On a sweaty summer night, after one I've-got-blisters-on-my-fingers moment on the guitar he calls "Foamy," Rundgren joked, "There goes the foundation."
Then he prepared the crowd for what was to come, counting down the minutes before his latest "Mad" experiment would begin. Arena, with tunes appropriately written and performed for an arena- or stadium-type atmosphere, kicks out the jams with other one-word titles such as "Mercenary " ("How do you like me now?"), "Gun" and "Strike."
On "Gun," Rundgren borrows the Full Metal Jacket Marine marching line, "This is my rifle, this is my gun! This is for fightin', this is for fun," while on "Strike," he asks "Are you ready to rumble?" then implores listeners to "strike while the iron is hot" with an AC/DC-like wail.
But it's the melodic "Courage," with its catchy hooks, that might turn out to be the best song on the album, though it's doubtful any professional sports teams will give it the "Bang The Drum" treatment to psyche up a crowd. On this night, Rundgren was so confident he even gave his listeners "a money-back guarantee" if they didn't like it. Presumably, there were no takers. The bluesy "Weakness" also provided the crowd with a break in the action, but that didn't last long.
The encores included can't-miss anthems "Couldn't I Just Tell You" (featuring line kicks with Haden, who is Petra's sister and the daughter of jazz bassist Charlie Haden) and "Just One Victory," dating back to the '70s. Todd and I go way back to then, although he
doesn't know it.
Two years after the success of his Something/Anything double album, he went in another fascinating direction and in April 1974 arrived in Mobile, Ala.
Copies of a letter signed "Todd R" were handed out to each concertgoer before the show, explaining what was going to happen that night and introducing the other five musicians, including Moogy Klingman and Ralph Schuckett on keyboards, M. Frog (aka M. Frog Labat, Jean-Yves Labat de Rossi) on synthesizers, Kevin Ellman on drums and John Siegler on bass. They all were key players in Utopia's debut album, which was released later that year.
"We are featuring some new music this tour," read the letter with the Bearsville logo, "so following the familiar 'Utopia Theme' and selections from the latest solo lp, Todd, we are debuting 'The Freak Parade' and a 30 minute piece tentatively titled 'The Ikon.'"
Promising a sound that would "scramble your brains and toast your ears," the skinny kid from the Philly 'burbs went through the sparse crowd during "Hello It's Me," shaking almost every hand (including mine) in the theater. My girlfriend and I were so enamored, we followed (they didn't call it stalking back then) the tour bus after the show and after introducing ourselves at a Chinese restaurant, we were invited by the Toddfather to join the boys in the band for dinner. If only we had stayed.
Article comments