Review of Luke's show Friday in Lakewood, OH

[Ehwmatt]

Well, sorry for the late review guys, but I got home from the show and had to travel early in the AM and just got home tonight.

Set list was the same as the one from the Palatine show, which you can find in the earlier thread.

General review:

The show, as expected, kicked ass. This is a little bar that MAYBE holds 250 people. We reserved a table early and ended up being front and center. I was right in front of Luke & the boys. Unreal. Anyway, Luke was animated and showed no signs of the strep that got him earlier on the tour. They were smokin from the start. Luke was ON, as expected, lighting up the fretboard and drawing lots of gasps and "oohs" and "aahs." The band sounded great. Luke wasn't kidding when he said he got a great group of musicians together.

Luke's long guitar solo in the middle of the set was a highlight. He played soulfully and he kept doing this screaming pinch harmonic/whammy dive that gave the guitar players in the crowd shivers. At least half the crowd seemed to be familiar with the new cuts he played. "Stab in the back" probably came off the best of the new cuts, with "Jammin with Jesus" coming in a close second. One of my favorite songs of the night was actually the Tubes cover, "Talk to Ya Later." The vocal harmonies were great and upbeat songs like this always make great concert material. Not to mention Luke smoked.

Luke more than gave us our money's worth, as he played for 2.5 hours and gave us jam after jam after jam. These guys weren't just sitting there burning through pop numbers, that's for sure. The crowd was really into it and Luke seemed genuinely taken aback. He said "You know, we weren't sure what to expect on this tour, so we booked really conservative places. Look at all of you, this is incredible," or something like that. He mentioned Toto and the amicable split. By the time he finished the second ecnore, "The Road Goes On," the place was as noisy as arena, but only 200 some people were making the noise. Luke was MOVED, man. He had tears in his eyes as he took his solo bow. Really moving for everyone, I think. I certainly was.

For The Guitarists: Luke, as expected, stuck to his signature Music Man models. He did have a red one that seemed to have a passive neck pickup instead of the EMG. He used the green one we saw on FiB live for the downtuned stuff. He also played his black sparkle Ovation on a few numbers. Ricky Z., the other guitarist, played a solidbody Gretsch (not familiar with their models), an SG, a Strat, and a Tele throughout the night. Both had sizeable pedal boards. Towards the end of the show, Luke brought out two beautiful Ball Family Reserve Luke's - one a quilted blue top and one some kind of bright desertish finish. Stunning instruments.

Other comments: Luke's set is great. Very diverse and there really is something for everyone - pop fans, Toto fans, musicians, you name it. I really do wish he'd play the entire Ever Changing Times album in its entirety. We're missing out on some great cuts that might never get played live if they don't make it to this tour's set - namely, "The Letting Go," "New World," and "I Am." But really, this is a show that is not to be missed - hardly anyone goes out there and plays over 2 and a half hours of great music anymore. I'm not sure if anybody goes out there and does 2 and a half hours with this kind of intensity. Maybe Dream Theater on their Evening With tours. But all in all, an incredible show.

[weatherman90]

Sounds like you had a fun time - great review.

I don't know what the future holds but as long as the Toto family continues to tour I'll be happy.

[LtVanish]

Excellent, glad you were able to make it to one of the shows. I am hoping with the success of the turn out he will come back around these parts again. I for one will be there no question. It would be nice if a DVD is made of one of these shows. Most likely being a show in Europe, hopefully the Frontiers label has plans for that. I agree with you that "Stab in the Back" was done really well.