Great show at the Boulder Theatre. Haven't seen Todd with a band since
the power trio thing. He pulled out of Colorado on the Liars tour,
which sucked. So I had to make the 220 mile trip from Carbondale over
two 12,000 + foot passes in a blizzard past accidents and other
horrors to go see this show. I was not let down as the super tight
group slammed mercilessly from one Cars smash to the next. Freeking
fun. Even though I was there to see Todd, and certainly would have
preferred a Todd show, this was still somewhat of a Todd show and this
show shows what Todd can do when he has a tight band. I haven't seen
Prairie Prince since scooping up generous earfuls of Tubes shows in
the late seventies and early eighties. Of course, he's one of the
tastiest session drummers and every record he plays on gets way
better. Prairie made the band the insanely driven monster that it is.
His drums were tuned to perfection and he understands the music, gets
inside it and punches his way out like a prizefighter. KEEP PRARIE!
Elliot Easton was a freak but sure was distracting me from other
things as he made it look easy on a delicious collection of Gibson
SGs. I was prepared for him to be blazing and he wasn't. For Elliot,
he matches some of the catchiest chops with delightful tone coming
from two large Marshall amplifiers. Perfect tone. It was bizarre to
see Todd chopping away at rhythm licks while Elliot gobbled up the
lion's share of the guitar (and rightly so since they were playing
Cars songs). But Todd plays great rhythm guitar and when it was time
to add his own little touches and strokes they were plenty awe
inspiring. The thing about Todd's style is that he reaches for drama
with high notes and fast fingers that is really inspiring. Listen to
Just One Victory and you'll know what I mean. I first saw Todd on the
Ra tour. And then it was on to sweet Utopia shows all over the Bay
area all the way through Adventures in Utopia and beyond. That's when
Todd kind of abandoned the hot band, searing guitar playing thing and
went on to bigger bands and solo shows. Todd has always been one of my
favorite guitarists and I've seen him rip and thanks to the sweet
backup Todd is getting back into fighting form. Yaaay! What Todd needs
to do next is get a band like this and assert his formidable catalog
of dramatic and wonderful tunes on an unsuspecting world. Black Maria,
the Last Ride, Abandon City, Bird on A Wire, new stuff, old stuff,
and, to honor the band, a couple of Cars tunes, a couple of Tubes
tunes a couple of XTC tunes, Meatloaf and all the nectar these guys
have collectively worked on.
I brought two musician friends to the show and we were all grinning
the whole time!
