The Orpheum Theatre is a beautiful old theatre in downtown LA, very ornate inside built back in the 20's. The perfect place for a show like this. The opening act was Todd Rundgren's Johnson, as he called it, featuring Todd, Kas, Jesse, & Prarie spotlighting their talents by ripping all over their version of Robert Johnson tunes. I liked the opening act, extended jams, blistering Todd guitar solos on each song, lot of fun! I say let that boy Boogie-Woogie! As it turned out, it worked really well as a loosening up for both band & audience before the main event. I saw Ray Davies open up for Ray Davies a couple of weeks ago in this same venue, and it worked well there too. So Todd opens up for Todd. Well if you can call it that -
The AWATS show was like freaking out there. Bizarre, strange, and completely awesome.
Vaudeville showmanship telling the story of the ablum you've loved since you were a kid.
The musicianship was extraordinarily top-notch. I can't say enough about the quality of the playing, so I won't say anything, just sit here and glow at what we saw.
The opening International Feel with Todd in a NASA spacesuit, and the band all in white tuxedos looking like they just stepped out of an albino "Your Mother Should Know" video was too much to take in all at once. I liked the costumes. NASA spacesuits aren't easy to come by. There were many highlights in this show, but what impressed me the most was the continuity of the show. No stops between songs, one continuous show. The sheer difficulty of pulling that off was in and of itself amazing. Both the International Feels were awesome, with the ending one leaving me going holy smokes! this is amazing! The tic-tic-tic thing was really good too I thought, so much going on musically on stage. Did I mention how good the music was for this?
Bobby's Zen Archer sax solo was indeed awesome, but what got it for me was when Jesse & Bobby were trading riffs at the end of it. WOW. I'm SO Proud. Glenn thought it was the best song he did all night. Could be. I've seen him do this one many times, and it was really, really, good. Todd standing at the mike in an Orange suit, laying it all out, yeah - too good. Sunset Blvd was another highlight, an LA staple, and Todd's guitar effect/solo for that was perfect.The costume for Onionhead was weird, a big fatboy looking thing. Thought they should have had him wearing an Onionhead, but hey, you want the obvious you get the obvious. I was expecting them to have a break after that song to "flip the album over" but instead went they straight into "Sometimes I Don't Know What to Feel" with Todd singing one of my favorite songs in a fatboy outfit. Like I said this show was out there. They did break before the final song "Just One Victory" and Michelle came out and sang backup vocals ! So good to see her up there singing again.
An awesome show. Truly incredible!
Best Todd show I've seen.
Steve Adam
http://mrhollywoodonline.com
