Live review: Big Head Todd and the Monsters @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre
By Candace Horgan | June 9th, 2009 | No Comments »
Todd Park Mohr at Big Head Todd’s New Year’s Eve show at the Ogden Theatre. Reverb file photo by Jason Claypool.
Because he’s actually written a few good songs, it’s hard to dismiss Todd Park Mohr as another guitarist who’s all flash and no substance. There are plenty of those guitarists who equate million-note guitar solos with good songwriting, but Mohr has shown in the past he can write good songs that do include stepping off points for guitar pyrotechnics. However, Big Head Todd and the Monsters have a different problem: predictability. This was on display during the band’s set Saturday night at Red Rocks.
You know you’ll get lots of good guitar solos, you’ll hear some engaging riffs and Mohr’s voice will hold your interest. The band, which has been together since 1986, is slick and polished. You’ll more likely than not get “Bittersweet” as well, the hit from BHTM’s platinum CD “Sister Sweetly.”
When you’re in Red Rocks, with the Big Dipper appearing over one of the rocks and a full moon worthy of a Hollywood script on the other side shining down, that’s probably all many people need — like the guy a few rows back who enthusiastically proclaimed “That’s my song” when “Bittersweet” was played at the set’s midway point. He then proved it by screaming “Bittersweet” at random moments during the song, since that was apparently the only word to “his song” that he knew in his drunken stupor.
Mohr seemed to change guitars on every song, sometimes even changing guitars DURING a song, though the tonal color almost always seemed the same. Keyboard player Jeremy Lawton was on the stage all night, though he was buried so far in the mix I couldn’t hear him, which proved a distraction; I kept straining to hear ANY keys come out of the PA. Lawton did step out at times, adding fiery pedal steel to “Caroline.”
While BHTM did sparkle at times, like on “Conquistador,” and particularly on “Spanish Highway,” from their last CD “All the Love You Need,” too much of the set seemed flat. The tunes were nice, and they all seemed kind of vaguely familiar and similar, whether they were originals like “Beauty Queen” or the band’s white bread blues take on “Hoochie Koochie Man.”
Mohr and his cohorts debuted a couple of new songs, including one about Muhammad Ali that showed promise. His version of Bruce Springsteen’s “Rosalita,” however, was too polished, lacking the raw emotion and passion that Springsteen performs the song with. There were two sax players on the stage during the song, and their combined efforts probably equated to half of what Clarence Clemons puts forth on the song.
However, its appearance Saturday was apt. It’s a great song, one that most people like, and provides a perfect soundtrack to a summer evening in Colorado, one where you want to hear songs you like but hang out with your friends more than be challenged by the music you’re hearing.
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Candace Horgan is a Denver freelance writer/photographer and regular contributor to Reverb. When not writing and shooting, she plays guitar and violin in Denver band the defCATS.
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