Todd Rundgren: C or D

kinda wish Utopia's prog phase lasted a bit longer I mean "Communion with the Sun" is so fucking good

smash the glass guitar frogsbs!

going to see him tonight!

Folks: it was good

Did he do Weezer hash pipe?

no but he did the song he did with Mr. Weezer

anyway for those who are curious - vocally he was pretty good, a bit weak at first but I think he was just saving himself for the 2nd half where he did a lot more challenging stuff. not gonna spoil the setlist but he did a few absolute showstoppers which would immediately be followed by TR-i stuff, which I thought was hilarious. I mean hey, it worked, in fact I think all his post-Nearly Human material comes off way better live than on the record

This show is blowing my mind and possibly making me rethink a majority of my life choices.

To frogbs' point, I agree 100%. This was maybe one of the best shows I've seen and I was fully prepared for it to be a miss given Todd's reputation. The band, stage design were terrific (we were in the balcony so had a great view of it). I actually found him to be in tremendous voice for the duration -- tho I concur that it was most noticeable in the second half.

Also, frogbs, I actually have a theory about this show -- that the song they open with is a commentary on--possibly even a bit of a joke about--the whole subsequent setlist.

Not to derail the talk, but I was going to bump this thread anyway... I was listening to this We're An American Band (really good!) comp from Cherry Red last night and guess I've just never paid attention to the lyrics for "Is It My Name?" before now. Oof.

hah yeah I was excited for a minute that he might be doing a bunch of his mid 70s proggy stuff which would've been a trip, but in the end I'm glad the setlist focused on "newer" stuff, kinda affirms my theory that it's his production choices and not his songwriting that's declined over the decades. I remember thinking "Woman's World" was some amazing Utopia song I'd forgotten about, turns out it's from the album where he also tries to imitate Snoop Dogg. the whole thing was so good that when he actually started playing some of his old hits during the encore it felt like he was just showing off.

Just saw him last night as my wife really wanted to go and we got balcony seats from that Live Nation $25 rate. His voice mostly sounded pretty strong. As noted by others his current set consists of more "newer" songs and he left his hits for an encore medley that he seemed less into -- I Saw the Light / Can We Still Be Friends / Hello It's Me.

I saw online that he used to go from his song "Lost Horizon" into a Marvin Gaye medley, but last night he just stuck to "Lost Horizon." I kinda wish he was still more into soul.

During the middle of his set, a guy right in front of my wife screamed out between songs "play the songs we came to hear, not these." Rundgren ignored him and others began to cheer more loudly and someone else yelled "we love you Todd." The guy briefly left to get a beer or something, and came back and watched the rest of the show politely.

https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/todd-rundgren/2024/warner-theatre-washington-dc-5ba9e364.html

LOL, that's similar to what happened to me at my first Steely Dan show, and that was one of the class action lawsuit settlement shows that Ticketmaster/Live Nation ponied up for (i.e. "free" but IIRC you still had to pay some fees). I get the feeling free shows or bargain deals can bring out more demanding and less adoring fans - they just want the radio hits.

(Assuming that guy in front of you also did the $25 deal.)

I am thinking you’re right. Although I guess there are still people who go to Bob Dylan shows thinking they will get hits in the arrangements they know, and Dylan doesn’t care to deliver that .

last time I saw him it was 6 years ago in my hometown, which was kind of nuts...I live in a city of 50k and Todd was playing like 3 miles away from me. I don't think there were a whole lot of true Toddheads in the crowd, outside of a bunch in the front rows. bumped into a lot of people I knew there too, guessing most of them didn't know much about Todd outside of a few songs. I mean for my city this was sort of an event. you could definitely sense a restlessness in the crowd as not only was he not playing the hits he wasnt playing songs that sounded much like them either, instead there were a bunch of songs from Global which ain't exactly the style people know him for (its not one of his better albums either). totally different vibe at this show I thought. I mean "Buffalo Grass" got a big response so I'm guessing these people had actually kept up.

I'm not usually a fan of shouting people down, but people who complain about shit like that deserve it probably.

I was prepared for (something?) anything at this show -- blooze, New Cars, him playing a Casio keyboard solo on stage wearing a diaper. I think most of Todd's longtime fans know he just does what he wants (or needs to in order to make a buck). And as a longtime (but not LONG longtime) fan, I appreciated the extent to which his audience for this tour was like that. I actually didn't see anyone in the balcony leave until around the encore actually. They knew the score.

As for it being "newer" stuff, I mean ... I guess it was. But I think it was more stuff from records nobody but completists bought (hence opening with "I Think You Know") -- and I was kind of stunned how committed to it he was to the concept, as I googled lyrics to most songs to figure out what they were. Normally it would bug me being so unfamiliar with the setlist. But in this case, the songs were so universally strong and their presentation so entertaining that I enjoyed all of it.

Also: he played like four songs from Liars--p much my favorites--and they all ruled. Including one of the best soul ones.

I noticed he seemed to favor Liars, whereas most albums (including his newest one!) he was only doing one song apiece. I wonder if that's because of the RSD reissue or if he just likes that album a lot

"God Said" was such a showstopper both times I've seen him now, was pretty cool finally hearing the album and realizing "oh shit it's that song". you really do have to hear it live though.

What a great song that is, hits home more and more every time I hear it.

God Said was #9 on my Todd ballot – #7 was Afterlife (which he also played) but that post-ZTT bass thump of the former gets me right in the feels as well.

Liars is also (gah) twenty years old.

… which might explain why he played so much of it.

Shamefully I haven’t really listened to Liars much, but I do remember that it was perceived a “return to form” after all the rap/electronica stuff/industrial songs about ISPs (even though it opens with what i recall to be a very trance-y song with “truth”, although maybe it has more in common with “shine” from healing or something)

"Truth" is like a Paul Oakenfold track with Daryl Hall singing. I love it but I know it freaked a lot of people out when they heard it. Including, I believe, ILM-er Gerald McBoingBoing when I recommended Liars to him a few weeks ago.

I do agree it's very much like "Shine", it rules despite having that "I dunno if you should be doing this" feel to it. first time I saw him I think he opened with that song and I was pretty floored by it, kinda hoped the rest of his set would be like that but it was not

Liars is probably his best since either Healing or Nearly Human, actually his first real solo album in like a decade, so maybe he just had a lot of good stuff stockpiled up. song for song it's very strong though probably too long as a whole. don't think I'd cut anything but some of the songs could stand to be a little shorter.

FWIW "I Hate My Frickin' ISP" is actually a pretty solid tune

Hah it is, he actually did a damn good hard rock version of it when I saw him on the “Arena” tour

Marcello Carlin wrote very eloquently about Liars at the time, which is what piqued my interest though I would have discovered it eventually. "Future" is just gorgeous, I wish TR would have made an entire ambient drum 'n bass LP while he was on that roll. "Soul Brother", which I think was the single, is the only track I am tempted to skip over.