I arrived at the sold out show at The Odeon, with my son in tow at around 7:30 P.M. The place was filling up quickly, there are alot of Todd fans in Cleveland, so we made a beeline for the front right away. Thanks to my son, we managed to make our way up to the front, the closest we could get was third person from centre stage. The stage was set up as a lounge, complete with a bar, bartender, bar stools, tables, drinks, and an audience all on stage. The entertainment of the night was Todd! It was very realistic to see that the audience onstage consisted mostly of couples for the first two sets of the night, then the last set the audience changed to all single women. Typically couples usually leave early and then at the end of the night a real bar is mostly filled with single people.
Todd seemed to be a little under the weather, in between songs he commented that he had a bad case of the Bosnian flu. His voice sounded a little horse while he was talking, but this was not apparent while he was singing. Only during one song, I believe it was Fidelity, he had a little trouble, but the audience filled in for him nicely. During one of the songs, he got the giggles and had every one in the audience in stiches, after slapping himself out of it, he managed to get back on track and finish the song.
All in all, this was a much better show then the one that was seen there in November. The band seemed to be more relaxed, and the music sounded much more tighter. The improvisational number in the last set was much better this time around, Jesse Gresse was amazing on guitar. The background vocals sounded incredible, Kasim has an amazing voice, it's too bad he couldn't show it off more. Praire Prince was superb on drums, even though I didn't catch the drum stick.
It was nice to get away to Cleveland for a few days, but the exchange rates are killer. Todd please come up to Canada next tour!
Penny Maddalena
P.S. Todd seemed to be a little uncomfortable just sitting on a bar stool at first, it seemed as if he didn't know what to do with his hands, must come from all those years of playing an instrument. A banana and other fruit, not sure what it was, gave him something to keep his hands busy. Todd is a true professional, even though it was evident that he wasn't feeling 100%, he still put together a great show. How does he do it?