TOTO - Official Website - Concert Reviews

Well, it was a dream come true when my dad said he`ll get me to Jo`burg, to see TOTO Live. I could not believe my eyes. I will always, always cherish that night. I`ve seen a couple of international bands playing in my hometown Port Elizabeth and was pretty good. But nothing comes close as good as you guys. A drummer myself, Simon really gave a very good performance.He even gave me his drumsticks after the show which I framed. I`m a devoted fan since 1985 and will continue to be one. All of you who`ve participated in the group TOTO have inspired me so much and that is why I am a musician today. You`re the best !!!

I saw the third TOTO concert (out of FOUR) given in Johannesburg. I have seen them on video before, but to actually see them LIVE was such a thrill and, I might add, privilege! They were in a good mood and Steve said all kinds some very funny things. At one point the synth went totally haywire and when David tried to play a chord it sounded like an angel choir being raped (well, something like that :-) Steve fell to the ground and crawled around laughing. The show was video taped and will be seen as part of the celebrations for Toto XX next year I believe. The band was incredible and I saw a lot of our local musicians there, totally in awe of these maestros! They had their "fake" ending with Hold the Line, but we were all still waiting for AFRICA of course. Sure enough, a whole lot of local percussionists and an African Choir trooped onto stage for a very special rendition of Africa. It was an evening I will cherish for evere and luckily it can be relived when the video comes out.

Well, Radical is the word. I have seen many great bands in my life and never before has a band cooked as much as TOTO. The Capetown show was fab, the band was on a high, Steve was in a great mood and his grooves showed it, Simon was hot, and the rest of the guys, well as usual they were special. The sound could have been better but it was still a great show, and never before have I seen a drum solo like Simon's before, the best after Jeff...!

On 2 March I saw Toto in Maaspoort, Den Bosch in the Netherlands, in front of a crowd of approximately 7000 people (my estimate). I recently moved to Dublin, and I read in a local newspaper that Toto would play there on the 15th of July. When I found out that they would play in The Mean Fiddler, I started wondering whether it would be the real Toto. The Mean Fiddler is a pub-like venue in Dublin that accomodates 700 people, at the most! And a ticket was only 10 pounds. I just took the gamble, and guess what. It was the real Toto! There I was, just a few feet from the stage, which was totally crammed with equipment. There was hardly any space for the musicians to stand. Still they played a wonderful gig, especially given the circumstances, and the sound was much better than at the Den Bosch gig. I feel like I've been at a very special occasion, and I'm glad I didn't miss it!

The band are exceptional and to see them play a small gig is refreshing. You could see at times that Steve was far from happy with the sound system and pulled no punches in saying so. They played a fantastic instrumental piece for Jeff,which was a highlight. But my big highlight was to see Simon on drums, undoubtedly the best drummer around today. David said his bit for world peace and NUCLEAR disarmament. Showing his new flat top haircut, he looked menacing when he grinded the keys and sang AFRICA. The band left the stage and my face dropped. NO Rosanna, No Hold the line. PANIC.......... Not for long, after a standing ovation, they emerged and sang Rosanna. Then they hit Hold the line and we were all gobsmacked, no cd, no album, no cassette could ever give us a preview of this 12 minute version. AWESOME.....Jenny did a finish which was fantastic. It's amazing the way they appear on stage. Steve in a flowery shirt opened with a tee-shirt inside. David in a black sleeveless and Simon the same. John James and Jenny Douglas-McRae were the biz in coloured outfits. Normal dress and great tunes was the order of the day. Simple lighting which showed they were going to let the music talk, as against a put on stage show. They played alot of great stuff from TAMBU. Actually my head is still ringing.

The reason for this concert was that the planned concerts in Marocco didn't take place. Thus a vacation for the guy's. Since they were in Amsterdam they thougth 'well, we might as well play here'. The concert was in Paradiso, a small club (actually an old church in the middle of Amsterdam) with about 400 people i guess, really small. The tickets said 'Toto + Support Act, starting at 20:00' Well we kept waiting until 21:00 before we saw the band coming on stage (well 'stage' is a bit too much too say). No support act, just Toto. We had balcony seats (i must add that we didn't sit at all). At first they played some stuff of the Tabmu tour (as described in the Munich concert). Also 'Somewhere tonight' ended in 'No woman No Cry' & 'Buffalo Soldier' really groovy. After a short break we could ask for requests. Some of the old ones passed, like Child's Athem, and some of the newer ones like 'Jake to the bone' as well as some blues stuff, sang by John James, perfect. With a lot of the requests Jenny, Steve, David and John were looking at each other like, 'Do you know the lyrics of this one ?'. Finally JJ (I think his name is John Jessel, David's keyboard programmer) sang 'Wite Sister' and 'English Eyes' on sneekers and with shorts, it sounded absolutely perfect. Wonder why he doesn't sing more often. After one of the breaks David showed up in a witch-doctor's costume. Than it was requests all the way, some stuff of The Stones passed as well. Too bad they didn't knew the lyrics (and sometimes even en melody) of the older songs. Steve started with a solo, David was looking like 'What the ... are you doing' and viceversa. Of course they ended with 'Hold the line'. I think we saw Toto from another side this time : musicians 'pur sang'. Had a great time.

