Ronnie Scott’s was right in the centre of London and was a decent sized venue. It was maitre’d seating. As I was on my own I was sat in the back row for the first set but it was near the door so I could watch band members coming and going while the opening act played which was interesting.

The dressing room was down in the basement opposite the loos!

I really don’t like jazz and the opening act didn’t do anything to improve my opinion of it. Their tunes all sounded very similar and mainly consisted of a double bass solo (boring), a clarinet solo (even more boring) and sometimes a drum solo too (fall asleep boring).

Ronnie Scott’s tend to run to time I was told and that was certainly true of the first set.

The lighting was very good at this venue so it was a shame that they stressed that photography was not allowed there.

Todd came out and explained that he was going to play a bossa nova set. He only played guitar for a song or two and both he and Kasim sat on stools for this gig.

He said that it was the first time that they had played this music since the late 1990s and personally I hope they don’t revive it again as I just don’t like that sort of music.

Todd’s voice was good again tonight.

Kasim wore black trousers for both gigs and a black jumper for the second one. For the first he wore a black T-shirt with a red logo on the right side.

Todd had a laptop on stage and used quite a bit of computer music during the first part of the first gig. This often included recorded background vocals which I thought was a shame as Kasim, Jesse and John all sing so well.

They played a long Born To Synthesise but it included a bass solo by Kasim which was the highlight of the evening for me! Out of all the instruments the bass must be the hardest to play a solo on and Kasim played it beautifully!

As usual at the end of Born To Synthesise Kasim woke Todd up.

As I queued to get back in for the second gig, some people tried to jump the queue by saying that they had tickets. They were soon told that we all had tickets and to get to the back of the queue. Just after that a woman asked to get past me to get to the front and I turned around to (politely) tell her that we were all queuing to get in when I realised that it was Michelle hand in hand with Todd!

When I was seated, once again I was put in the back row so I explained that I had already sat back there for the first gig so they kindly moved me to stage left so I had a great view.

The opening act were the same for the second set. I’m not sure if they played different songs or not as jazz sounds all the same to me!

Todd’s second gig lasted longer and didn’t end until 1.45am whereas the website said it would finish at 1am.

Most of Todd’s set was blues but by the end it became obvious that people weren’t all there to hear blues (it wasn’t advertised as that) so he played some other songs such as Hawking and Hamburger Hell. As people were shouting out songs and they didn’t stick to the set list, it was a bit of a mess at the end but thankfully all the band are good musicians so coped well.

There was a lot of discussion online after the gig about whether Todd was drunk or not during this set. Certainly the guy seated in front of me didn't enjoy it as he said that it had been advertised as a Greatest Hits gig.

The stage was small so only Todd did the scissor kicks in Couldn’t I Just Tell You and even he had to turn sideways to do them!

Roll on Kasim’s solo gig on Long Island next week!

Review by Peter Collinson:
Like the other gigs on this European tour, the gig was billed as 'the greatest hits show that the fans have always wanted'. With promo like that, what is there not to look forward too? And to see Todd at such a prestigious, intimate venue could only be every fans dream. So we booked our tickets, train and hotel and headed off to London thinking this was going to be the show of a lifetime. As always with Ronnie Scott's there are two house sets and given that the first show is restricted by the start-time of the second, we thought the later set would be the one to see -- after all that's normally the way things work out at Ronnie Scotts. As people came out of the first house show the comments were consistently of the highest order and the set list seemed pretty much what I expected.

So what could possibly go wrong?

Only that Todd decided to change the show completely for the second house and play a Blues set. Worse still was that the band (who we all know are of the highest calibre) didn't seem to know the numbers or be able to 'feel' the Blues coherently -- often looking at each other in complete confusion when breaks and endings didn't work. I am not being unkind when I say that I have heard tighter and better blues bands down at the local pub than what I heard on Saturday night. It was not only very disappointing, but at times it was a shambles.

Halfway through the show various people in the audience started shouting for Todd to play something better known -- someone shouted for soul - so he apparently grudgingly announced they would play the I'm so Proud Soul medley -- and it briefly looked like things might pick up -- but Todd decided he'd had enough after the first two numbers in the medley and stopped the band mid-flight, once again returning to unknown blues territory.

