The last time I saw Hall & Oates was in the late 90s with my friend Lydia and my mother. My mom was so excited to see them because she was a huge fan.  Not only did she get to see one of her favorite bands, but she also found a pick that Daryl Hall had thrown out into the audience!   It fell on the floor after he threw it and she was looking all over for it.  I told her, “you’re never going to find it, it’s too dark” and boy did I eat those words!  A glare of light shined from the stage and she found it!  She picked it up and I’ll never forget how happy she was that night  After she passed away, I found it while going through her things and now it’s with me.

Before the concert we went to Wahlburger’s in Downtown Orlando and this was my first time there.  I didn’t have a burger because I didn’t want it laying in my stomach through the whole concert but I had a chicken caesar salad that was great!  I would definitely go back.

*Note – If you plan on seeing Hall & Oates and Tears for Fears, beware that there are some set list spoilers below*

On to Tears for Fears……

THEY WERE AWESOME!  Not just awesome, but,  CAPS, BOLD and UNDERLINED  awesome!  I had this certain expectation of what I thought they were going to sound like and they sounded 10 times better than I thought they were going to sound!  Lets face it, they haven’t been around for a while so you never really know what you’re going to get. Well, what a show!  They opened with my favorite song “Everybody Wants To Rule The World” and sang favorites like “Mad World”, “Head Over Heels” and “Shout”!!!!  They did a cover of “Creep” by Radiohead that was amazing!  They looked great, their voices were on point and the band sounded like they did back in the 80s!  Pleasantly surprised and very impressed!

On to Hall & Oates…..

I went to the concert with a group of lovely ladies who had never seen Hall & Oates live. When I saw them back in the 90s, they had played at House of Blues in Orlando which is a much smaller venue than the Amway Center.  It was nice to be in an intimate setting with them and I wondered if seeing them this time in an arena setting would make it a less enjoyable experience for me.  What I realized was that it wasn’t less enjoyable, it was just different.  It’s been about 20 years since I saw them so of course things aren’t going to sound the same so I had to keep that in mind when going to this concert.  **Sidenote** If I remember correctly, back in 1997 they were promoting a new album called Marigold Sky which, by the way, was a VERY underrated album.  If you’ve never heard of it, go and get it!  You won’t be disappointed.

Now back to the review…..Hall & Oates still have it!  They opened up with “Family Man” and played most of the classics like “Maneater”, “Private Eyes”, “Family Man”, “Out of Touch” and ended with “You Make My Dreams Come True”!  I would have liked to have heard “Adult Education” and “Method of Modern Love” but I’ve heard them play those songs before so it was okay I guess…. ;).   Daryl sounded great although at times I felt like he had too much echo and the background music was so loud that it sometime overshadowed his voice.  As for John, he can still play the guitar like no one’s business, voice was great and in wonderful shape! Their sax player was AWESOME (we called him the white Clarence Clemmons.  Ha!) and the band as a whole are great musicians.  I thoroughly enjoyed myself and would recommend seeing them if they come to your city!

Till next time….keep making “your dreams come true!”  Ok, corny!