Author: Urban Bolta
Location: Gran Teatro Geox / Padua / Italy
Concert date: 22.06.2013
Attendance: 4000
Ticket price: 35€
It was June 2, 2013, around four in the afternoon, when a little band of Slovenian classic and melodic rock fans at the Hi Rock festival in Inzell, Germany, got the shocking news that the festival’s second day had been cancelled entirely. Instead of watching Toto, Survivor, Rick Springfield and FM, we packed our bags and hit the road back home before the afternoon was even over. The reason the whole second-day program got scrapped was the catastrophic flooding across Bavaria, which kept the acts from making it to the far south of Germany, where Inzell sits. Gutted by our bitter fate, we quickly decided to catch at least the supergroup Toto live anyway, since the other acts are practically impossible to see (at least on continental European stages). One look at the schedule of the new European Toto tour and the decision was made: on Saturday, June 22, we’d head to Padua, Italy. The same five of us who’d been the best of company in Inzell!
Toto are a band that conjures up an unforgettable concert experience live. Their body of work goes far beyond the handful of big radio hits that carried their name around the world in the early eighties. Toto level out the musical universe, blending rock, pop and jazz in a completely unique way, so they rightly rank among the most respected names of their scene and era. Even though a lot of water has flowed under the bridge since their creative and commercial peak, their shows are still well attended, and so on a hot Saturday night Toto managed to lure a crowd of several thousand, mostly seasoned music gourmets, into the brand-new Gran Teatro Geox in Padua. This tour, already their third European one in as many years, invited fans to celebrate the band’s 35th anniversary.
Toto kicked off the show a few minutes past 9:30 p.m. with a medley of On the Run and Goodbye Elenore, surprisingly even working in the Child’s Anthem motif from the debut album, released way back in 1978. The 2013 lineup consists of original members Steve Lukather (guitar), David Paich (keyboards, vocals) and Steve Porcaro (keyboards, vocals), plus later addition Simon Phillips on drums and vocalist Joseph Williams, who replaced classic frontman Bobby Kimball when Toto reunited in 2010. Rounding out the lineup in Padua as touring members were bassist Nathan East, who’s still filling in for the seriously ill Mike Porcaro, and backing vocalists Jenny Douglas-McRae and Mabvuto Carpenter. So Toto showed up with the same lineup as on last year’s tour, when RockLine caught them in Majano on 31.07.2012 – RockLine report HERE and in Vienna on 22.08.2012 – RockLine report HERE.
Everyone on that stage is a seasoned studio veteran, used to the sonic perfection that’s demanded of Toto. Unfortunately, the sound at the start of the show on the left side of the stage, where I was standing on my own, wasn’t the best. Lukather’s guitar was too quiet (especially the rhythm lines), but luckily the folks at the mixing desk soon found a more pleasant balance. The enriched instrumental version of Hydra, with its complex rhythmic setup, was a reminder of why Michael Jackson himself, at the peak of his fame, picked this band to help him record what later turned out to be the best-selling album of all time (»Thriller«, 1982).
Frontman Joseph Williams had already worked with Toto on the albums »Fahrenheit« (1986) and »The Seventh One« (1988), so it’s no wonder that tracks from the band’s most melodic era worm their way into the repertoire of the current tour too. On I’ll Be Over You and Pamela he had no trouble proving his vocal shape is still as good as in the golden days. His charisma doesn’t tick all the boxes of the greatest rock frontmen, but Williams made up for it with a heartfelt vocal performance.
With a cunning mix of what they played, Toto also proved themselves masters of mood-cycling. After the burst of enthusiasm with Rosanna, they served up two songs with a deeper emotional charge, Wings of Time and Falling in Between, at the cost of less intense interplay between band and crowd, but with the jaws of music maniacs hanging down to the floor, as they got to revel in the exceptional interplay between Steve Lukather and both keyboardists. Toto also rework their arrangements with plenty of experience, love to drift away from the original, and thanks to their technical chops and grasp of musical fusion, they never get burned.
Keyboardist David Paich on the left side of the stage was in exceptionally good spirits tonight. The man who contributed the most creatively to the band’s success is, thanks to his old-fashioned dress sense and rounded figure, a somewhat comical sight these days. In the second half of the show Paich got up from his stool several times, came to the edge of the stage, egged the crowd on and even wiggled his hips. At the first notes of Africa, loud cheers shook the hall to its foundations, and its performance, with Paich as lead vocalist, also got a playful (though, let’s be honest, already worn-out) vocal call-and-response between bassist and crowd after a short bass solo from Nathan East. Both backing vocalists were an important building block of the richly filled sound all night, holding down the back left of the stage, and just like last year, the sexy African-American singer Jenny Douglas-McRae stepped into the spotlight for the closing song of the main set, Hold the Line. With their trading vocals, she and Williams ramped up the dynamics and intensity of this ancient Toto hit even more. Toto wrapped up the solid two-hour show with Home of the Brave, another crowd favorite from Williams’ original era.
It’s hard to put into words all the emotions that wash over you listening to the perfection Toto deliver again and again. I’m sure my superlatives will rub some people the wrong way, but those who’ve ever experienced the Toto magic live know exactly what I’m talking about. Toto built their career on foundations of perfection and creative strengths, which were the guiding principles at Saturday’s show in Padua too.
Setlist
1. On the Run / Goodbye Elenore
2. Goin’ Home
3. Hydra
4. St. George and the Dragon
5. I’ll Be Over You
6. It’s a Feeling
7. Rosanna
8. Wings of Time
9. Falling in Between
10. I Won’t Hold You Back
11. Pamela
12. 99
13. White Sister
14. Better World
15. Africa
16. How Many Times
17. Stop Loving You
18. Hold the Line
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19. Home of the Brave
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