Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Location: Ljubljana / Hala Tivoli / Slovenia
Concert date: July 2, 2015
Attendance: 5,500
Ticket price: €54.80 (premium floor) / €44.50 (floor) / €37.50 (stands)
Slovenia got a very special honor: American rock giants Toto finally played Ljubljana’s Hala Tivoli for the first time ever, which thrilled countless music gourmets who usually have to wait at least a year, if not longer, for a top-tier rock event like this on our soil. Toto are right in the middle of an ambitious European tour, presenting their current studio album »Toto XIV« (2015), which has deservedly collected plenty of praise. It took almost nine years to arrive, but the wait paid off handsomely, since »Toto XIV« is right up there with their best work, so there was no hesitation about the new songs joining the long-time favorites in the live set, led by the ‘household-name’ evergreens »Africa«, »Rosanna« and »Hold the Line«, which even plenty of people who otherwise find Toto totally ‘Greek to them’ know by heart.
After guitar virtuoso and occasional lead singer Steve Lukather called off his early retirement, he became the chief architect of their ‘resurrection from the dead’ in 2010, and Toto have since become an even bigger phenomenon than they were at the height of their biggest hits. Age just can’t seem to touch them, not in the studio, not on stage, while singer Joseph Williams, son of famed film composer John Williams, sings as well since his return as he did in his younger years, so they really couldn’t have picked a better-suited lead vocalist right now. The rest of the ‘steel’ Toto foursome is made up of keyboardist/singer David Paich and keyboardist/singer Steve Porcaro. After the far-too-early deaths of Jeff and Mike, Steve is the last of the Porcaro brothers still standing, who were an important part of Toto’s big success story in the eighties.
The current nine-piece live lineup has been beefed up on bass, with an old acquaintance rejoining: original bassist David Hungate, whom Lukather had missed for ages and wanted to lure back into the band. Many in the crowd also got their first chance to see new touring drummer Shannon Forest ‘at work’. By the look of it, he’s no longer just a temporary stand-in for Keith Carlock, who replaced longtime member, British drumming grandmaster Simon Phillips, before the recording of »Toto XIV«. Backing vocals were once again handled by the male-female duo of Mabvuto Carpenter and Jenny Douglas-Foote, who stepped into the spotlight a few times. After a really long absence, the ‘indestructible’ percussionist Lenny Castro also returned to the lineup; he was already joining Toto on tour back in their biggest-hit days.
As the opening act, exclusively for the Ljubljana show, Toto picked our beloved vocal ensemble Perpetuum Jazzile, who won worldwide attention and praise from David Paich with their particular arrangement of Toto’s biggest hit, »Africa«. The ensemble of female and male vocalists didn’t let their fans down this time either, and proved why their work has stirred up so much attention in recent years. Perpetuum Jazzile first joined Toto on stage in 2012 during a show in Majano near Udine, where they performed the aforementioned evergreen together, and toward the end of the night they were once again handed this special honor.
After Perpetuum Jazzile’s successful set came the big moment the crowd, which showed up in impressively large numbers in the middle of the Tivoli hall that night, had been waiting for rather impatiently. Toto opened with an excellent pick, the epic, hard-hitting scorcher »Running Out of Time«, the first track from the new album, which quickly heated up the atmosphere in the hall, followed by the unforgettable »Toto« (1978) classic »I’ll Supply the Love«, another masterpiece with a similar atmospheric charge and energy. Among the new material, the renditions of »Burn«, »Great Expectations«, »Holy War« and »Orphan« came off very well, standing fully on equal footing that night with the many long-time favorites.
Among the Toto classics, it was great to hear the »Isolation« (1984) staple »Stranger in Town« again, originally sung by the late former singer Fergie Frederiksen with help from the song’s author David Paich. One of the rare, slightly bigger surprises was »Takin’ It Back«, one of only three Toto songs with Steve Porcaro on lead vocals. As expected, the Ljubljana crowd ‘exploded’ most for the best-known hits from the golden era, led by »I Won’t Hold You Back«, »Hold the Line«, »Pamela and »Rosanna«. Toto wrapped up the main set with the latter, but they were quickly back for the obligatory encore, which kicked off with a somewhat surprising fusion of »On the Run« and »Goodbye Elenore«, and then came the big peak of the night, when members of Perpetuum Jazzile joined the band in the background for »Africa« and did their backing-vocal duty in superb fashion, while Paich and Williams traded the lead vocal lines, making the triumph mutual and complete.
Luckily, this time Paich didn’t introduce Perpetuum Jazzile as a Croatian ensemble, like what happened to him in 2012 at the show in Majano, Italy, although his ‘dober večer’ to the crowd, maybe because of David’s Croatian roots, maybe not, sounded more like ‘dobro veče’. Otherwise, Paich, alongside ‘frontman’ Williams, is the biggest stage entertainer and ‘character’ among the regular band members, happily swapping his extravagant top hat for a worker’s cap when the more high-spirited songs come around. Lukather, in his traditional Hawaiian shirt with mystical motifs, was in great spirits throughout, and he particularly blew minds with his guitar soloing during the »Fahrenheit« (1986) ballad »Without Your Love«. And that was far from his only splendid solo moment, which enchanted all fans of guitar grandmasters of Steve’s caliber.
The only slightly less interesting performance of the night was the cover of The Jimi Hendrix Experience classic »Little Wing«, since Toto have a huge pile of excellent original material that deserves more attention and that didn’t make it onto the ‘agenda’ this time. On the other hand, it was very nice that before that cover the band remembered their late comrades Jeff and Mike Porcaro and Fergie, as well as their old friend, Yes member and bass innovator Chris Squire, who had died only recently. Toto will shortly be doing a joint US tour with Yes, so Chris’s premature death hit them all the harder. As a fun fact, Steve Porcaro was a member of Squire’s short-lived band The Chris Squire Experiment in 1992.
Toto’s maiden show in Ljubljana was a success in every respect, and any lover of top-notch musical expression, whether rock, pop or jazz, who missed this one-off concert event can really kick themselves, because the big question is when these California rock legends will turn up on home turf again. The band members were in top live form and gave it everything they had, which was expected, but every single Toto show is a unique experience in its own right, especially one that happens on home soil. The successful stage get-together with Perpetuum Jazzile during »Africa« was one such special, rarely repeatable treat.
The sound was unusually good by typical Tivoli standards, so this time it earns sincere congratulations. The crowd, which deserves praise for its generally great response and included no shortage of visitors from abroad, could maybe have been a little louder when the biggest hits weren’t on, but even so, their response exceeded all expectations. Those were, of course, fairly low going in, since every lover of good music, whenever they think about how rarely concerts like this happen here and the apathy that usually reigns at them, has long since stopped being able to stay optimistic. Luckily, after unique concert nights like this, full of positive energy, this time courtesy of a Toto in excellent spirits, you simply forget about such unpleasantries for a while.
Setlist
1. Running Out of Time
2. I’ll Supply the Love
3. Burn
4. Stranger in Town
5. I Won’t Hold You Back
6. Hold the Line
7. Takin’ It Back
8. Never Enough
9. Pamela
10. Great Expectations
11. Without Your Love
12. Little Wing (The Jimi Hendrix Experience cover)
13. Holy War
14. The Road Goes On
15. Orphan
16. Rosanna
—encore—
17. On the Run / Goodbye Elenore
18. Africa
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