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Review and photos by Frances Sealy Todd Rundgren's present tour, "An Unpredictable Evening with Todd Rundgren," was developed to get away from his standard hits. If you were expecting the 50-year repertoire of Rundgren hit songs, you might be a little disappointed with the show. There was the obligatory "Hello, It's Me," "I Saw the Light" and a couple of other Utopia songs. But, unpredictability was on the menu on this night.Rundgren has worn many hats since he started in show business in the '60s. Nazz was the first band he formed and had a hit record, "We Gotta Get You a Woman." He quickly became a solo artist in the early seventies with his hits songs "Hello It's Me" and "I Saw the Light." He, later, formed the band Utopia. The multi-instrumentalist loves to experiment and that was demonstrated when he organized the first interactive television concert in 1978, designed the first color graphic tablet in 1980, and created the first interactive album in 1994 among many other things. His work as a record producer included Badfinger's Straight Up, Grand Funk Railroad's We're an American Band, and Meat Loaf's Bat Out of Hell. Rundgren announced early in the show that the only song that the band knew was the opening song, "Jean Pahechan Ho." He made the declaration, "I'm going to try to stump the band." The 'meat' of the set was songs from "one hit wonders." Great songs from often times forgotten "one hit wonders" would be a better description. The Proclaimers' "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" Rundgren mentioned after the performance of the song, "Most of you didn't know who the band was that had the original version of the song. If you see the Proclaimers on the marquee, buy that ticket. I'll bet they do that song better than we do. By the way, we give no refunds." He had the same thing to say about Strawberry Alarm Clock's "Incense and Peppermint." Rundgren remained seated throughout the show as he sang and played guitar. Sporting an orange tee shirt commemorating his Toddstock Foundation and black jeans. One could imagine being in Rundgren's living room experiencing an electric guitar pull. He greeted the crowd by saying, "Arizona, holy moly, Arizona! Congratulations go all around to you." The congratulations salutation was in reference to the recent elections last week. Fans shouted out everything from "love you" to requests. The requests elicited the following Rundgren announcement, "We do not take requests. If there is a song you especially do not want to hear, keep yelling it out." Another subject called for a dissertation on the subject of Melanie's "Brand New Key." He mentioned that he had only met Melanie one time. She was running late and there was no time to have a conversation with her. He really wanted to know what the song meant. "Who buys a pair of roller skates without the key? I would have asked 'Where's my frickin' key? " The repartee with the fans continued throughout the show. Rundgren only works with the best musicians. Keyboardist, Greg Hawkes, was formerly with The Cars. Hawkes delivered keys faithful to the original organ played on 'Incense and Peppermint." Bass guitarist, Kasim Sulton, was an original member of Utopia. Sulton got to show his exceptional bass on "Born to Synthesize." That was also true for drummer, Prairie Prince, who by the way was raised in Phoenix and is an ex member of The Tubes. Guitarist, Jesse Gress, has a part time job as a music educator when he is not traveling on the road. Between Gress and Rundgren there was a plethora of great guitar solos during the show. Rundgren often took refuge to a tall glass of what appeared to be water, but referred to it as "sweet, sweet vodka." Another glass next to it appeared to be a martini. He hit on that less frequently during the show. The show was a 'free for all' for the fans. This was technically a seated show, but fans were on their feet dancing and shouting messages to the 'messenger.' Rundgren always has antics up his sleeve to entertain as he cheekily cautions that his show is not to be taken too seriously, "It's not to be ingested just rub on the skin topically." This tour continues through November. |
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1. Jaan Pahechan Ho
(Mohammed Rafi cover) 2. Cliché 3. Do Ya (Electric Light Orchestra cover) I Saw the Light 1. I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) (The Proclaimers cover) 2. Black and White 3. Are You Havin' Any Fun (Tony Bennett cover) 4. Brand New Key (Melanie cover) 5. Too Far Gone 6. Incense and Peppermints (Strawberry Alarm Clock cover) 7. I Don't Want to Tie You Down 8. Born to Synthesize 9. Good Times Roll (The Cars cover) 10. Lucky Guy 11. Hash Pipe (Weezer cover) |
12. Stormy
(Classics IV cover) 13. Can We Still Be Friends 14. Pissin 15. Patches (Clarence Carter cover) 16. The Walls Came Down (The Call cover) 17. Lysistrata (Utopia song) 18. Let's Do This Encore: 19. Open My Eyes (Nazz song) 20. Hello It's Me 21. One World (Utopia song) |
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