When I left the theater I walked toward where I knew the stage door was, just on the off chance that . . . holy crap . . . there was the two-tone hair! What timing. I walked down to the stage door and there was Todd. It was COLD and Todd undoubtedly wanted to get inside, but he very kindly stopped to greet several of us and I got my copy of Arena signed (which I immediately smudged -- DOH!). We exchanged a few words about the album and tour, and then he went inside.
At the assigned time I returned to the theater and into the audience holding place at the Roseland Theater across the street. They then brought us into the Ed Sullivan Theater in groups of 100 and I was in the third group. By the time my group came in they were seating us half-way back from the stage. But before entering the aisle with the rest of my group, one of the ushers pointed to me and gave me the "come here" sign. I was taken down to the front of the theater and seated in the first row. WHAT?!? I don't know if the nice ticket person hooked me up, or if it was pure luck, but I got a front row seat for the taping. Cool!
The rest you can see for yourself from the show. Like many others, I wished they'd played a different song, but at the same time I can understand the need to play the song that would stand the best of having mass appeal. At a Philadelphia Eagles game I attended earlier this season they played "Strike" in the stadium during one of the breaks in the game. As that suggests, Strike would make a great sports arena song as Bang the Drum has for so long. I hope this song has legs for Todd, brings him some decent income, and broadens his audience as he deserves.
