TODD RUNDGREN’S UTOPIA

Live At The Chicago Theater WIENERWORLD

Deluxe package captures Rundgren’s reformed prog project.

Even if you aren’t completely familiar with his back catalogue, Todd Rundgren is a man whose reputation precedes him, a pop/rock wunderkind who first came to prominence in the early 70s, but has trodden a decidedly maverick path ever since. Rundgren’s virtuosity pushed him in the direction of prog, and in 1973 he formed Utopia to test his ambition in a group context. The band had petered out by the mid-80s, but not before amassing a cult following and scoring minor hits in the US singles charts. As is the way these days, Utopia got back together last year to tour the States, and this Blu-Ray/DVD/CD set is the result.

POMP THAT RIVALS ANYTHING PRODUCED BY THEIR UK PEERS.

The concert film starts with the cross-cut chatter of what sounds like NASA mission control, a suggestion that staging a modern rock gig is equivalent to sending a band to the moon. Then the group hit the stage, and it’s quite a sight: Todd Rundgren is dressed like a butterfly half-emerged from its chrysalis, while his bandmates opt for military-style Bacofoil outfits. They launch straight into Utopia Theme, and it’s clear from the off that age hasn’t blunted their chops in any way.

Utopia might not have made much of an impression over on this side of the Atlantic, with the idea of an American band playing ‘authentic’ prog being something that just didn’t compute for a lot of British fans, but the bombastic, squalling pomp of their signature opus rivals anything that was produced by their UK contemporaries. There’s some nice riffing over a rolling, Floyd-ish bassline, plus plenty of 70s vintage organ and bona fide synth wizardry. Not a note is wrong, which is all the more remarkable given the line-up crisis the band faced just before hitting the road – original keyboardist Ralph Schuckett was forced to pull out due to illness, with his place taken at the eleventh hour by young player Gil Assayas, who acquits himself with some elan.

The first half of the set features their proggier output from the mid-70s, with tracks such as The Ikon and Overture/ Communion With The Sun sounding both crazily earnest and gloriously daffy at the same time, new age rock music for stadiums. Rundgren jokes that he’s surprised the audience hasn’t been smothered under a blizzard of notes, with the set then dominated by the slick AOR that defines the rest of their back catalogue.

A little disappointing in the visuals department, Live At

The Chicago Theater is nevertheless a decent record of what was clearly a celebratory night for fans of both sides of Utopia’s oeuvre.