Todd Rundgren at the Carolina Theatre in Durham, NC
Review by Daniel (Switch to
)
2/9/2003
I went into the show thinking that since this was the last official stop
on his winter mini tour-of-the-south that I'd have a better chance in
seeing a more polished Todd show this time around (you know, Todd had the
whole tour to "practice" the piano ;) Well, better luck next time I
guess. The show was pretty much typical Todd in terms of piano flubs,
forgotten lyrics and technical difficulties. Todd started out well
performing Love of the Common Man but had to stop mid-way through due to
breaking THREE guitar strings. He had this "oh no not again!" look on
his face since something similar to this happened the night before in
charlotte. It seemed that Todd had a rough time recovering from this
initial incident the rest of the night which may explain the shorter set
list compared to other stops on this tour. some notable songs MIA this
night:
Love In Action, Black and White, Hawking, It Wouldn't Have Made Any
Difference and There Goes My Inspiration. I didn't get a good read on
Todd tonight. Couldn't tell if he was glad this was the last stop on
this leg of the tour and was eager to move on or if he felt this was an
"off night" and decided not to push his luck by playing more than he had
to. Todd wasn't that chatty tonight which was kind of a bummer as well.
The show was over by 10:30pm which was just TOO early. I was waiting for
him to play on..... at least to hear him sing Hawking. But just my luck,
it wasn't meant to be this night. Even with all the flubs and mind
farts, I still enjoyed the show (yes, i know it surprised me too). There
were several moments of pure bliss where Todd would sing a line so sweet
and perfect, it'd take you to another place and time. Those moments
really made the show for me.
highlights for me include: tonight's version of compassion (spine
tingling), the mp3-backed bossa nova set (although the abrupt way the
"with a twist" instrumentals end is kinda jarring.....I wish he'd modify
the tracks...), a sweet version of I Don't Want to Tie you Down, Love of
the Common Man (in the second run through of the song, Todd seems real
determined to get it right this time and he definitely came through!), a
solid performance of Cliche and the Wheel, and a surprisingly enjoyable
version of Bang on the Ukelele Daily (personally I think I was more
receptive to it tonight mainly b/c it came after the crash and burn of
Hello It's Me on piano.)
Overall Todd's voice sounded great. And at times he seemed to really get
into it.
lowlights: in addition to the cring-worthy performance of Hello It's Me,
Todd barely made it through A Dream Goes On Forever.
Afterwards Todd remarked that he couldn't let the night end like that so
he strapped on the guitar one last time to send us home with One World.
I was pleasantly surprised that he sang "Chapel Hill to Tokyo!!" in the
song since I live there. cool!
As for the venue: kudos to whoever booked this tour. they picked some
great places for Todd to play and the Carolina Theatre is definitely one
of them. pretty intimate and great sound. And I was real glad to see
such a great turnout. The place was packed. A big thanks to the
management of the Carolina Theatre, STAR-FM and the News and Observer for
getting the word out about Todd's show. I think it made a big difference
in terms of the size of the crowd.
Another highlight of the evening came early on: the opening act (an
acapella group from NC State) ended their set with a great version of
Todd's Hodja.
To sum up: even though the show wasn't as polished as I had hoped, I
still came out of the theatre with a big smile on my face. Thanks Todd.
Come back and visit soon!!! (actually that just might be the case since
Todd announced last night that Rex will be playing with the Greensboro
Bats this season which is about an hour away from Chapel Hill! cool!)
Other reviews for Miscellaneous Dates 2003
2/8/2003 - Carolina Theatre - Durham, NC
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