Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Location: Zagreb / Dom sportova (small hall) / Croatia
Concert date: March 9, 2018
Attendance: 3,500
Ticket price: €28.57
American rock giants and masters of musical perfection Toto swung by our southern neighbors in Zagreb on their current ’40 Trips Around the Sun’ tour, which marks a venerable fortieth anniversary. Instead of getting a hall that suits their stature, the promoters stuck them in the small hall at Dom sportova, which had some fatal consequences during the show: with limitations like that the sound suffered badly, and with it, of course, the whole performance of the rock veterans. The reason for the smaller venue was supposedly that the Zagreb Arena was hosting a figure skating championship at the same time. The show wasn’t sold out and quite a few seats in the stands stayed empty, but the floor was downright suffocating, with barely room to move, everyone squeezed in like sardines in a can. Most of the crowd also differed, in looks and manners alike, from what you’d normally expect at a Toto gig.
Still, so we don’t only talk about the negatives, it has to be said that the Toto foursome, which together with their musical helpers is currently made up of the ‘old cats’ in the form of guitar grandmaster Steve Lukather, versatile keyboardist David Paich, synth wizard Steve Porcaro and vocal ace Joseph Williams, put on a masterful show and thrilled everyone with a seriously interesting selection of hits and a few almost ‘forgotten’ songs, including some that hadn’t been played live in ages, almost never, or even for the first time in their career. They opened with a new song, »Alone«, which first appeared on the recently released ‘best of’ album »Greatest Hits – 40 Trips Around the Sun« (2018).
Quite surprisingly, and rather early considering they usually play it near the end of their sets, the beloved evergreen »Hold the Line« followed, all the way from 1978, when the self-titled Toto debut came out. Williams was in splendid vocal form that night, with Lukather and Paich backing him up as usual and even stepping into a few key lead vocal roles. The vocal harmonies were once again a feast for the ears. The supporting ‘crew’ proved themselves too, which is hardly a surprise for longtime guest percussionist Lenny Castro, whom longtime fans know very well. Drummer Shannon Forrest, who is technically well above average, has the rather thankless task of being compared to Simon Phillips, but he’s by no means to be underestimated. He’s yet another highly respected hired-gun musician who has worked with plenty of leading names from the worlds of rock and country. After the departure of Phillips’ replacement Keith Carlock, Toto are still without an official drummer.
The only question marks going into this show were the relatively young and unknown bassist Shem von Schroeck and saxophonist/flutist/backing vocalist Warren Ham. The latter is a seasoned musician who in the past toured with Kansas in the John Elefante era, Donna Summer and Olivia Newton-John. Between 1986 and 1988 he also toured briefly with Toto. With his wind parts, Ham nicely spiced up most of the Toto standards and gave a few of them a stronger jazzy stamp, while the rhythm section did more than a decent job.
This evening already served up surprises in the first part, like the Toto IV« (1982) standard »Lovers In the Night«, »English Eyes« from the album »Turn Back« (1981) and the big British hit »I Will Remember« from the album »Tambu« (1995), and we also heard another previously unreleased song, »Spanish Sea«. During the art-rock instrumental »Jake to the Bone« from »Kingdom of Desire« (1992), Lukather vividly showed off his astonishing lead guitar chops, of which there was no shortage all night, while the »Fahrenheit« (1986) ballad »Lea« made sure all the romantic souls got their share too. Those who already have at least one heartbreak behind them enjoyed the big hit »Rosanna« even more, which, just like »Hold the Line«, was played relatively early.
For years now Toto have had a habit of playing a ‘medley’, a string of songs that usually contains shortened versions of various pieces from their rich career. This time the medley was acoustic-leaning, which meant Mr. Lukather could settle comfortably in with an acoustic guitar in his lap while various anecdotes about how the songs came to be interrupted the individual performances. Opinions on Toto’s concert ‘medleys’ are mostly split among fans. On one hand, it’s a chance to hear some rarely played pieces live; on the other, chopping them down, especially in acoustic dress, is almost ‘blasphemous’. »Georgy Porgy« fared worst of the acoustically trimmed arrangements, and some of us missed a guest female singer from previous tours. Faring better were the shortened take on Jackson’s »Human Nature«, on which most of the Toto members played in 1983, the »Isolation« (1984) surprise »Holyanna«, the »Mindfields« (1999) surprise »No Love« and both shortened »The Seventh One« (1988) classics, »Mushanga« and »Stop Loving You«.
Besides the shortened, acoustic version of »Holyanna« and the no-brainer hit »Stranger In Town«, the rest of the evening also brought us the long-forgotten but excellent »Lion« from the album »Isolation«, which Toto hadn’t played at their shows since the mid-eighties. Perhaps the biggest surprise of the night was the instrumental »Dune (Desert Theme)«, which Toto created in late 1984 for the sci-fi film Dune. We were a bit less thrilled, at least those of us who want to hear more original Toto material, by the Beatles/George Harrison cover of the rock classic »While My Guitar Gently Weeps«, which Lukather rarely forgets to put on the setlist. The rarely played pieces we got to hear that night also included »Girl Goodbye« and »Angela« from the self-titled Toto debut. Among the evergreen standards, the second half of the Zagreb show also gave us »Make Believe« and of course their biggest hit »Africa«, which, as usual, closed the main set. For the encore, Toto played the ‘farewell’ song of the evening, which, contrary to expectations, was »The Road Goes On«, yet another surprise from the album »Tambu«. Interestingly, two of the big hits were missing that night, »Pamela« and »I Won’t Hold You Back«, which doesn’t happen very often.
Despite lousy sound in an unsuitable hall, Toto delivered a fantastic night of music in Zagreb, one that ran noticeably longer than usual and packed in, besides the expected standards, plenty of rarely played gems from their rich catalog. All four members and their supporting crew deserve top marks for a show that was a perfect mix of exceptional professionalism, tightness, spontaneity and wit. Less impressive that night, as mentioned, was the sound, which was at its best near the mixing desk. When it comes to volume and screaming, the crowd definitely earned first place, but that’s not always a good thing, since because of it some of us didn’t catch all of Lukather’s quips, including the opening greeting that thrilled the locals, »dobro veče Zagreb«. Far tackier was a visibly slimmer Paich this time, who, between top-hat changes and dandyish strolls around the stage, kept bragging about his Croatian roots whenever he found himself at the mic, since his great-grandfather comes from Split, even though, unlike Lukather, he hasn’t learned a single Croatian word to this day. His speeches about ‘my people’ and ‘my audience’, which made the hall roar and boil with excitement, were visibly getting on the other three Toto members’ nerves, so Lukather gave it right back to him at one point and deftly turned Paich’s words about a ‘brotherly audience’ around, so that they suddenly lost much of their nationalist-cheerleading-sensationalist charge. Paich is known for dropping the odd ‘clanger’ anyway, like on July 31, 2012, at the Toto concert in Majano, Italy, when he introduced special guests Perpetuum Jazzile as a Croatian band.
Photos: LAA Agency
Setlist
—set 1—
1. Alone
2. Hold the Line
3. Lovers in the Night
4. Spanish Sea
5. I Will Remember
6. English Eyes
7. Jake to the Bone
8. Lea
9. Rosanna
—acoustic set—
10. Miss Sun
11. Georgy Porgy
12. Human Nature
13. Holyanna
14. No Love
15. Mushanga
16. Stop Loving You
—set 2—
17. Girl Goodbye
18. Angela
19. Lion
20. Dune (Desert Theme)
21. While My Guitar Gently Weeps
22. Stranger in Town
23. Make Believe
24. Africa
—encore—
25. The Road Goes On
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