At the pre-party at BB King's on Monday, 12/30, I was happy to meet so many people, whom, heretofore, I had known only on Facebook. Mile-wide grins, shouts of glee and spontaneous hugs abounded as we recognized each other. Dode Prickett played mellow background music and was occasionally joined by others—such as Jann Childers on lovely harmony (check out her band on FB--Black Top Blues). Dave R. Cook sang a beautiful version of Utopia's "If I Didn't Try"—one of my favorite songs—oh, it was just gorgeous! If anyone has that on video, would you please post it? Thanks.
Then, Kasim appeared! After a little instrumental tweaking, he played a few new tunes from his upcoming cd, "3," which will be released on March 3rd after 3 years in the making! He also played a couple of well-loved tunes, much to the delight of his most devoted fans. I'm sure someone will post a set list soon. He stayed afterward and signed posters and cds, etc.--and had his picture taken with many ardent fans. They were most appreciative of his time and generosity.
After the live music portion of the evening, Jill Mingo dj'd loads of favorite Todd tunes and the creative gyrations began! Starting with just a few people, more and more were drawn to the dance floor--resistance was futile! Full tilt TR whoopla commenced! Whilst prancing and cavorting, all of us became Utopian partners united by the music of our beloved Todd Rundgren—musician extraordinaire. The evening was soooo much fun!
New Year's Eve, 2013 arrived at last!!! After dinner, the Pat Travers Band kicked off the evening with some serious hard rock and roll! Man, they wailed! They seem to really enjoy each other on stage and played off of each other really well. Rodney O'Quinn on bass, Sandy Gennaro on drums, Kirk McKim and the inimitable Pat Travers on guitar! Individually, each member is extremely talented, but when you put them together—well, they just explode on stage—wall of sound!!! They provided the heavy guitar of the evening. Thanks, PTB!!!
Then, it was Todd's turn! Oh, ♫We've been waiting so long!♫ Backed by Gregg Bendian on drums, Jesse Gress on guitar, Kasim Sulton on bass, Todd played the following set list (thanks for posting it, Tim Lovelace!): Real man, Love of the Common Man (love, love!), Buffalo Grass, Kind Hearted Woman, Determination, Black & White, Open My Eyes, Lysistrata, Flaw (the crowd responded loudly on cue!), Soul Brother, Soul Medley-Ooh Baby Baby, La La La (Swoon City--sigh!), Hawking, Mystified/Broke Down and Busted (kinda sloppy, imo. Todd was joined by Pat Travers, who was trying his best--I mean, Pat's a stellar player, but he wasn't given any real license to play), I Saw The Light, Courage (niiiiice), Couldn't I Just Tell You (I did as many moves as I could remember from Vicki Charal's choreography J), and at midnight--Auld Lang Syne (imo, horribly sung, maybe it was on purpose—y'know, just goofing around, but it was kinda painful screeching and I would have loved to have heard him sing it seriously or at least in tune). The encore was Just One Victory, once again joined by Pat Travers and Monica Simmons Travers on backup vocals—both of whom appeared to be tickled pink!
All in all, I enjoyed the concert immensely and from what I saw to my left and right, so did everyone else! Todd was in fine shape, physically and vocally—soooo happy he was healthy! He seemed to enjoy himself—there were lots of smiles from the man!
After the concert, while we waited--hoping for a personal appearance from Todd, we DANCED! Once again, the floor was covered with lots of satisfied Todd fans dancing with glow sticks and yelling lyrics to his songs—did Jill provide the music? J Oh, how we shook our booties—we did The Ikon proud! It was a wonderful way to end two days of Todd-fulfilling events. Happy, happy, we are!
Many thanks to all of you who have contributed fantastic videos and photos! And, to the wonderful people who make up the Todd kingdom of Utopia—you are all such neat and cool people, and I enjoyed each person that I met. But, most of all, thank you—one more time—to Doug and Mel—for bringing the man to his fans. Promote him and we will come. You did, so we did, and a good time was had by all!
