Todd walked out as casual as could be around 7:30PM as many people were filling in the seats at the Balloon Festival Concert Stage. He mentions his recent Cape Cod visit (with the Abbey Road crew) and starts off his performance with:
LOTCM
Cliche
Hey! It's a Todd solo show! What about all those rumors about Todd playing with T-Bone and the rest of Hall and Oates' band? Well, the acoustic solo bit was just a warm up (and he needed it--voice was rough to start, although his playing of Blackie was pretty on). after this, T-Bone Wolk, a drummer and keyboard player come out. Todd grabs Foamy and surprise me with:
Hit Me Like A Train
Buffalo Grass
I'm Looking At You (But I'm Talking To Myself) (!!!)
What a great surprise! Todd's voice opened up and he played the guitar the way it should be played, including nailing the solos perfectly and powerfully. After a couple more shows, the band will be tight and this will sound fantastic. Tonight, it sounds pretty damn good. Todd takes off the guitar and tells us it's out chance to sing along. So it's time for:
Hello, It's Me (H & O's sax player is in on this--sounds great)
Followed by
Parallel Lines (played differently than Nearly Human track)
Love Is the Answer
Rock Love
As a great bonus, Todd came back a couple hours later and joins H & O for their encore (check H & O's web pages for reviews of their set--I'm not a fan). Todd delivers 2 of his own fan favorites:
Can We Still Be Friends?
I Saw the Light
This is the best live music Todd has done in a long time, even besting the Power Trio stuff. Todd was genuinely into the music with a talented backing band. He played like a champ and was incredibly energetic during "Rock Love," dancing like it was 1982.
See this tour, if only for Todd. And tell him we love his solo shows...but playing with a real band only makes his performance seem even greater. Congrats to Todd!
