Review of St. Paul Show

Let me first say that I would not have been able to get to the show without my husband who took me there. After a five hour drive he waited in the truck with our dog-daughter for me to see TODD. I had a pretty good seat at the end of a row middle of the first tier. With my little opera glasses I could see everything (i.e. Todd) close up. I first caught sight of Todd before he went on stage when the house lights were still up and he was waiting with security guys off stage. The lights went down and the show began. He was wearing a black suit with black deck shoes of all things. He had a white shirt and black tie on. He had a bit of a hair cut from the Abbey Tour but nothing drastic. It was a solo acoustic show. He played for an hour. He started off with Love of The Common Man and followed that with Cliché, both on the acoustic guitar. He told a little story about his plane trip and the "special search" he endured. He joked about a similar search years ago when going to Canada when he had something that "shouldn't have been there" in his luggage, noticed it at the last minute and was lucky not to have the customs agent find it! He then played Won't Go to War No More which he referred to as "topical." He followed this with the "audience participation number" Hide Your Love Away, of course from the Abbey tour. The tell-tale ukelele was on the stage and at this point in the show he picked it up, told his little "I live in Hawaii" story, which got a "boo" from someone in the crowd! He said something to the effect of this being the first time his mentioning Hawaii got that type of reaction and then quickly said "it is your freakin' cold snap!" which was very true! Following this tune, he played It Wouldn't Have Made Any Difference and then Song of the Viking which he dedicated to the people of Minnesota. At this point he switched to the piano and attempted to play Compassion, flubbed it miserablly half way through and then said he was "sorry" and scrapped it in favor of Free, Male and 21, which he proceeded to also flub and quit half way through. Leaping from the piano as if it was cursed, he took up the guitar again, said, "I love to compose on the piano but I hate to play it" and proceeded to do There Goes My Inspiration (the irony was not lost on me!). Oh, I almost forgot, he also said that he hasn't played since being off the road in November. Anyone wondering what he has been up to at home can probablly rule out playing instruments as one of his activities. He then played I Saw The Light (Bossa Nova version) which was very good. He got the audience into One World and had some of us singing along and most of us clapping. He then left the stage. The crowd applauded for an encore and he came out, actually sat at the piano again (he's got BALLS!) and played a beautiful version of Hawking. Redeemed himself on the instrument, I must say. I got the heck out of there and we drove the five hours back home so I could go to work the next day. What a long trip but at least I thought it was worth it, Todd Head that I am. Some guy at the show even shouted "Todd is Godd!", which warmed my heart!