Who Can It Be Now?

The Live Nation Concert Week sale is an alluring beauty.

For $30 (used to be $25), you can buy all-in general admission to a bunch of summer concerts. "All-in" as in NO FEES. Tickets are just $30 + tax. A heck of a deal. So good in fact, that I'll sometimes go to a show just to go. Even if I'm only marginally a fan of the band. For $30, it's a night out. Can't miss.

At least that's what I used to think...

Starting the night in Jenny & I's shared comfort zone of 80s Pop, Men At Work were good. Like, really good! Colin Hay sounds great, and his band of replacements faithfully pull off the hits.

More than just Down Under, Men At Work kinda rivaled The Police for a couple years in the early 80s. Even with a much smaller body of work to choose from, they pack enough fun into a short set for a really good time.

Never in a million years would I have expected to find myself at a Christopher Cross concert. This is exactly the kind of music I despised on pop/rock radio as a kid. Dang near Easy Listening in my book. YAWN

And yet...

I blame Sirius XM's Yacht Rock Radio. That and nostalgia I guess. Whatever. There's no denying Jenny & I know, and can sing along to, most of these songs. (and did, shh)

But as good pleasant as Christopher Cross is, yacht rock is, by definition, mellow. Nice, but maybe not a great idea as an opening act.

oh oh

Toto isn't bad. We've seen em before actually, opening for Journey a few years ago. And based on that, and $30 tix, we figured "yeah, why not?"

Well, here's why not? And where things go from mellow to boring.

Maybe this is a great set for the hardcore Toto fans? But even if that's true, there just didn't seem to be alot of em there. For the other 98% of us, it's an hour and a half of jammy sedate 70s music with Steve Lukather's noodly guitar all over it. I know he's a well respected player, and he's done a ton of session work on others' hits, but with his own band, he's just excessive.

AND YET, Toto delivered the highlight of the night!

Concerts are more than just music. They're moments. Bringing out Christopher Cross & Colin Hay to sing along (and even lead) on Africa ended the night with something special. (despite the 90 min slog to get there)

TAKEAWAY: Even for $30 all-in, I need to start being a little more selective on my ticket buys. And I know Jenny will now think twice before agreeing to go along for the ride.