What happened to soul? Well, it was alive and well in Boston tonight. This was quite an enjoyable evening all around. If you have a chance to see any of these shows, DO IT!!! You wont be disappointed. It was the best of both worlds for me and my girlfriend Sarah. She's in love with Daryl Hall and I.....well.....let's just say Todd can do no wrong in my book.
The crowd was very receptive to Todd. In fact, there were a lot of Todd fans out there and he did not disappoint. Lysistrada and Afterlife on acoustic guitar were the opening songs. Afterlife has always been a favorite of mine and the acoustic guitar version is quite a pleasure. Then some H&O band members came out and they did Soul Brother, Sweet & Past. All sounded great. I don't know how much new stuff this band had to learn for Todd but they nailed it. Then Buffalo Grass. I have always liked this song but when he plays it live, it truly comes alive. It's got a great driving beat and you can see many people nodding and bobbing their heads to the beat. Then came Hello It's Me and a nice little version of Love Is The Answer. The last song of his set was a surprising Rock Love. Haven't heard that live in a while. All in all a pretty solid set of old and new stuff. The crowd ate it all up.
Hall & Oates were excellent as well and for the encores, Todd came out and they all traded vocals on Wait For Me (H&O), Can We Still Be Friends, Rich Girl (H&O), I Saw The Light, Kiss On My List (H&O) and Love Train (The O'Jays). Todd, this being the first night of the short tour, was slightly unfamiliar with the H&O lyrics. He had them written down somewhere and it kind of looked like someone doing Karoke. Still did a great job with the songs. They all seemed to be having a great time and it was fun to hear these great singers together. A highlight for all of the fans who hate the twisted I Saw The Light, this was a dead on original version that included the dual guitar solo that you have probably only heard on the record. It sounded awesome. For those of you not fortunate to catch this little northeast tour, Hall & Oates are recording all of their shows with Instant Live and you can purchase it at the show or in a few weeks go to
I have never been disappointed with a Todd show and this is no exception. Perfect or not, every experience has been a memorable and unique one that I always think fondly of. To use the words of the drunk guy with no rhythm, dancing around and shouting all night, "TODD IS GOD!!!!" Well, he's got my vote anyway.
Oh yeah, Todd if you're reading this, COME TO BOSTON MORE OFTEN!!! The casino drive is 3 hours from NH. Also, as you could tell tonight, you have a lot of fans up here that love you. So don't be a stranger.
Mark Dumais
Somersworth, NH
