Article : Todd Rundgren bringing fan favorites to downtown Muskegon

Todd Rundgren bringing fan favorites to downtown Muskegon
Published: Sunday, September 05, 2010,
By Ross Boissoneau| The Muskegon Chronicle

Todd Rundgren thinks his fans may have discovered the fountain of youth — and it’s him.

The 62-year-old rocker — made famous by the singles “Hello, It’s Me” and “I Saw the Light” — is bringing back music he created in the ’70s and ’80s on his current tour, which will include a stop this week at the Frauenthal.

Contributed photoTodd Rundgren's concert in Muskegon will include all the music from his 1974 album "Todd" and from 1981's "Healing."

While, like most artists, his concerts typically promote his current recording, Rundgren toured last year playing his 1973 recording “A Wizard, A True Star” (AWATS) in its entirety. This time around, the set will be comprised of all the music from the 1974 album “Todd” and from 1981’s “Healing.”

These special tours transport the audience back to a time when music was a more important part of their lives, said Rundgren from his home in Hawaii.

“Back then, there was an album-oriented audience,” he said. “People would make special listening time. They’d go to someone’s place and listen to the whole album.

“These performances are meant to take people back to that time. It’s not just nostalgia for the ’70s, it transports them back to a younger state.”

If that sounds pretentious, remember that this is an artist who has never conformed to anyone’s expectations. He followed the smash-hit album “Something/Anything” with the dense, elliptical “Wizard” and “Todd” before unveiling his prog-rock unit “Utopia.” With three synthesizer players, it sounded nothing like his popular “Hello, It’s Me,” instead inviting comparisons to Yes and Mahavishnu Orchestra, with its lengthy instrumental jams.
IF YOU GO
• What: Todd Rundgren in concert
• When: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday
• Where: Frauenthal Center for Performing Arts
• Tickets: $45-$85. Available at the Frauenthal Box Office and StarTickets outlets
• Note: “ToddStock,” a film that documents Rundgren’s fan festival, will be screened 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Cinema Carousel Theater in Muskegon.

“‘Something/Anything’ was typical Carole King/James Taylor singer/songwriter music of the time,” Rundgren said. “I had one high-school relationship and I realized I’d been writing about the same girl for a while. On ‘A Wizard A True Star,’ the subject matter changed to things that were more personal.”

Personal like futuristic sci-fi, esoteric religions, self-actualization, and a host of other topics far from the pop charts. Witness “Freedom Fighters,” “The Seven Rays,” or sidelong epics “The Ikon” and “A Treatise on Cosmic Fire,” a 30-minute long instrumental from 1975’s “Initiation.”

Other detours included “A Capella,” an album built exclusively on multi-tracked and electronically enhanced vocals; “No World Order,” an interactive disc where listeners can make their own mixes of songs; and “With A Twist,” a recording of past hits done bossa-nova style.

Perhaps the most unexpected development was Rundgren and longtime musical mates Prairie Prince (drums) and Kasim Sulton (bass) teaming up with Elliot Easton and Greg Hawkes of the Cars, revving up the motor of that classic new-wave band as the New Cars.

Rundgren’s dedicated following ate it all up. And continue to. Witness the success of “Rundgren Radio,” an internet-based talk radio show, where the idea of these tours came up.

“Last year, listeners chose ‘A Wizard, A True Star,’” Rundgren said. “This year, it was ‘Todd’ and ‘Healing.’”

More casual fans might have suggested his best-selling “Something/Anything,” which produced the radio staples “I Saw the Light” and “Hello, It’s Me.” But Rundgren said his devoted fans typically focus on what they, and he, perceive as more interesting choices.

“On ‘Something/Anything,’ I played everything. So it’s relatively easy (to perform). ‘Todd’ and ‘Healing’ are more interesting to me to do.”

“A Wizard A True Star” and “Todd” were the first albums Rundgren did in his own studio. That gave him the impetus to try something — anything — without restraints. “We had the freedom to do things we didn’t in a more constrained environment. There was no clock. I could plug something into that black box and no one would tell me I couldn’t. I could put things together with alligator clips to see what would happen.”

Add to that the emerging synthesizer and drum machine technologies, and “Todd” became known as much for its unusual sounds — on cuts like “In and Out the Chakras We Go” and “Shaft Goes to Outer Space ” — as it was for brilliant songs like the poignant “The Last Ride.”

But forget about playing it live. Until now.

“A lot of difficult things from that time are easier now. Thank God for samplers. Now we can grab the original sounds,” Rundgren said.

Another advantage: Keyboardist Hawkes, a member of his touring unit (along with Prince, Sulton, guitarist Jesse Gress and Bobby Strickland on reeds), has a collection of vintage instruments. “Otherwise we’d have to go out and get them on Ebay,” said Rundgren.

Rundgren promises some surprises for the show. With AWATS, he was his own opening act, joined by Sulton, Prince, and keyboardist Roger Powell for several Utopia songs. Then the curtain would part, and Rundgren and the full band would emerge for a revue-style show, complete with costume changes and special lighting and effects.

Ross Boissoneau is a Chronicle correspondent.