The Morgansterns were the warmup band and they were pretty good. The band sat in chairs for their acoustic set. They had a decent fan base at their performance.
After the 6 opening older songs (Todd – please retire Lunatic Fringe from future set lists…enough already!) and a few sound glitches, Todd mentioned he would be performing the new Arena album in its 13 song entirety. The new music is a blend of hard rock/metal (“Strike”, “Manup”), beautiful ballads (“Weakness”) and pop. Great crowd response to “Bardo” and “Mountaintop”. I thought the pop songs were the weakest, but overall the new album is solid. We are looking forward to another dose Saturday in Agoura Hills.
Although Todd did not work the stage like other performances this year, he looked good and sounded great. Jesse was the stage star last night, rocking and jumping around -especially during some of the harder new songs. He was a blast to watch, and always delivers. Did not see much interplay between Rachel and Prairie; rather, Rachel seemed to feed off Todd. But Rachel held her own. We wanted to hear her take lead vocals on at least one song. All in all, it was great seeing a woman perform in the band. Matt was a nice addition, providing backup vocals, guitar and keyboard.
The classic “Just One Victory” ended the show. The audience clapped along and showed their appreciation and love.
We are still looking for a Chicago show announcement Todd!
