Todd Rocks the Horse

When I got on line at the Iron Horse Music Hall yesterday afternoon around 4:30 p.m.,there were already a dozen stalwarts awaiting the 5:30 p.m. opening of the doors. While conversing with my fellow line-mates, Todd strolled out, entered a van and presumably went somewhere to eat (not diffcult here in Northampton, with its famed restaurant row). Many of us had seen Todd here in town last year, at the Calvin Theater, when the "new" material was drawn from "Liars" and the only word on a new album was that Todd might be doing something "proggy." Well, I'm not sure how much of "Arena" is "prog", but bookended between two sets of the old-time faves Todd & Co. played the new album in it's entirety and the capacity crowd in the club seemed to respond favorably to tunes both new and old. It was great to see Kasim back on keys, but I need to stress "see" because the keys seemed way low in the mix, which was otherwise clean and perhaps not as loud as last year's Calvin show. Todd was in fine spirits, his usual jocular self, even intoning a "requiem for a dead monitor" at one point. The crowd was exuberant, responsive and knowledgeable. How fortunate we are in western Mass. to have Todd visit twice within a year, to have crowds and venues to support his talents, and to have had the rare opportunity to see Todd in a club setting. And BTW, "Arena" rocks live!