Arrived at Graffiti's later than the night before, not sure what kind of crowd to expect, night before a holiday weekend and all. Seemed like more enthusiastic wizzers than usual for a weeknight, what a welcome sight.
Modem bleeps welcomed TR and band to the stage. "I Love You" the wizard chanted. We responded with "I love you too" (ok so it was part of the song). Typical "garage band" first set with the addition of "Train". But something seemed so much more together tonight. It was the last night of this tour; they could've just played the hell out of the songs just to get it over with, but was not to be. Everything that had been missing over the last few shows seemed to come together in this industrial mecca tonight. The band was relaxed, confident and ready to do it one more time. Even Todd's voice seemed to be more willing to put out the quality that had been eluding him on the previous night's show. And thank god he left the air on.......
So the captivating Al persuaded me to partake in the festivities of the second set. Aside from the "you can't take any pictures while onstage" warning, it was no holds barred up there. The band launched into the Tiki merrymaking of the later portion of the show and we were pretty much off from there. One of my table-mates suggested a dance to CWB...who was I to argue. From there things went either downhill, or uphill (depending on your perspective). The Tiki Gold dancers continued (to Jesse's amusement) until Todd took it upon himself to mount his stool to show us all his "Ricky Martin" moves. This was great till Todd failed to notice the swivel action of his seat and proceeded to swan dive into Prairie's drum kit and various other equipment. After a few tense moments (the band never skipped a beat throughout), he gamely bounced back and continued on the road.....
"A Dream Goes On" came sooner than we all thought and before we knew it, TR was leaving us just as soon as he'd entered.
Was he feeling better, was the crowd larger, was it due to being the last show of the tour? TR mentioned that he and the band had been thru hell together.....whatever that hell was, they came thru stronger and tighter than before. Todd showed us tonight what it is to be a true professional; a performer that really loves his craft and takes pride in the outcome.
And my god I can live forever having seen them played "Trapped".
Special thanks to my partner in crime for making an otherwise uneventful trip, magical.
We've got to love one another..........
Kristy
