Back in 1982, Todd Rundgren decided to tour in the same way he made most of his solo records. In the case of his albums, he often wrote and arranged the songs, played all the instruments, and did all the vocals. For this tour, he did the same. Armed with his guitars, a piano, and a reel-to-reel ReVox tape recorder, Rundgren embarked on an ambitious solo tour where he played along to the backing tapes of his solo records in a live performance.
For any other artist, this might have been perceived as either tacky or…entire summary
Todd Rundgren - vocals, guitar, piano, tape recorder
Back in 1982, Todd Rundgren decided to tour in the same way he made most of his solo records. In the case of his albums, he often wrote and arranged the songs, played all the instruments, and did all the vocals. For this tour, he did the same. Armed with his guitars, a piano, and a reel-to-reel ReVox tape recorder, Rundgren embarked on an ambitious solo tour where he played along to the backing tapes of his solo records in a live performance.
For any other artist, this might have been perceived as either tacky or an outrageously big ego trip, but neither was the case with Todd Rundgren. His fans were used to these versions and openly embraced the very intimate shows, most of which were in showcase clubs such as Boston’s Paradise.
Todd Rundgren first became known as the guitarist and driving force behind The Nazz, a psychedelic hard rock band that made very experimental music during the late 1960s. The Nazz made three albums for a division of Atlantic Records before Rundgren went solo in 1970 and scored a hit with the Top 40 song "We Gotta Get You A Woman."
He formed his own short-lived band called Runt with the sons of TV celebrity Soupy Sales before deciding to make a landmark double album called Something/Anything?, on which he essentially played all the instruments. Something/Anything? yielded the Top 10-smash "Hello, It’s Me,” and several other songs that would become concert and FM radio staples. His next album was the highly ambitious A Wizard, A True Star, which firmly established Rundgren as "the thinking man’s pop star.” He soon built a large and loyal following of fans that bought anything he released and went to every one of his area performances.
Over the next 25 years, he would write and record a number of successful albums, and some rather less-than-successful experimental projects, both as a solo artist and with Utopia. Many of his songs would end up being hits for others, including "Can We Still Be Friends?” (Robert Palmer), and "Love Is The Answer” (England Dan & John Ford Coley). He also built a solid career as a producer for The Tubes, Hall & Oates, and others.
Today, in addition to making his own music, Rundgren can be found fronting the revived version of The Cars with Greg Hawkes and Elliott Easton from the original line-up.
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