TODD RUNDGREN 29APR 2007/ state theatre/falls church VA

Review by Andre' Cholmondeley (Switch to
)
4/30/2007

SETLIST: see other shows, it's so good he's not changing it!! dammit -- no "temporary sanity" as reported from Night #1........wussup Todd!! bring it back!!!!we need to see/hear Tony throwin' down on that!! As said ad infinitum here in most recent reviews.. it's a great set.. all over the place thematically....songs he hasn't done in years or EVER....cool covers....ripping guitar duels....man oh man three shows was NOT enuf for me!! i am just getting into this. Grrrrrrr!!! Highlights for me are still 'hawking', 'mammon', "buffalo grass', 'black maria'....'black & white' rules too. this tour also for me celebrates how timeless that tune is.....

SOUND: pretty damn good, but I can't help it-----i still have issues with Todd's "digital" amp. it JUST DOESN'T CUT THRU the way it should!! sound guy...jesse..SOMEONE tell Todd to get a Mesa Boogie or Fender or something...or at least the old JOHNSON he used to have (uh...huh huh.....you said "johnson"). I don't know. i know i've been a bitch about this..but .. Todd deserves to be HEARD 100% ..and it's like 80% on a lot of the stuff. sorry. otherwise. these shows are near perfection.....and TR is playin' his ass off.....drums n bass sound fine, Jesse's amp is corpulent, cutting, and fat. ahem.

PLAYING: stellar all around. damn. Jesse is kicking ass...and pushing Todd to newer/sicker heights. Tony is just all over ... gettin' funky, digging into the tunes... WAY MORE STICK TONIGHT.. OMG..he had it out for like 6-7 tunes instead of 1...BONUS!! Jerry is also hittin' harder, wearing the tunes like a 2nd skin finally...... background vocals nicely stacked..could be a bit louder...

VIBE: amazing, i love this place, i've played here with project/object a few times, just cool VA/DC area folks around here...it's like a weird time zone....it's a 'theatre' --cool "pit" for those who wanna stand/bask/rock and LOST of seats/tables downstairs, theatre seats upstairs in the balcony, good food, great beers on tap. The band... having a GREAT time, which translates to the crowd...and the songs are playing themselves...!!

GOOD NEWS: ran into a taper buddy running DAT on the show, so it will be part of the collective sound hive.. !!

WACKY FACT: since i was down here for a family reunion, i attended with one of my sisters, and my mom and dad (in their mid-60s!!). You gotta realize .. my parents are divorced, we live in 3 different countries between us... and we 4 have not done anything "non-family" since like.. um, disneyworld 1984!! So that was super cool. to my delight and (only slight) surprise...they loved it! My mom, after "Drive" said: "i really liked that song..!" Being in the PIT with my dad during the hawking/ww epiphany encore..priceless..."hey -- what is that guy PLAYING!!??" as he marvelled at Tony Levin on "Stick"........

VOICE: TR sounded pretty good in general, but his voice was taking a BIT of a beating last night, a little rough on some of the really high stuff. For me , I think the sound guy, while he's doing a great job, needs to get Todd a little louder in the house (and his monitors?) so he doesn't have to BLAST FULL ON so much. Someone else mentioned this in a recent review and it does impact the show a bit...... but again - minor quibble, it's only 'cos we've seen and heard the guy deliver PERFECTION (or whatever humans can do closest to that) so we demand it of him! Today they're off.... I hope he treats his vocal cords nicely...

PT REFERENCE: as he did in NYC, TR threw us a great Townshend Windmill, i think it was in WW epiphany... so cool. Of course, it reminded me of the incredible WHO shows i saw last year and in Feb07, the 2 guys are only a couple years older than Todd, and all 3 of them reminding us that age is meaningless.....and if it's time to rock it's time to rock.

THANKS TODD: these 3 shows helped heal me from some bad shit, thanks Todd. Damn, his consistent message is so simple, in many ways. Rock Love. I Love My Life. Compassion. One World. Woman's World. Feel It. Fair Warning

RECOMMENDATION: Go see this show.... i concur with all the better (and well written) reviews.... this is a revelation. We all love "cliche" or "LOTCM" but.... amazing that Todd is just setting out to have fun...

See y'all on THE NEW CARS tour, somewhere.....somehow...


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4/29/2007 - State Theater - Falls Church, VA

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