State Theatre-- Easton

I am another Todd fan who will be celebrating 30 years of shows in January 2004 so suffice to say I have seen basically everything. Last night's show at the beautiful State Theatre in Easton, PA was a surprise from several ends but all positive. First off, Easton is only 10 miles from Allentown and the infamous Crocodile Rock show which Todd was forced to end early due to an unruly crowd. Todd was well aware of the closeness of the venue and used it to his advantage to praise the crowd's behavior last night saying he honestly didn't know what to expect when he took the stage. Secondly, the local radio station sponsoring the show did an amazing marketing job and just about filled the 1400 seat theatre. About 150 seats in the balcony were the only ones empty. Thirdly, long time Todd sideman Jesse Gress in from nearby Bethlehem and "stopped by" to play on the Bossa Nova songs and also Lucky Guy and Never Never Land, which I didn't see on all the set lists form previous shows. Jesse was great.

Some Todd highlights were breaking into the full version of the Jetsons theme song in the middle of Born to Synthesize. Todd's handling of the yelling or requests was also brilliant thanking the crowd but saying he was Ok with the set list. We did have one guy who insisted in yelling Freak Parade after every song. Todd was in the best spirits I have ever seen him and almost seemed sincerely overwhelmed at both the turnout and audiences behavior.

Seeing Todd stomp through the rockers One World and Black and White almost looked Neil Youngish. Todd had been at this venue one other time in the mid 1980's for the A Capella tour promoted by local legend Dave Stein but it appeared to have forgotten that date as he marveled at the beauty of the venue. Roysten opened the show playing for 40 minutes and said the highlight of his career to date was this show. He was actually fairly well received.

Overall, this was a Todd show to remember and he seemed happy to end his perceived battle with the Lehigh Valley area. He is playing in the Philadelphia and Harrisburg areas in the next two weeks and I hope to catch one of the shows. Overall a great night.