Todd started out his set wearing a "coat of many colors", and performing Lysistrata. I knew that my hopes of a stellar show were dashed upon the rocks of reality when he sang his first line and it was obvious that the poor man was suffering from some kind of illness. It wasn't that his voice was blown, it seemed to be a head cold that had invaded his throat. While he gave it his best shot, there was nothing he could do.
After Lys, he said something to the effect that he was "channeling Bryan Adams doing my material", and got a nervous laugh from the audience. Then came _I_Don't_Want_To_Tie_You_Down_.
After IDWTTYD, Todd said he didn't know how long Bryan was going to hang around and got another nervous laugh from the crowd, and then the band came out and they swung into _Soul_Brother_, _Sweet_ and _Past_.
Then Todd took off his jacket, saying something like "y'all don't know what a bold move this is. . . it exposes me to all kinds of ticks and other vermin." I agree with earlier comments that the H&O band's arrangement of _Buffalo_Grass_ is too slow and plodding. At least it was in this performance.
Next, Todd said something about the audience being "so sweet, you seem fresh out of Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory" and did _Love_Is_The_Answer_.
Todd closed out his set as he had the other shows with _Hello,_It's_Me_ and _Rock_Love_, which got the audience going.
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We stepped out for a little while at this point, and returned mid-way through the H&O set. They seemed a little looser than usual, interacting with the audience more than at the other two shows I've seen this tour. The arrangements were the same, however, and they were as tight as usual.
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The encores were done as in the other shows, except that Todd's mike was mixed very low, so as to keep the ugliness of his discomfort from being too apparent.
All in all, I'd looked forward to this show with great anticipation. . . I'd hoped that the band's performances on Todd's music would have gotten as tight as their performances on H&O's material, and this was the case. Wouldn't you know it, that Todd's voice would fail just as the backing band got it's act together. Once in a while he has to prove to us that he's "Only Human".
