I think this was Todd's first appearance at the Forum since he recorded a live album there back in 1994 on the No World Order tour. He was all alone for that one.
Tonight, things could not have been more different as Todd brought the Arena tour to London.
What can I say. It rocked. Playing the same set that he has been doing for the whole tour - opening with Love in Action, Open my Eyes, Black Maria, I Saw the Light etc, before playing Arena in its entirety - this was guitar rock heaven (and let's face it, probably the last time you'll see Todd doing this kind of tour in the UK).
The band were tight, the backing vocals near perfection, and a few ropey moments aside, Todd's vocals strong and good. It was a real joy to see him playing so much lead guitar, after recent years of being more of the 'singer in the band'.
There were a few technically issues near the start, when Todd couldn't get the clean guitar sound he wanted, and one amusing moment when he managed to fall over, but these things did not distract from what was an excellent show. Todd was also a bit more chatty that he'd been on the Liars and Joe Jackson/Ethyl tours, which was good.
Highlights? Quite a few, but getting to hear 'Couldn't I just Tell You' (an old favourite and the song that converted me to Todd) was hard to top. Prize for loudest song on the night, was surprisingly the oldest, 'Open my Eyes'. New album sounded great, although one of my favourite tracks off it, 'Afraid' sounded the most 'muddy' of the evening, which was a shame.
Would be great if Todd could swing back through the UK again next year with a similar tour.
Oh, and Rachel does look rather cute in real life.
Tonight, things could not have been more different as Todd brought the Arena tour to London.
What can I say. It rocked. Playing the same set that he has been doing for the whole tour - opening with Love in Action, Open my Eyes, Black Maria, I Saw the Light etc, before playing Arena in its entirety - this was guitar rock heaven (and let's face it, probably the last time you'll see Todd doing this kind of tour in the UK).
The band were tight, the backing vocals near perfection, and a few ropey moments aside, Todd's vocals strong and good. It was a real joy to see him playing so much lead guitar, after recent years of being more of the 'singer in the band'.
There were a few technically issues near the start, when Todd couldn't get the clean guitar sound he wanted, and one amusing moment when he managed to fall over, but these things did not distract from what was an excellent show. Todd was also a bit more chatty that he'd been on the Liars and Joe Jackson/Ethyl tours, which was good.
Highlights? Quite a few, but getting to hear 'Couldn't I just Tell You' (an old favourite and the song that converted me to Todd) was hard to top. Prize for loudest song on the night, was surprisingly the oldest, 'Open my Eyes'. New album sounded great, although one of my favourite tracks off it, 'Afraid' sounded the most 'muddy' of the evening, which was a shame.
Would be great if Todd could swing back through the UK again next year with a similar tour.
Oh, and Rachel does look rather cute in real life.
Comments
I hate to say it but I think the falling down thing is a running joke of some kind. He did it here in Seattle and it's been mentioned in several of the concert reviews posted on TR Connection...