IN TOTO, A VERY PREDICTABLE EVENING

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Saturday at the Universal Amphitheatre, Toto once again proved itself to be a band that plays great notes, assembles them into fine passages and stitches them all together into well-crafted songs, yet remains incapable of making music with any character or feeling.

Sure, the performances--virtually note-for-note re-creations of studio recordings--were perfect. But not once did the sextet (augmented by a horn section, singer and percussionist) display anything more than a glossy veneer, or present any personality deeper than new singer Joe Williams’ cliched “Hello Los Angeles” greeting.

The punch line is that enough people are passionate about this passionless fare to nearly sell out the amphitheater for two nights and accord Toto thunderous ovations. At least opening act Michael McDonald sang his neo-soul as if he meant it.