Rundgren Radio to present Todd Rundgren's Utopia in Akron Ohio on November 12th

Sept. 26, 2011 - PRLog -- Rundgren Radio will present Todd Rundgren's Utopia in Akron, Ohio on November 12, 2011 at the Akron Civic Theatre.  Todd Rundgren's Utopia features Todd Rundgren, Kevin Ellman, Jesse Gress, Moogy Klingman, John Siegler, Ralph Schuckett, and Kasim Sulton.  

The concert will be the band's only one in the Midwest as part of their 12 city tour -- the first tour for them in 35 years.  Tickets will be available on Ticketmaster.com or the Akron Civic box office beginning Friday September 30th.  The last time Todd Rundgren's Utopia performed at the Akron Civic Theatre was 37 years ago in 1974.  

Todd Rundgren's Utopia began touring in 1973 before releasing their first album in 1974, Todd Rundgren's Utopia, an LP with four progressive rock songs including a 30+ minute song, The Ikon, which took up the entire side two of the LP.  In 1975, the band released their second and final album, Another Live, which included the song, "The Seven Rays", a highly popular song with the band's most avid fans.  Over time the band members changed and became known only as Utopia, consisting of Rundgren, Roger Powell, Kasim Sulton, and Willie Wilcox.  Utopia continued for almost ten years and released nine studio albums.

Todd Rundgren's Utopia reunited in January of this year and quickly sold out two concerts at the Highline Ballroom in New York City.   This type of success is something the band was accustomed to back in their early days of touring in the 70's.  In Billy James book, A Dream Goes on Forever: The Continuing Story of Todd Rundgren Vol.1, some of the band members recalled the popularity of the bands live shows.  

Drummer Kevin Ellman said, “My recollection is that the shows were extremely well received.”  

“They always loved us,” boasted keyboardist Moogy Klingman. “The crowds LOVED us!  They went crazy for the band.  All the shows we would do, almost always were sold-out, and we’d get at least four encores.  This was at the end of a three hour concert.  People would be standing on their feet – like, wherever we went people loved us.  I mean, we started out at the height of Todd Rundgren-mania.  People loved him as a performer – they loved the band – they loved the energy.”

The band became so popular they earned their way into the prestigious Carnegie Hall in New York City in 1974 and proceeded to wow the audience and critics with a 3 hour performance.    Major publications like Rolling Stone, Hollywood Reporter, Cashbox, and more reviewed the band's concerts and albums.  A Review of Todd Rundgren’s Utopia from the December 1974 issue of Sounds Magazine summed up the band well ...

"For those who doubted that Rundgren could ever achieve anything outside of the hermetic security of his studio, the album opens with a long track recorded live early this year in Atlanta, Georgia.  It’s the “Utopia Theme,” and establishes just where Utopia is for Rundgren: “City in my head /heaven in my body.”  Equally, it establishes what Utopia’s music is all about: tight unison play-dynamics, sharp bursts of soloing from each player, and expansive exploration of each musical theme."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLme7mszLi0



# # #

Rundgren Radio has promoted over 20 Todd Rundgren concerts and is still active in concert promoting. Rundgren Radio started as an online talk radio show for Todd Rundgren and music fans that aired for 4 years from 2007-2011. Rundgren Radio completed over 200 shows, had over 100 different guests, presented over 20 Todd Rundgren concerts, and has had over 440,000 downloads.