Review Wed Jan 30 2008

Review: Todd Rundgren @ Park West, 1/25/08

It was clear from the beginning of the evening when I was surrounded by concertgoers at least 20+ years older than myself that I was nowhere near the target demographic for a Todd Rundgren show in the year 2008. This fact became even more obvious when Rundgren bantered with the sold out crowd last Friday about the stock market and politics. Perhaps beginning the headlining set with two songs from 2000's One Long Year was Rundgren's way to stay current and hip. Unfortunately, the garbled mix at Park West, which usually has excellent sound, kept most songs from being great. But once Rundgren fell into his wheelhouse and played songs from his prime, the show became infinitely better, even though his voice had some trouble hitting a few highs. With three songs ("Black Maria", "I Saw the Light", "Slut") from 1972's Something/Anything? highlighting blocks of the set, both the crowd and Rundgren's long-time band seemed to enjoy themselves more as the night wore on. Opening the show was former L'Altra member Lindsay Anderson performing a set that seemed too ambient for aging Rundgren fans to process in their giddiness to see the headliner. She received a polite golf applause for each song of her brief set.

— James Ziegenfus