I heard a number of shouts of 'Rubbish!' around the house and many shouts for ' Real Man' and various other 'expected' songs but Todd had decided we weren't going to get it. There were a couple of brief interludes with I saw the Light and Black Maria but even when it came to the encore we got yet another Blues number with Todd making some arrogant comment about those who hadn't made it to first base yet were never going to make it. We didn't even get Hello It's Me!

So thanks Todd for shattering a dream and wasting £500 of my hard-earned money. I waited 35 years for 'the greatest hits show the fans have always wanted' -- might have been nice if you'd actually publicised that you weren't going to play it in the second house set at Ronnies. -- and next time you want to rehearse the band, it might be better if you didn't do it with an audience. I never thought I'd be so negative about a Todd gig but this set was misplaced and well below an acceptable standard.

Comments by fans posted to various messageboards and mailing lists include:
"We'd only booked the first house so when Kas greeted the queue outside Ronnie's to film us for his 'Back Stage Pass' website and confirmed it was to be Bossa Nova set first I felt a tinge of disappointment. In fact the set was hugely enjoyable and fun."

"From the sublime to the ridiculous - that's about the only way to describe the contrast between Todd's magnificent, moving show at the Jazz Cafe last Tuesday and Saturday night's complete train wreck at Ronnie Scott's. No-one expected or even wanted a re-run of the Jazz Cafe shows - and of course the guy's entitled to play whatever he likes - but the second show at Ronnie Scott's felt like watching a Todd Rundgren impersonator and some mates standing up in a local bar."

"The typed out set list was the same until after Last Fair Deal Gone Down....it should have been after that song Mystified/Broke Down and Busted, Unloved Children, Hellhound, Travelling Riverside Blues with an encore of I Saw the Light and Boogies. So he did finish on a more hits note. "

"The band hasn't played most of this stuff for over a year and man, did it show. The real problem though was with OH himself. Basically, and I should know, he was drunk. Not falling-down drunk, but a long way from sober. The voice and singing was strained, the guitar playing sloppy, the banter was boorish and embarrassing where normally he's funny as hell. Loads of folk left before the end. It was an utter shambles. At one point they started the soul medley and simply abandoned it half-way through the second song - WTF?"

"I'm not sure which gig the other reviewers were at? The one I was at was great -- and as I was stood right at the back by the exit I can tell you without doubt no-one left before the end of the second set. "

"Ronnie Scott's is a very intimate gig. And I think TR's decision to mess around with the crowd and the set reflected that. The result was watching a set in which great musicians played some great stuff 'on the hoof' as it were."

Other websites:
TRConnection has reviews and photos of this gig here.

The band:
On stage with Todd, the band consisted of Kasim Sulton (bass), Jesse Gress (guitar), Prairie Prince (drums) and John Frenzik (keyboards).

The venue (taken from the KasimInfo.com Blog that day):
Tonight Kasim Sulton plays the fifth and six of six gigs in England on the 'Classic Todd Rundgren' Tour.

The gigs tonight are both at Ronnie Scott's which is in central London. The address of this venue is 47 Frith Street, Soho, London W1D 4HT.

These two gigs tonight were added to the tour much later than the original four. Tickets for the early show are already sold out but there are a few remaining for the later show tonight. Tickets varied in price from £45 ($55) to £60 ($75) so are double the price of the other gigs this week.

The doors open at 6pm for the first show with the support act playing from 7.15pm until 8pm and then Todd Rundgren and band plays from 8.30pm until 9.45pm (3.30pm in New York until 4.45pm). The house is then totally emptied and doors open for the second show at 10.30pm. The support act plays from 11pm until 11.45pm and then Todd Rundgren and band play from midnight until 1.15am (7pm in New York until 8.15pm).

Todd has said that tonight they will play one bosa nova set and one blues set.

Ronnie Scott's describes itself as "one of the oldest jazz clubs in the world. We opened in 1959 and since that time have featured most of the legendary and popular names in modern jazz and jazz fusion."

This will be Kasim Sulton's first (and second!) appearance at this venue.

Todd Rundgren's 2011 Gigs