The iconic rock innovator plays Bell’s Brewery Beer Garden next week on his “Still Me/Still We” tour. The Local Spins interview with the 77-year-old legend.
Todd Rundgren: Not afraid of controversy, back on the road again, always creating and collaborating. (Courtesy Photo)
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He’s spent a career since the 1960s fronting numerous bands.
He’s famed for his production work for the Tubes, XTC, Patti Smith, Meat Loaf, Steve Hillage, the New York Dolls and more.
He’s always explored the next advancement in technology, from instruments to video to releasing the first interactive CD (“The Individualist”) and the first virtual concert tour, featuring 25 live-streamed performances geo-fenced and tailored to a different U.S. city each night.
So at age 77, Todd Rundgren could be forgiven for slowing down and resting on his laurels at his abode on Kauai. But that’s not what he does. Rundgren is on the road – again or still, your choice – and brings his latest tour to Bell’s Beer Garden in Kalamazoo on Wednesday (July 9). Tickets for the 8 p.m. show are $56.77 and available online here.
Always Eager to ‘Put on a Show’: Rundgren (Courtesy Photo/Rex Rundgren)
“Still Me/Still We” acts as an extension to the last leg of Rundgren’s “Me/We” Tour from last year. “The show is kind of a story with a message. Even though a year has passed, I still think the story needs to be told,” Rundgren notes in press materials.
Reached at his home in Hawaii before the tour began, Rundgren explains that the set list and tour production are basically unchanged from last year due to a lack of time and a lack of new music. He came off the road as part of a tribute to Burt Bacharach and almost immediately dove back into touring behind his own songs.
“It’s the show I did last year. I didn’t have enough new music to build a set around,” he explains. While his tours are often based around his most recent recording, his last album, the collaborative “Space Force,” was released in 2022.
Still, with a discography dating back to “We Gotta Get You A Woman” from 1970, and the Nazz before that, along with numerous albums with Utopia, Rundgren has plenty of music to choose from.
A ROBUST SET LIST FOR MEMORY-MAKING SHOWS
The tour set list covers a broad swath, from 1973’s “Todd” to tracks from more recent albums like “Liars,” “White Knight,” even a couple Utopia tracks. Plus, he unfurls an encore that kicks off with a medley of “I Saw The Light,” “Can We Still Be Friends” and “Hello It’s Me.”
Rundgren’s list of big hits may not be long, but his longstanding fans typically greet his music enthusiastically. “I touch on the songs people expect, but also do deeper (cuts). To my mind, it’s a message, an arc,” he says. “Whatever that meant last year, it’s different. The world has changed.”
On Stage: Rundgren (Courtesy Photo/Richard Kerris)
Songs such as “Tin Foil Hat” and “Jesse,” which railed against Donald Trump (the former) and Senator Jesse Helms and Pope John Paul II (the latter) show his disdain for those who would diminish civil liberties while espousing right-wing nationalism. That attitude cost Rundgren some fans. He takes it in stride. “The Great Culling,” he calls it with a laugh.
“I’ve done shows that were deliberately provocative,” he says citing “Jesse” in particular as a song written to stir feelings. “There was a fight in the audience,” he says of the “Global”/“White Knight” tour.
These days, he says trying to change the world starts with changing yourself. “We didn’t expect to find ourselves in this position. Working on yourself … changes the world. Now it’s an imperative. I haven’t watched the news since November. It makes my life less stressful.”
The show features his most recent touring band: Gil Assayas (keyboards), Bruce McDaniel (guitar), Prairie Prince (drums), Bobby Strickland (keyboards and woodwinds), and Kasim Sulton (bass) with Rundgren on lead vocals and guitar.
“We do like to put on a show. Attractive production, lighting, effects make it more theatrical,” says Rundgren. “I only feel successful if people still think about it (the show) the next day. Give an audience something that … makes life a little more interesting.”
VIDEO: Todd Rundgren Live in New Jersey, “Secret Society”
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