joe jackson/todd rundgren

Just got back from the Joe Jackson/Todd Rundgren concert at the Ryman, which I got FREE tickets to, thanks to mmmikey. Joe Jackson was awesome. Todd Rundgren was .. well, he was there too. Honestly I thought his set pretty much sucked, but when he came out for the encore, it wasn’t bad. I am not a huge Rundgren fan – most of my exposure to him comes via his producing of XTC’s Skylarking and a “Best Of” CD that I have. I really like his songwriting, but as a raw musical talent he pales in comparison while being on the same stage as Joe Jackson.

I think the opening act really stole the show – a pretty awesome string quartet called Ethel. They came out for the encore to play with both of them, and Joe Jackson performed a pretty glorious rendition of Real Men with the strings. I wish he had played more stuff (or indeed, anything) from Night and Day II, which is my favorite album and would have been well-suited to the solo piano format.