Liars Tour House of Blues Chicago

Todd evidently means business this time around. Not only is "Liar" his absolute best in a very long time, but the show is as pleasing as any TR tour that you've seen in a very long time. It features hands down one of the strongest openings I've seen in a Rundgren show and that's "Truth." If you don't like the song or you're still on the fence about it, you'll love it when you see the tour. It's powerful, moving, plowing right through you and Todd absolutely nails it. There were the obligitory screw ups throughout the night, but far fewer than I can remember at any other given show. And by the time this tour hits your town, you'll be very lucky that all the bugs were worked out in Chicago and Milwaukee. In fact Todd thanked the audience at the end of the night for giving the band a "proper amount of slack" for working through the brand new show.

For me the strongest songs of the night were the songs from Liar. The above mentioned "Truth" was a harbinger of things to come. "Mammon" was just devestating. A great groove and impossible not to react to. The soul ballads, "Sweet" and "Past" were sung to perfection. Truly inspiring. "Soul Brother" is about as fun as it gets. Great crowd pleaser. "God Said" was so intense. Again, Todd sang it beautifully and the band laid down the spacey groove that had the whole place rubber-neckin'. But the MF was "Liar." This is one of Todd's great achievments in my book and damn if he and the band, with some help from pre-recorded tracks, don't pull if off.

The rest of the set list was engaging and wildly entertaining. For me the weakest songs of the night, interestingly enough, came from "One Long Year." "I Hate My Frickin' ISP just kind of lays there instead of rocks there, and Todd has a hard time singing it, and "Hit Me Like a Train" is just really flat. Other than that, this is a great show that you'll take it with you for a long time. And maybe it was just me, but I don't think so, through watery eyes, I looked around to see the whole crowd with the same reaction when he did a very heartfelt, "Hello It's Me." Don't miss this show...it's the Todd experience you've been waiting for!