todd and joe review

Where to start. Most of the fan reviews of this show are positive. I just want to offer another view. I was really worried about seeing Todd after reading many of the reviews for the previous shows. If all of Todd's set had been with Ethel or Joe Jackson I think the set might have been one of my all time favorite shows ever. Todd's set started off with solo songs and it seemed like he was just blowing through the songs so he could get them over with. I could hear missed notes. He also seemed to be battling with the road crew/technical support throughout his set. The piano was too loud, but Joe Jackson just played on it for an hour and it was fine for him. An earlier posting suggested the crowd was poorly behaved, but i felt Todd let them get away from him. Todd's set did seem brief--he may have played for less time than Joe Jackson. Too much of that time was spent complaining about the guitar set up, or the microphone stand itself at the start of the show. I met some Todd fans before the show that said Todd is a perfectionist. It seems that he demanded perfection from the roadies but didn't necessarily reciprocate that perfection early in his set. The show did get much, much better as it went along. Todd's comment that "this ukelele kills fascists" before Bang The Drum was worth the ticket price itself. Very funny. When Todd sang Tiny Demons and Afterlife, and then Pretending to Care with Ethel the set imporved greatly. It seemed like he slowed down and that playing with a group forced him to settle in. The encore will always be one of my all time favorites. Todd and Joe with Ethel playing While My Guitar Gently Weeps was perfect. Perfect. Black Maria to end the show was also great. I am a big Joe Jackson fan and his set seemed very professional. I can't say the same for all of Todd's set. I felt kind of bad for him at times. It doesn't seem like he was having fun all the time during his set or that he really wanted to be there. I hope I am just misreading all of this. I would probably see Todd again, but it would have to be with a band. I wouldn't pay a lot of money to see him again. I definitely will go and purchase some of his back catalog to catch some of the songs I am not that familiar with.