May 11, 1977 review: Todd Rundgren and Utopia at Shea's

 


May 1977 had no shortage of peak concert experiences. Just one night after the Grateful Dead came to the Aud at the top of their game, we got this stunning, elaborately staged show at Shea’s.

May 11, 1977

Rundgren’s Utopia Now Arrives

With Flash, Fog, Melting Guitar 

          For years Todd Rundgren has described his group Utopia as a performing concept, but it’s taken until this tour to get the best of all possible results.

          Given the 28-year-old Philadelphia whiz kid’s capacity for self-indulgence, the general idea is a fat helping of technological magic and the freedom to be as outrageous as he sees fit.

          So no longer does he dye his hair green and purple. Instead, he sets off more fog and incense, lights and flash pots in Shea’s Buffalo Tuesday night than any local rock audience has ever experienced in one evening.

          All this is expressed via Rundgren’s fascination with Eastern mysticism. The quarter-million-dollar stage set caters to whims that even a flame freak like Paul Stanley of Kiss might admire.

* * *

THE QUARTET appears as space-age sons of Ramses, cavorting under a metal pyramid frame in front of a golden Sphinx which has strobe lights for eyes and a laser beam shooting from its forehead.

          There are no amps on stage and the primary instruments are wildly futuristic. Rundgren’s guitar looks like a steel omega with a fretboard. Kasim Sulton’s bass seems chopped off at the bottom of the strings.

          Even more wondrous is Roger Powell’s polyphonic synthesizer, a four-octave keyboard which hangs from a strap around his neck like a big hero sandwich.

* * *

THE SOUND is dense, blurred by a steady electronic haze which tends to unify the disparate elements of Rundgren’s style.

          There’s the heavy-metal blaze-out, which reflects his longstanding love of British rock, and there’s the lush formal ballad, like his big hit, “Hello, It’s Me.”

          The heavy stuff traces back to the Yardbirds and the Who. The pop stuff, however, is pure Philadelphia soul. The hooks in his choruses and the high close harmonies place him not far to the left of Daryl Hall and John Oates.

          But one identity isn’t enough for Rundgren. Neither are two. He’ll go from creamy teen ballads to thudding megarock, then double back to a Broadway stage voice to sing “Something’s Coming” from “West Side Story.”

* * *

HE AVOIDS his big pop hits, however, and two selections from Utopia’s recent “Ra” album climax the Shea’s show – a stunningly evocative “Hiroshima” and the long fairy tale, “Singring and the Glass Guitar.”

          “Glass Guitar” is a vehicle for effects that haven’t been used till then. Fountains squirt in time to John (Willie) Wilcox’s drums. Powell zaps a paper dragon with his synthesizer. Rundgren solos from the top of the pyramid, then descends to open the chest containing the “glass” guitar.

          The guitar-form drips as he holds it by the neck. It’s melting.

          “Smash it,” the band yells at him.

          “Smash it,” the crowd agrees.

* * *

RUNDGREN LIFTS it over his head and dashes it into a thousand ice cubes. The roadies have to mop up before the band can return to leap about in unison for an encore.

          As it ends, mechanical arms lift the screen from the opening 22-minute movie. Perhaps a third of the crowd of about 2,500 missed the film due to the long wait to exchange ticket vouchers at the box office.

          The jam-up nearly became a flare-up as the crowd rushed the doors. Punches were thrown, entrances were closed and police were called. One youth was arrested on a drug charge. No damage was reported.

* * * * *

IN THE PHOTO: Utopia on stage in 1977.

* * * * *

FOOTNOTE: After three years of prog rock experimentation, Todd Rundgren finally settled on a stable lineup of personnel and a more pop-oriented musical direction. The “Ra” album inspired a stage set that took 18 months to build and yes, it really cost $250,000. The band would come back to play the Aud in November. 

          Utopia remained a cult favorite until it fizzled out in 1986, but Rundgren and Kasim Sulton continued to collaborate on projects such as Meat Loaf’s “Bat out of Hell III” album and a revival of the Cars in 2006, with Rundgren replacing original Cars vocalist Ric Ocasek. There have been reunions with various Utopia lineups since then. For a reunion tour in 2018, they even brought back the pyramid.

          The setlist for Shea’s, courtesy of setlist.fm:

Communion with the Sun

Love of the Common Man

Freedom Fighters

Black Maria

The Last Ride

Jealousy

Emergency Splashdown

The Verb “To Love”

Mister Triscuits

Something’s Coming

The Seven Rays

Sunburst Finish

Hiroshima

Singring and the Glass Guitar

(encore)

Heavy Metal Kids

(second encore)

Just One Victory

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