Well, I've long since lost count, but this must have been about my 50th TR show or somewhere in that neighborhood. I didn't get pics this time, because I tried to take in my "real" digital (an Oly 600DL) and the woman at the counter said no. And I didn't do a playlist, as it's substatially the same as the rest of the tour, except that this time we got "Hammer in My Heart", "There Goes My Inspiration", and "Hide Your Love Away" on acoustic with "Bang the Drum" on uke, all of which were missing from the Santa Cruz tour opener.
With all those shows in my past, I'd put this one in the top five. Todd, Kas and Trey were ON. Todd's guitar was remarkable, (although "Percy" the orange one had a minor death partway through the show, and Foamy and another black axe [I don't think it was the Lennon Rickebacker] finished the acts. Kas was having his usual great time with who-khows-who in the audience, and Trey seemed to be completely comfortable. The only drawback was that the roadies were the same ones from Santa Cruz: I don't know if they do the whole trip, I don't know about the biz. In SC I'd written-off the screwups to them being a house crew not used to Todd's setups, but after seeing the same gang tonight I'd strongly suggest Todd no longer draw labor from the lineup outside tha Plasma Donor's Center. Granted I'm pretty much a simp (all my typing is done by one of my infinite number of pet monkeys), but is it _really_ that complicated to slap some duct -cough, sorry- gaffer's tape on a plug to make sure it stays in while Our Hero is going through his mid-stage histrionics? Or do you really have to be reminded to TURN OFF a guitar before yanking out the plug? Todd made one remark about "playing in the Halls of Thor" with all the thunder sound-effects we were being treated to. Other soundwise, we lost Todd's mike once or twice, there was a problem with the FloorBoard "not being pre-set right", and I think Kas made an extra guitar swap at one point.
Still and all, JEEZE what a show. From what I heard, I think that Rundgren fellow should seriously consider going into doing this kind of thing for a living. If you can get to a show on this tour, take the time and DO IT!
--Guy.
