Todd Rundgren with Joe Jackson and Ethel

Review by Walter Doherty (Switch to
)
8/25/2004

Excellent show. Great venue. The Delacorte Theater is a wooden outdoor amphitheatre with Turtle Pond, the Great Lawn and Belvedere Castle behind the stage. Add the Moon and 68 degree temperature and it was perfect. They each did about a one hour set plus the finale.

Ethel opened. They were 3 violins/violas and a cello. They played well and were very animated, but the music was not my cup of tea. My wife called it discordant. It means relating to a lack of agreement or harmony, I looked it up. I like harmony. A combination of simultaneous musical notes in a chord, a pleasing or congruent arrangement of parts. Yeah that's what I like.

Around the third Ethel song, Mary Lou escorted Ruth to a seat.

Joe Jackson did a great set, all on the piano:

Hometown
Steppin' Out
Take It Like A Man
Awkward Age
Be My Number Two
Obvious Song
Love At First Light
Girl
Citizen Sane
It's Different For Girls
Is She Really Going Out With Him?
Joe kept lyric sheets on the piano. The first time the wind blew them he didn't finish singing the verse. On another song when they blew he had to stop the song to get a paper weight, then started over. Todd's not the only one.

Todd was in good form vocally and on acoustic. Piano was a little rough.
Acoustic:

Lysistrata - delivered with a passion like we were at war.
I Don't want to tie you down - always nice.
Love of the Common Man
Cliché
Black and White - Excellent playing, I don't recall hearing this
acoustic.
Piano:
A Dream Goes of Forever
Song of the Viking
Free Male and 21
Compassion
Hello it's me - Classic piano version. After having to stop, Todd
said "I really thought I knew this song."
Acoustic:
Bang the Ukulele Daily
You've got to hide your Love Away - Jackson fans thought it was a
Todd song.
Beloved Infidel
Lunatic Fringe
One World - Great delivery.
Encore with Joe and Ethel:
While My Guitar Gently Weeps
Black Maria
Todd on acoustic, Joe on piano, Ethel carried the encore. Ethel cranked on the solo for While My Guitar Gently Weeps and just played the whole song great. Todd and Joe traded verses, with Jackson doing the Roy Orbison parts. On Black Maria, again Violins took the solos, cello playing bass, you could barely even hear Todd's acoustic, it was really cool in a funny way. At one point Todd laughed while singing. I was amazed at how well Ethel knew Black Maria and how well they played the whole song. Todd said they threw it together at the sound check but I find that hard to believe.

All in all, a great show.


Other reviews for Todd Rundgren and the Liars 2004
8/24/2004 - New York, NY - Delacorte Theater (Central Park)

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