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April 8, 2022

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Two Hall of Fame artists, Todd Rundgren and Daryl Hall played at the MGM Center Stage on Thursday night for a very special show.  The duo are only playing fourteen shows together on this short tour. 

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Hall is out celebrating his latest solo album titled BeforeAfter which is a thirty song compilation that spans his forty-two year recording career.   This time out, instead of bringing his long time partner, John Oates, he brought fellow Hall of Famer, Todd Rundgren out to open the show.  Both artists are being backed by Hall's band that is featured on his long running "Live From Daryl's House" show.

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Rundgren, one of Cleveland's favorite adopted sons, took the stage first and played songs from his solo career as well as his time in Utopia and his first band, Nazz.  He even threw in a few cover tunes.

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He opened the show with "Real Man" from his 1975 Initiation album.

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Wearing a black sparkled jacket, Rundgren prowled the stage in the early part of the set, which allowed fans in the sold-out venue to get a good look at him.

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After playing "We Got To Get You A Woman," Rundgren strapped on a new white guitar that he called 'Pearly.'  He told the audience, "I was gonna call it 'Whitey'" then his voice trailed off.  He then said, "Let's see what this can do!"  He then tore into a great solo at the end of "Buffalo Grass."

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Two songs from Something/Anything album were played back to back, "I Saw The Light" and "Black Maria."

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Many in the audience got on their feet to sing and dance along with "Hello, It's Me," the first hit from Nazz.

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He then launched into some tunes from A Wizard, A True Star, which included "Sometimes I Don't Know What To Feel," "I'm So Proud" and my favorite Motown song, "Ooh Baby, Baby."

 

His set ended with the upbeat "The Want of a Nail."

 

After a brief intermission, the backdrop was lit up, and a neon "Daryl's House" logo was displayed, candles at the sides of the stage were turned on and the string of light at the front of the stage connecting to the back gave off a laid back vibe as if you truly were at Daryl Hall's house. 

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Hall was all smiles as he hit the stage and opened up with "Dreamtime" from his 1986 album, Three Heart In The Happy Ending Machine.

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Fans expecting to hear all of the Hall and Oates hits were in for a bit of a surprise.  Sure, some of those classic tunes were played, but he is out supporting his new solo record compilation.  He and the band seemed really pleased to play these songs live and most of the audience really enjoyed it.

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A few times during the show, Hall genuinely thanked the fans for coming out to the show.  He said, "I'm having fun!  I hope you are too."

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Solo songs like "I'm In A Philly Mood," "Cab Driver" and "Sacred Songs" were nice additions to the set.

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Hall sat at the piano and played a song that was written by his good friend, Dave Stewart.  Accompanied by an acoustic guitar, Hall played a great rendition of The Eurythmics "Here Comes The Rain Again."

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His first set ended with two Hall & Oates classics "Sara Smile" and "I Can't Go For That (No  Can Do)" which had some audience members dancing in the aisles and their seats.

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Todd Rundgren then came out for the encore to duet on a couple of "La La" songs as Daryl called them.  "You know, songs with a bunch of la, la's in them" Hall explained.

 

The two then went into the Hall & Oates classic "Wait For Me," that had them trading verses.  Afterwards, Daryl looked at Todd and said, "We should do one of your 'la la' songs."  With that, they played perhaps the best song of the evening, "Can We Still Be Friends."

 

The pair then played a tune called "Expressway To Your Heart" from The Soul Survivors.  They were a local Philadelphia band that they both listened to growing up.

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Rundgren left the stage so Hall could close the show with "You Make My Dreams."

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It was a great night of rock and bluey-eyed Philly soul.  

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I'm glad the duo made a stop in Cleveland so we could experience this special show. 

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Photos and review by Greg Drugan

 

 

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