It’s hard to believe Toto has been dominating the progressive rock scene for over forty years. Originally forming in 1977, Toto has truly taken 40 Trips Around the Sun as their most recent compilation album and tour name suggests.
After a few festival runs towards the end of last year, Toto is finally making their way across the United States in celebration of the 40th anniversary of their self-titled debut and multi-platinum selling album, starting with a show at The Wiltern in Los Angeles this past weekend.
Of course, with a sound as innovative as theirs at the time, Toto reaped in their virtually non-stop success as a band. In total, the guys have released thirteen studio albums since their debut in 1978 with only minimal breaks in between each, a rarity for many rock bands of that era. Of course, the band has had to deal with a few shifts in members since their formation; however, every piece of music released since the start has been as good as the last. With five Grammy-Award nominations and three wins under their belt, Toto has had little to prove with such successful music in their ever-growing catalogue.
Although the band doesn’t tour as frequently as they used to, they couldn’t think of a better reason to get together to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Toto. And their kickoff at The Wiltern in Los Angeles this past weekend reminded us exactly why our love for Toto has lasted as long as the band has.
Opening the show with their most recent single release “Devil’s Tower,” Toto quickly established a wide variety of songs on the night’s setlist. They continued with hits like “Hold the Line,” “Lovers in the Night,” “I Will Remember” and “Jake to the Bone” while also throwing in another new song “Alone,” the original off of their 40 Trips Around the Sun compilation album.
Split into a three-piece setlist, Toto finished off the first set with the classic hit “Rosanna” before diving into the second set titled Acoustic Storytellers. This portion of the night featured hit songs like “Georgy Porgy,” “I’ll Be Over You,” “Stop Loving You,” “Girl Goodbye,” “Make Believe” and a special performance of “Africa” featuring an appearance of Toto co-founder David Paich.
In between the large list of hits, Toto also performed a couple of covers during the second half of the set including Michael Jackson’s “Human Nature,” a staple Toto cover, along with The Beatles’ “While My Guitar Gently Weeps" featuring a few wild solos by guitarist Steve Lukather.
The pop rock pioneers ended The Wiltern set with a single-song encore featuring an extended performance of “Home of the Brave” as they once again welcomed David Paich back to the stage. It was seemingly the perfect way to finish off a celebratory kickoff. And if The Wiltern show is any indication of what is to come for the remainder of the tour, we can hardly contain our excitement for what is to come.
Check out the full setlist from The Wiltern here!
See all of Toto’s remaining 40 Trips Around the Sun 2019 U.S. tour dates below and don’t forget to grab your tickets at LiveNation!
Toto 40 Trips Around the Sun U.S. Tour Dates:
09/23 – Las Vegas, NV @ Life is Beautiful Festival
09/24 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Eccles Theatre – Delta Hall
09/25 – Denver, CO @ Paramount Theatre
09/27 – Kansas City, MO @ Uptown Theater
09/28 – Des Moines, IA @ Hoyt Sherman Place
09/29 – Madison, WI @ Orpheum Theater
10/01 – Minneapolis, MN @ State Theatre
10/02 – Peoria, IL @ Peoria Civic Center Theatre
10/04 – Chicago, IL @ The Chicago Theatre
10/05 – Mt. Pleasant, MI @ Soaring Eagle Casino & Resort
10/08 – Nashville, TN @ Ryman Auditorium
10/09 – Birmingham, AL @ Alabama Theatre
10/10 – Atlanta, GA @ Atlanta Symphony Hall
10/13 – Northfield, OH @ MGM Northfield Park – Center Stage
10/15 – Port Chester, NY @ Capitol Theatre
10/16 – Englewood, NJ @ Bergen Performing Arts Center
10/18 – Mashantucket, CT @ Foxwoods Resort Casino – Grand Theater
10/19 – Red Bank, NJ @ Count Basie Theatre
