant wait to hear the bcast--now comes the mystery to me..i was stupefied to see todd put the gtr up-wlak straight over to the piano and launch into CWSBF--thats right-the MP3 tune on this tour-the mother HAD NOT PLAYED IT ONCE ON PIANO THIS TOUR. i was nervous as hell but HE NAILED IT. not a a single screw up...i couldnt believe it..next up was viking...perfect performance, not even sloppy at the end....crowd was amazed..then came the trouble..hello its me..he started off by singing..howdy folks (wv), its me...but his fingers betrayed him so he re started a couple times until he took a breath and played it steady and well-he claimed to have messed it up (was that what it was in tenn??)--after that he gets up-does the uke thing-they eat it up...claps abound.......then back to the retakes of lcm and cliche which were marred on take 1 by te output though performed beautifully  (bad news my recording cuts as HIM starts)..anyhow lisa thought they both were better 2nd time around-i maybe agree with cliche but i think lcm is rushed on the corners as ive seen it before..performance vocal and gtr/piano wise is outstanding..at the end one world wraps it all up for trs portion to a standing ovation...all the stage is then swamped by the perfomers and OH stands as the star of stars on national public radio-1st show of the 20th anniversary season...and we get a group very loose version of TAXMAN..ouch..remember b cast date is 4/4- tr will be just outta texas then on leg 2..they trade vocals -tr was the feature..a little re write to mr cheney and mr bush in place of msssrs wilson and heath in the original.....todd seemed respected by all who were there as performers and the audience and although the others were there-it was all about the man, his music and he served the spotlight well tonight..what a fitting way to close down leg1- watch for the bcast date..btw he was smiling and really appreciated the honor of being top dog..get your burners, vcrs, etc out 4/4 was what i was told....now were counting on you guys in the midwest to get out there, document....im going to bed with a warm warm heart....t


Other reviews for Miscellaneous Dates 2003
2/9/2003 - Mountain Stage - Charleston, WV

Other reviews for overall Solo dates 2003

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