I’ll make no attempt to recreate the set list, but my memories of the songs should follow the set list order. There were 3 or 4 songs I did not recognize, and I assume they are either new or have escaped my aging memory. The current tour is a power trio (pronounced "T-R-eeh-oh"?), with long time sideman Kasim Sulton on bass and Trey Sabatelli on drums. The sound was quite good for a bar, with the muddy vocals at the beginning getting better throughout the first 2 or 3 songs.
The show started on time, opening with I Hate My Frickin’ ISP. A new tune to me, but a great show starter. One thing that has always struck me about Todd tunes is the layering of sounds that appear in his songs, especially the vocals. To avoid dwelling on it later, let me say now that this same "layering" of vocals effect was present during this live show. Kas (as always) was in fine voice, and he and Trey both contributed to the vocal harmonies.
Couldn’t I Just Tell You, Love of the Common Man and #1 Lowest Common Denominator later, and the band was in full rock and roll stride. I kept thinking how great it was to see/hear Todd play the guitar again. Better yet, the band seemed to be enjoying themselves. Lots of smiles and knowing looks all around, with Trey in a perpetual state of grinning ear to ear.
I will never hear Love In Action the same again. This version contained a fake ending (you can’t stop the song after only three successive lines of "you can’t stop") with some interim chit-chat from the stage, an accapella operatic version of Queen’s "We are the Champions", a comment about opera being hard, and then, when you least expect it, suddenly launching back into "…you can’t stop love in action".
The next couple of songs I did not recognize but there was a round of solos from all three. Kas hobbled around on his good foot for his, and Trey was both impressive and obviously still having a good time for his. The band seemed to crank it up a notch for the old Nazz tune Open My Eyes, and then followed it up with a version of Trapped that just begged you to scream along on the chorus.
Todd performed a solo version of the Hawaiian War Chant on the ukulele (recently moved to Hawaii) that sounded suspiciously like Bang On The Drums All Day with a little of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" thrown into the chorus.
The band came back on for scorching versions of Black and White, don’t know the next one, There Goes My Inspiration, Secret Society, another song or two and then an amazing version of One World.
The first encore was Hammer in My Heart; the second was World Wide Epiphany.
Great show, great time. Dan Brown
