RFH Gig London 15/7/04

I last saw Todd in 1982 at the Apollo Manchester. It wasn’t a big show, just himself, a piano, guitars and a few backing tracks but I enjoyed the day. Last night, sad to say, was a big disappointment! The sound at the RFH was truly dreadful. It was just a wall of sound with very little definition between the players. The gig started with everything turned up to 11 and as a result when the band got to the Liars track they had nowhere to go. I don’t know what you pay the guy on the mixing desk but whatever it is, it’s too much. There was plenty of stuff from the new album, as you’d expect to kick off with and then a couple of rather tired tunes with Todd on semi acoustic. Then soon after that came the low point of the evening: Whilst Todd was off getting into his day-glow orange number we were “treated” to non other than Green Onions!!! and a spectacularly bad one at that. Jesse Gresse bust a guitar string at some point during a solo which seemed to put the whole guitar out (at least I hope that was the excuse) and there was much thrashing of strings but to no particular effect. I actually winced at one point when Todd picked up his green strat and headed straight for the 18th fret… what ever happed to building a solo? A swing version of Born to Synthesise was, I can only guess, a joke that had gone too far. The show finished with Hello it’s Me and for the second encore, Just One Victory, which inevitably was a high note to finish on. At the close there were many outstretched hands and the odd bouquet of flowers heading stageward but in the ‘cold morning light’, even the most diehard fan must be wondering if Rundgren isn’t taking the ‘Liars’ thing to it’s final irony!