I must be a lucky guy! First I had to wait for 30 years for a chance to see
my hero perform live (last summer with the Liars at the Bospop Rock
Festival: really smashing: 60 minutes Loud and Proud: Todd Rocked!) and now
I got the chance to see him twice in one weekend just 20 miles from my
hometown! Maybe the reception he got backstage from the Naked2U ladies last
year in Weert speeded up his return to Holland (;-), see
picture, sorry
Todd!). Now the reviews: I had two really wonderful nights. Ethel was great,
Joe is an excellent musician and songwriter and Todd is Todd. For me the
songs together with Joe, Ethel and Todd were the absolute highlights of the
shows (Pretending to Care, Throw it Away, WMGGW, Soul Brother, Stood Up),
but I enjoyed all of it. On Saturday the sound was very loud and very sharp,
on Sunday it was much better. Both nights were quite different. No standard
jokes or introductions. The second night JJ played a duet with Dorothy, the
celloplayer (I don't know the title of the song) and Todd had a different
set list. Cliché was left out and Tiny Demons, I don't want to tie you down
(or was it Hawking, I'm not completely sure) and You've got to hide your
love away (from The Beatles) were put in. Especially Tiny Demons was
absolutely wonderful. Alas Soul Brother wasn't played on Sunday. As was the
case last year at Bospop, Todd filled the stage, very comfortable, relaxed
and good humoured. What an artist! Both he and Joe were obviously having a
great time in Amsterdam, only the weather was awfull: very cold and heavy
rains. So they made a lot of jokes about the Dutch summer, which led to
jokes about Donna Summer and a short cover-version by Todd of Love to love
you, baby. Hilarious! The purpose of Bang The Drum All Day on Sunday, as
explained by Todd, was to shed out all the loads of sunshine contained in
the little ukelele over Amsterdam. I think Todd really succeeded.
Thank you Todd (and Joe and Ethel) for these superb shows!
Forever in my heart,
Rob Zwitserlood