TOTO - ROYAL ALBERT HALL, LONDON - Monday 28 June 2004.

Last night, Toto performed at one of the few prestigious venues in the world which they had not ticked off their exhaustive schedule, after 27 years of world tours. The anticipation of Toto's show at the Royal Albert Hall had been considerable; the band and fans alike were very excited at the opportunity of the meeting of possibly the world's most famous venue with the most musically-accomplished rock musicians of our time. Luke said as much during the show, it was a real milestone in their career. And as always, Toto didn't fail to disappoint.

Bernie Marsden & Micky Moody opened, with a classy display of "Unplugged" versions of old Whitesnake classics, which they wrote, including "Here I go again" and "Ain't gonna cry no more". It seemed as if the majority of the audience were unfamiliar with old Whitesnake songs - they don't know what they're missing!

Luke struck up the opening riff to "Only the children" as he and the band took to the stage. Absolutely fantastic, wonderful to hear Bobby singing some more of the back catalogue.

From the outset, Luke took centre stage in every sense. Especially in Paich's absence, Luke is the very apparent driving force, perhaps more so than ever before. His vocals and playing seem to get better every year - how does he find ways to play the solos differently EVERY night?

Bobby's performance was outstanding and as a whole, all the vocals were exceptional, Tony Spinner and "Doctor" Lu providing depth and range to Bobby's, Greg's and Luke's harmonies. Bobby whipped up the audience and got everyone standing, clapping and singing along. Bobby's power and range defies belief - a very high energy performance!

High points for me were all the songs which they hadn't played live for at least 10 years..."Angel don't Cry", "These chains", "Good for you", "Gypsy train" and excerpts from "Carmen", the solos section from "Mushanga" and a couple of others! It was also great to hear a reversion to the original arrangement of "Girl Goodbye".

Luke seemed genuinely surprised that they were called back for a second encore, and they tore the house down with "White Sister".

The PA sound in the Albert Hall is a mono mix - as Luke explained to me at the soundcheck, it makes it very difficult to hear the layers of sound which Toto produce, as the effect in the round auditorium is of a wall of sound coming right at you. Luke's guitar cut through for sure and the audience appeared to be mesmorised by his usual display of improvisation, virtuosity and the sheer speed of his double-picking.

All the guys were on good form - as much as Paich was missed, it was great to see Greg again and his slant on the songs adds different augmentation to the groove.

Backstage was nothing short of manic - Brian May, Neil Murray, Bernie Marsden, Mickey Moodie, Ian Anderson, Paul Young, and Jack Bruce (to name a few) and about 200 others were hanging out. It's always the same at London shows - who are all these people?!

Will Minting