The show started with "Drag him to the roof" and then there was "Don't chain my heart" and "Gift of faith". There were no video screens this time (we didn't miss them at all) and TOTO were in a very good mood. The set was similar to that in February. As a change in the set they played "Somewhere tonight" with Jenny on the lead in a kind of reggae version with "No woman, no cry" in the middle. Jenny was amazing, even better than in the past if that's possible at all. So "Home of the brave" was the ultimate highlight again - simply brilliant. But it was also great to have the fantastic "I will remember" back in the set. In the middle of the show we sang "Happy Birthday" for Dave. During the "Band introduction" they played a kind of "Jam session" with songs like "Jumpin' Jack Flash", "Hey Joe", "Sex machine", "Smoke on the water" and some more. Just awesome. The concert lasted for about 2 1/4 hours and ended with "Hold the line", of course. It's such a great idea to turn it into a duet between John and Jenny, it works out perfectly. So it was a wonderful concert and we had a lot of fun. Thanks guys, you're the best!

This was my first Toto concert. It was totally amazing, I had never before been so happy. The first song they were playing was Gift of faith. The secend one was I will remember. The only thing that was boring was the audience. Only 2000 people. When they had played Dave's gone skiing, Simon played a 5 min. drum solo. Then I thought he must be the best drummer in the whole world.

It was the first concert in the tour. We stand in the middle of the deep swedish woods... A big stage! The concert were supposed to start 21.00. They came out already 21.05! On the tour-start in front of just 1500 persons. Very kind of them I think! TOTO looked great and they started with Gift of Faith. Last year they started with Drag him to the roof, but now they didn´t play that song AT ALL! And that was a pity. That song is REALLY good live! After that: "Don´t chain my heart" came and then - if I remember correctly - Jake to the bone! OOHHH! What a song. I was touched... "We miss you Jeff" said Steve and pointed to the sky. I really miss Jeff myself too, but Simon was in great shape, especially on "Dave´s gone skiing". 4 minutes long solo. Even better than the concert in Norrkoping in January. A funny thing was a new song that they didn´t perform since 1988: Somewhere tonight! We were the first to hear it, steve said! "Home of the Brave" was almost the best I think. It´s so strong. So good. David´s voice was good except 2 times where the voice "broke"... I´ll supply the love was there and a new song from Tambu that they haven´t play before: The Turning Point! I like that much. It´s "go" in it... Georgy Porgy was there and Africa and Rosanna and all other classics. From Tambu, only: Gift of Faith, I Will Remember, The Turning Point and Dave´s gone skiing. They finished with...? Guess what? Yepp, Hold the Line! Thanks for this time, TOTO! I love you!

Kisa was one of the best concerts, small audiece but a powerful TOTO. The audience was so small they laughed and said to each other "small but powerful". Gift of faith was soooo wonderful that time. A swedish newspaper called the music, "boring and dead office rock'n'roll". That really pissed me of!! I think TOTO is great live! On the TAMBU tour I went on three concerts Gothenburg, Norrkoping and Kisa. The two first concerts they started with Drag him to the roof but on the concert in Kisa they started with Gift of faith, I love Gift of faith. The first time I heard that song was in Halmstad summer ´95, before the TAMBU tour.

Am 14. April hat Toto ein Konzert in Seoul gegeben. Ich war natuerlich dabei, und das war einfach fantastisch. Ihre neuen Songs im neuen Album "Tambu" habe ich dort zum ersten Mal gehoert, sie waren toll. Ich habe ein sehr schoenes Gefuehl bekommen, weil sie immer noch solche schoene Musik machen kann, auch nach dem Tod von Jeff. Mit den bekannten "Africa" und "Rosanna" hat der ganze Konzertsaal gewackelt. Als Steve "I'll be over you" begonnen hat, haben alle Leute mitgesungen. Maedchen haben geschrien und einige von ihnen geweint. Und die Finale war natuerlich "Hold the line". Das war die Zugabe. Das hat auch eine grosse Reaktion erregt. Jenny und John haben ihre Rolle, die frueher von Bobby oder Joseph war, sehr gut gespielt, besonders bei "Hold the line" und "Home of the brave". Ich war total begeistert. "Toto, you're great!"

Toto gave 2 concerts in Toulouse, the 30th of November 1995 and The 17th of February 1996. I attended both ! ! Don't ask me why we had this pleasure, but they were both sold out ! ! ! There are a lot of fans in Toulouse ! I was just so excited in November. It was the first time I saw one of their shows (Yes, I know I missed the mythic Tour of 1993, shame on me !) and it was fabulous. I am mad about this group. Mad to see them twice into 3 months ! But, I was able to see all the band because Simon was not there in November and Jenny in February. Tambu is my favorite CD, I am mad about Steve's and Jenny's voices. Both shows were great, I enjoyed particularly the second because I had time to listen TAMBU that was released at the same period of the first concert. You will understand that is pretty difficult to translate my feelings in English, but I agree with all what you said in these reviews. I love TOTO. They are GREAT. See you soon in Toulouse guys, I will always be there... PS : Congratulation Simon, that was difficult to replace Jeff in our hearts but you did it...