{"id":2445062,"date":"2019-06-06T16:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-06-06T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=307540"},"modified":"2019-06-06T16:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-06-06T22:00:00","slug":"review-the-individualist-todd-rundgren-returns-to-the-rockies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/review-the-individualist-todd-rundgren-returns-to-the-rockies\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: \u2018The Individualist\u2019 Todd Rundgren returns to the Rockies"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Todd Rundgren performing at the Boulder Theatre on May 30.<\/strong>
Kelly J. Hayes<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

\u201cOnce a year, whether we need it or not,\u201d one Todd Rundgren<\/a> fan, nee, disciple, chuckled as he stood outside the Boulder Theatre last week clutching a copy of Rundgren\u2019s new book \u201cThe Individualist\u201d while waiting for an autograph. He was referring to yet another Colorado appearance by the artist\/producer\/performer\/innovator, one that came exactly a year since his last Denver concert with the band Utopia<\/a>. It was the 53rd Todd performance that the fan had attended.<\/p>\n

The 70-year-old Rundgren has shown few signs of slowing down, either with his prodigious touring or on-stage, where he still exhibits the enthusiasm and energy that have been a hallmark of his 51-year career. This current tour, which had already seen a spring jaunt across the U.S., dates in Japan and now a second run through America, coincides with the release of an autobiographical book, \u201cThe Individualist: Digressions, Dreams and Dissertations.\u201d (More on the book in a bit.)<\/p>\n

For the first time, perhaps ever, Todd has authored a show that strings together all \u2014 and I mean all \u2014 of the hits and fave raves that his ever-loyal fan base reveres. For decades, the easily bored and always gazing-to-the future visionary artist would only bring new music from more au courant releases to his concert performances, while mixing in the occasional nostalgic numbers.<\/p>\n

But in recent years he has performed the 1973 album \u201cA Wizard. A True Star\u201d live in its entirety, and then, last year, took his \u201970s and \u201980s prog-rock band, Utopia, on the road for a throwback. Maybe the time is right to gaze back at a life, not just well-lived, but spectacularly conceived.<\/p>\n

The 2-hour and 45-minute, 27-song, Boulder Theatre show was broken into two sets, with the first devoted to the way, way back repertoire. Songs like \u201cOpen My Eyes\u201d and the ubiquitous \u201cHello it\u2019s Me\u201d (\u201cThe first song I ever wrote,\u201d he said of this four-decade-old signature track) meshed neatly with the Philly soul-a-fied \u201cWe Gotta Get You A Woman\u201d and the pop hit \u201cI Saw the Light.\u201d The aged crowd swooned as the band played what could have been a Pandora \u201cthis is your life\u201d playlist.<\/p>\n

But when the white suited, sunglass-clad rock warrior picked up the green guitar he calls \u201cFoamy\u201d for some ripping solos on songs like \u201cBlack Maria\u201d and \u201cKiddie Boy,\u201d the crowd\u2019s swoons turned to shrieks. Make no mistake, Todd is one of the greatest solo lead guitar players that the genre has ever produced. Along with his balladeering, his vocal gifts, lyricism and production skills, any of which would constitute talent enough for one artist, Todd\u2019s quiver overflows when it comes to his licks on \u201cFoamy\u201d and his other axes.<\/p>\n

Throughout the show, Todd told stories that related to the time frame of the music. A screen behind the band showed old photos to illustrate his commentary. A montage of acts that he produced (Meatloaf, Hall and Oates, Grand Funk Railroad and countless others) went by in the blink of an eye. For the song \u201cToo Far Gone,\u201d old photos from an around-the-world solo adventure were shown with passport pictures and shots of him walking ancient souks in the Far East. \u201cYou used to able to buy one plane ticket and travel around the world as long as you kept going in the same direction. I recommend everyone do it. They have this great airline, it\u2019s called Pan Am,\u201d he said with a wink to the past that brought a laugh from the crowd.<\/p>\n

For any in the audience who had seen Todd before, the backing band was as familiar as Foamy. Guitarist Jesse Gress, who provides lead licks that fill in when Todd is in crooning mode, was in fine form as was the pony-tailed keyboard player, Greg Hawkes, formerly of the Cars. Prairie Prince continues to pound out the rhythm on his drum kit and Kasim Sulton, the pride of Staten Island, is seemingly ageless as he plucks his bass. Another reviewer commented that this ensemble is \u201cstarting to suspiciously resemble lifers at this point.\u201d A worthy contribution to the show was made by sax man, flautist and keyboard player Bobby Strickland, who brought another level of soulful sound to the proceedings.<\/p>\n

All of the 27 songs came from albums released prior to 1998 and so constitute just one portion of Todd\u2019s prodigious recording output. Which brings us back to the book that the \u201cIndividualist\u201d tour supports. As idiosyncratic as its author, the book is a linear series of isolated memories of his formative years. Each of the 188 pages has a single-word title and each page is written in three parts. The first paragraph is about an experience that Todd witnessed. The second is his assessment of the experience he witnessed and finally, the third is his conclusion about the experience he witnessed and assessed.<\/p>\n

In other words, each page is its own individual story. Pick up the book and you can turn to any single page and read it out of context or order. And yet, each story follows the previous in chronological order. It ends the morning of his 50th birthday, which also happens to be the day he married his wife, Michelle, at their Hawaiian paradise on the Island of Kauai.<\/p>\n

My personal favorite from this performance was of the song \u201cKindness\u201d from 1991\u2019s \u201cSecond Wind\u201d album. He sang the song, an ode to \u201cthe one that showed me kindness\u201d with eyes closed and both hands essentially conducting each element of the band with movements and gestures that portrayed an emotional attachment to every note and musical change. When I began to read the book, I discovered that the first chapter, or page, was called \u201cBaba,\u201d for his grandmother, for whom he wrote the song.<\/p>\n

His final paragraph take-away of her aging was this: \u201cSomething about aging, perhaps the growing insensitivity of the body, causes the past to become progressively clearer as the present defocuses.\u201d<\/p>\n

An apt opening for the book. And a summation of the \u201cIndividualist\u201d tour.<\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Todd Rundgren performing at the Boulder Theatre on May 30.Kelly J. Hayes \u201cOnce a year, whether we need it or not,\u201d one Todd Rundgren fan, nee, disciple, chuckled as he stood outside the Boulder Theatre last week clutching a copy of Rundgren\u2019s new book \u201cThe Individualist\u201d while waiting for an autograph. He was referring to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2445062","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-19 10:10:54","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2445062","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2445062"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2445062\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2445062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2445062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2445062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}