11/2 Hollywood Hard Rock

Review by Steve Brooks (Switch to
)
11/03/2011

Let me first say that I have been a fan of this man for over 40 years. Todd is by far my favorite solos artist hands down..... including his work with Utopia. His shows, no matter what iteration, or combination of artists, were always satisfying. I'm afraid tonight there was little to like. The song selection was boring. It's scope of tune selection, relative to the Utopia catalogue, was narrowed down exclusively to the early early days. Virtually the entire show was long boring space rock tunes that droned on endlessly, who's execution was sloppy and the sound system horrific. Todd called it 'prog rock'. I know prog rock and Utopia was never recognized for being a staple of the genre. I vaguely recognized several tunes, but even back in the early 70's, with chemical enhancements, they were boring.

That said, as disappointed as I am, I will still always go to see Todd Rundgren because I know what he is capable of. This Utopia tour seems more for his own pleasure than that of his fan base at large. As my wife put it...'"There was nothing to like tonight." ELO's 'Do Ya' was the only song that got the crowd jumping. Todd even commented that the crowd finally got into on of the tunes and it wasn't even a Utopia song! Otherwise by shows end, 2/3's of the audience had left the theatre. I've never seen that happen before.

Utopia needs to mix it up incorporating more of the late 70's and 80's tunes with a couple of the earlier prog rock tunes . But a full show of the prog material, while fun for the band to play, turned the crowd off. We all sat there waiting for things to take off. The show never left the ground. Sorry Todd. Still a loyal fan, but it just didn't work for me tonight.....for the first time ever.


Other reviews for Todd Rundgren Dates
11/02/2011 - Hard Rock Casino - Hollywood, FL

Other reviews for overall Todd Rundgren

The Todd Rundgren Connection is brought to you by Roger D. Linder & The Linder Logo Rocemabra Web Services.