Artists: Toto, Christopher Cross
Venue: Glasgow, OVO Hydro
Date: 01 February 2025
"The audience wasn’t the most vociferous I’ve heard at a Rock concert; however, that wasn’t indifference, but more in awe of what we were witnessing. Seven musicians producing music to a sublime level without a hint of AI. As the crowd dispersed, the most common thing I heard was, “How good was that?"
I’d read a few mutterings on Social Media that Christopher Cross was not the ideal support for Toto in the UK. The people of Glasgow, me included, must have missed the memo as the sectioned part of the impressive OVO Hydro was virtually full when the septuagenarian took to the stage with his seven-piece band. Although Cross has played in the UK in the past, he has not been a frequent visitor to these shores, so it was great to finally catch (Yacht) Rock royalty in the live arena. His setlist did not disappoint, with over half the songs taken from his multi-platinum debut released back in 1979. He opened with ‘All Right’ from his ‘Another Page’ opus and the sound was superb, particularly the drums of the phenomenal Francis Arnaud. The rhythm section was completed by the equally talented Kevin Reveyrand on bass. Cross may be the focal point, front and centre stage, but the star of the show for me was Andy Suzuki on the saxophone. We don’t get nearly enough sax in Rock music and certainly not in the live arena, in my humble opinion. The likes of ‘Sailing’ and ‘Ride Like The Wind’ met with warm applause, as did ‘Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)’, the latter a song Cross was proud to tell the audience he co-wrote with the late, great Burt Bacharach (plus Carole Bayer Sager and Peter Allen). The title track from the 1981 romantic comedy starring Dudley Moore and Liza Minelli contains one of the most memorable lines in music history, “When you get caught between the moon and New York City”. (Interesting fact, Steve Lukather, David Hungate and Jeff Porcaro played on the original recording). There was even time for a deep cut in the form of ‘Light The World’ from the excellent ‘Secret Ladder’ album, which saw his three backing singers, Véro Bossa, Lisbet Guldbaek, and Julia Sarr singing in Swahili.
Following crowd favourite ‘Ride Like The Wind’ the band members began to leave the stage, but Cross and his piano player Jerry Léonide remained for an emotional ‘Think Of Laura’ (Laura was the best friend of a lady that Cross was dating at the time in the early eighties. She was killed by a stray bullet while driving in a car one night. Cross wrote this song in remembrance of Laura).
As good as a performance as this was, and it was great, I would have preferred to have seen it in a smaller theatre.
Setlist (contains spoilers)
Toto
There were more than a few eyebrows raised when Toto announced a four-date UK tour playing arenas. However, unlike several of their contemporaries, Toto committed to come over to these shores and the latter paid off as the 14,300-capacity arena was probably half-full. This was my first visit to the OVO Hydro in Glasgow, and the horseshoe shape made for perfect viewing for all points and also meant that it felt like a full arena as opposed to one half-full. Also, true to their word, they treated the venue leading to an exceptional audio quality normally only reserved to the acoustically friendly mid-size venues. Within seconds of set opener ‘Child’s Anthem’ you could hear how amazing the audio quality was, truly phenomenal for an arena-size gig.
Original founding member Steve Lukather (aka Luke) had promised a few surprises as well as all the hits; the first of those surprises came early doors with an outstanding version of ‘Carmen’ from the astonishing ‘Isolation’ opus. Luke joked in a personal email, post-show, that he and David Paich just laughed (in a good way) when they first heard Dennis Atlas sing, as he sounded like the sadly departed Fergie Fredriksen on a good day. They were not wrong.
The stage set was minimalist with just a backdrop of the band’s name and sword along with Dogz of Oz (the touring band formed by Lukather and Joseph Williams to perform the songs of Toto). No huge screens, no videos, no pyrotechnics, no Pro-Tools, just seven exceptional musicians performing songs to Royal Symphony Orchestra standards and subsequently bringing joy to all those in attendance.
Toto is one of the few bands that aim to please both their hardcore and casual fans, interspersing deep cuts alongside timeless hits. An early classic ‘Rosanna’ ensured that the audience was kept engaged, and even included a snippet of the Elton John classic ‘Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting’ courtesy of Toto’s very won Swiss Army knife, Warren Ham. The first-ever live performance of ‘Mindfields’ (the title track of the much underrated tenth studio album) was dedicated to erstwhile singer Bobby Kimball and another original member David Paich (still in the band but sadly is unable to tour due to health issues). Everything about this song was immense, from the stunning vocals (on par with The Eagles) to the incredible musicianship. The deep drum sound from Shannon Forrest heralded the emotional ballad ‘I Will Remember’ with Luke on lead vocals.
If you dated any member of Toto in the past, there’s a good chance you’ll have had a song written about you, cue ‘Pamela’, composed in remembrance of Williams’ old flame. The incomparable Greg Phillinganes played the beautiful piano intro to the poignant ‘I Won’t Hold You Back’. Williams joked that whilst recording for ‘The Seventh One’ album he arrived late to one of the sessions and caught Luke and Paich saying, ‘I Can’t Stop Loving You’.
The whole two hours was a joy to behold, although if I was pushed to pick a highlight it would be a beautiful juxtaposed light groove of ‘Georgy Porgy’ with the hard-rockin’ ‘White Sister’. Simply sensational. Another emotional ballad (aren’t they all?) ‘I’ll Be Over You’ preceded a majestic keyboard solo by Atlas, who was a revelation this evening.
‘Dying On My Feet’ from the superb ‘Falling In Between’ arguably was the low point and didn’t quite strike the same chord as the other songs (it was subsequently replaced with the popular ‘I’ll Supply The Love’ for the next three shows). A drum solo from Forrest was notable in both its technicality and also for not being too long. ‘Don’t Chain My Heart’ preceded the lengthy band introductions, Luke warmly introducing each one as a favourite family member. Each introduction included snippets of several legendary songs that these renowned session musicians had played on over the years, which is thousands without exaggerating. This included ex-Huey Lewis And The News bassist John Pierce, who I’ve not mentioned to date. The biggest cheer of the night was reserved for the main man Steve Lukather, who is remarkably humble for all his immeasurable talents.
‘Angel Don’t Cry’ was another unexpected inclusion and cemented Atlas as a Toto legend after only one show. How to follow that? Probably with their two most popular tracks of all time, ‘Hold The Line’ and ‘Africa’, both of which were sublime and ensured everyone left with a smile on their face. The audience wasn’t the most vociferous I’ve heard at a Rock concert; however, that wasn’t indifference, but more in awe of what we were witnessing. Seven musicians producing music to a sublime level without a hint of AI. As the crowd dispersed, the most common thing I heard was, “How good was that?” Pretty amazing, although many of us were already in the know. Many will be surprised, especially after witnessing tonight’s performances, that these two artists were at the vanguard of the posthumously named “Yacht Rock”.
Setlist (contains spoilers)
Review: Mark Donnelly
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