Fast forward 22 years, she stayed in Connecticut and I now live in Philadelphia. Chris called me in May or so to say that TODD himself was playing a free concert at the Mohegan Sun, a mere half of an hour from her home. I marked it on my calendar. After all the years and many, many rock concerts, she had never made it to one of Todd's shows. I was hell bent to share the moment with her, even if all of these years later I never did ask the difference between Todd and Ted and could not name one song.
My husband and I drove through big time traffic on a Saturday from Philly to CT. (seems everyone was going to Great Adventure or something). We had heard that to get a seat we had to get to the venue early so we got there at like 4 or 4:30 (for 6:30 seating and an 8:30 concert). There were already 50 or so people in line. So after driving five hours, we stood for two, but we got great seats right on the floor -- must have been a stroke of celestial intervention because a friend from high school hooked us up with the big roller seats! We ordered lots of drinks and when the concert began we were ready to rock!
Well, once the concert started, I couldn't believe that for all of these years, I had been so ignorant-- Todd Rundgren was unbelievable. The synergy between audience and band was magical. Best of all was to see my friend, as well as so many around her, transported to a plane of existence that is not possible without great music. My friend and I actually "rushed" the stage to dance (from our high roller seats) -- I think we were among the first two or three but soon the floor was full. I had never done THAT before, hmmm, look what I missed for the last 20 years!
Anyway, the short of it was that the concert was fabulous and not just for people who know of Todd. I had never heard one of these songs before and the music sounded very different from what I remember off of a scratchy eight track tape. (Like I said I never knew what I was listening to, but the songs in '78 sounded a bit like the Fifth Dimension -- I like these new ones better) I am not a musician, still am tone deaf and don't really like concerts that much, but I, at the age I am, rushed to the stage and rocked myself sweaty. If you asked me what the play list was, I couldn't tell you, I couldn't really understand any of the words to any of the songs, and didn't know what TR was talking about when he would make jokes. I just know that the air was electric and the music made the people groove. To be there made me forget the world outside and it was bliss.
In fact, I loved it so much that when I got back to Philly, I checked out the internet, found the TR Connection site and have been following the reviews of other shows. When I saw that a show opened up for a Lancaster Pa. date, I made my reservations and dragged my husband to another show!! I wanted to see if my enthusiasm was because I was with my best pal and I picked up on her energy or if I really liked the music. My review of the Lancaster show tells more, if interested.
