Toto took the stage at about 7:30 PM, just as the sweltering sun was finally making it's way behind the stage, and they came out swinging. Much to my delight, they kicked off the show with the title track from Falling In Between, an intense prog-rocker, and obvious nod to Dream Theater, which slapped the sun-stroked crowd right upside the head. "King Of The World", another guitar heavy rocker from the new album, followed, and had the aging soccer moms in the crowd, who were probably expecting "99", looking a little bewildered by this heavy new stuff they were being bombarded with. I was loving it.
The sound mix was not particularly good at first, and Bobby Kimball's vocals were a little shaky, but both improved significantly as the show progressed. I was disappointed to see that David Paich was absent from the lineup, but I later found out that he was taking some time off to attend to a sick family member. New band member Greg Phillinganes capably handled most of Paich's keyboard and vocal parts.
After a brief trip back in time with "Pamela", they charged ahead with their final performance from Falling In Between, the epic "Bottom Of Your Soul", which paints a wonderfully atmospheric landscape, with its lush harmonies and African rhythms that will remind you of their earlier classic "Africa". "Caught In the Balance" followed and proved why it should never be left off any future Toto setlists. It was one of the highlights of the show. "Make Believe", a lesser known song from the Grammy award winning Toto IV album, began a string of older classics, which led right into a powerful performance of "Hold The Line", which brought the rest of the crowd to their feet. Yeah, everybody remembers that one.
The middle part of the show featured a trio of acoustic numbers, highlighted by a beautiful rendition of "I'll Be Over You". Tour rhythm guitarist Tony Spinner was handed the lead vocals on "Stop Loving You" and he sounded excellent. Having four or five good vocalists in the band kind of explains why their harmony vocals have always sounded so amazing.
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1 - Connie Phillips
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