I Think He's Done This Before

What a great concert. I went down to the show with a couple friends, neither of whom knew anything about Todd Rundgren except for a song or two they’ve heard on the radio. We got to the “fair” about an hour or so before he was set to start so we walked around a bit and I bought some unidentifiable potato dish that most certainly will never pass my lips again and we went into the area of the show and looked for some good seats. We were fortunate to find three in the ninth row and we sat down and waited for the music to start.

Being an outdoor event, we could see the bus that the band was in behind the stage. Once they started coming out and up the stairs to the stage the long time Rundgren fans started going crazy. There are a few different types of people that attend these kinds of shows. Those that know nothing about the artist, those that know a hit or two and then there are the real fans. The “real” Todd Rundgren fans were quite obvious in the crowd. As he entered from the stairs in the back of the stage the adulation was comparable to a teeny -bopper show from the early 70’s. I get that, I really do. This guy’s music has done and meant so much to me since the first time I heard him in that friend that I spoke of in my previous post’s living room so many years ago. I too felt that little rush of emotion as the band strapped on their guitars. The anticipation of what the first song would be was a palpable feeling throughout the crowd.

There was also a pleasant surprise in the makeup of the band. I mentioned in a previous post of three bands that I would easily go out of my way to see live. One being Rundgren and one of the others is “The Tubes”. Todd and “The Tubes” have worked together in the past as he’s produced a couple albums with them. Well, their drummer also tours with Rundgren and a nice little roar emerged from the crowd as he took his place behind the drum set. Kasim Sultan, a multi instrumentalist that has been in most incarnations of Rundgren’s bands throughout his history, was also present. It’s always nice to see familiar faces.

The set itself was really well put together. He opened with a song from his band Utopia in the 70’s, “Love In Action” and preceded to throw out four or five songs that were familiar to most of the crowd. He played one song from his late 60’s band, “The Nazz” and then went into a very “poppy” version of “I Saw The Light” that everyone knew. So far, so good. He had us all right where he wanted us. He took a little break to talk to the crowd and tell us about an album he released about a year ago and said they were going to play some songs from that. He played a few songs that, to say the least, were a bit on the eclectic side of the scale and he knew it and after three or four of them told us he was now going to play something “a little easier on the palette”. He then played a song, also from the new album that could have come right out of the bubble gum craze of the early 70’s. I turned to one of my friends as we watched the entire crowd tapping their feet and bobbing their heads and said, “ Man, this guys a real pop star”. He readily agreed as we both laughed.

They played a number of other songs known by those that have followed his long career and went off stage before the obligatory encore. They came back on and played one of my faves, “Couldn’t I Just Tell You” and the crowd absolutely loved it. A real rocker with those pop tendencies I so adore. He closed the show with the song, “Just One Victory”. Another oldie but goodie that the crowd ate up as if they hadn’t been fed in years. No, he didn’t play the biggest hit of his career, “Hello It’s Me” but ya know something? It wouldn’t have fit. This was a rock n roll show put on by Todd’s incarnation of a rock n roll band. You know what else? This was a really good rock n roll show.