The semi-outdoor venue was an excellent place for a live show. It was in a permanent tent-like structure, with a 180 degree seating arrangement. Almost all seats were filled and a "lawn" section outside the tent was pretty crowded as well.
Briefly, I'll run through the line-up, and my thoughts.
Todd:
It seemed the majority of people (including me) were there to see Todd. This was evident by the amount of applause he received for just about anything he did. I was disappointed in the amount of time he was given. You've all read the song list, and in my opinion he didn't get nearly enough time in the spotlight. For most of the show he either played back-up guitar (competing with up to four other guitars simultaneously) or was relegated to shaking a percussion instrument. What a waste of talent. He clowned around a bit, as mentioned in earlier reviews, and his spinning and dancing during "Fool On The Hill" seemed contrived. His remarkable talent was grossly underused.
David Pack:
The only reason I'm mentioning Pack next is because if I hadn't known better, I'd have thought this guy was first on the bill! While David Pack from Ambrosia (who?) was certainly talented, I wasn't prepared for (he was not billed in the line-up) the amount of time given him, and his Ambrosia songs.
John Entwistle:
The Ox. He did what he has been doing for 40 years. Stood in one spot, and played the bass like only he can. He by far had the most equipment, and appeared to have enough gear to either play Madison Square Garden, or launch a space shuttle. The eerie blue glow from the fret markers on his bass was pretty cool as well.. At one point, he joked about putting his hearing aid in, to the somewhat uncomfortable chuckling of the mostly "over the hill" crowd (including me.) During one Who song (The Real Me), he was actually playing in the wrong key for about a minute. You could see him looking around as if trying to figure out what the problem was, then, realizing it was him, slid his fingers up a fret, and then all was well. Maybe that hearing aid comment wasn't a joke after all. Outstanding playing otherwise, as usual.
Ann Wilson:
Not much to say that hasn't already been said. She was in top form, and sounded as good as she did 20 years ago. Phenomenal voice.
Alan Parsons:
If it wasn't for the fact that this whole tour was reportedly his idea, I would have to wonder why this talented producer/engineer/musician was there at all. He was mostly relegated to back-up acoustic guitar/tambourine hitting throughout the show. He did get to play a couple of his "hits" on keyboard, but the mistakes he made while playing Blackbird even made him visibly wince.
The other musicians were in top form as well, but as the show progressed, it got progressively louder, and by the time the Beatles set was started, the sound was incredibly muddy and poorly mixed. I had to stuggle to differentiate Todd's leads, for example, over the rest of the instruments.
All things considered though, it was still a great opportunity to see a once-in-a-lifetime combination of extremely talented musicians play some outstanding music.
