02/22



Todd Rundgren's old band Utopia has re-formed for its first tour in 32 years. The trek gets underway on April 18 in Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania, and is scheduled through a June 5 show in Riverside, California.


Utopia, which initially was known as Todd Rundgren's Utopia, formed in 1973 as a prog-rock band, although it eventually moved toward a mainstream-rock sound.

In a video interview promoting the tour, Rundgren explains, "We are going to attempt to cover most all of the significant moments that people would complain about if we didn't. So, we have a list of songs…that we're pretty confident people would like to hear or expect to hear."


In conjunction with the tour, a limited-edition CD box set called The Road to Utopia: The Complete Recordings (1974-1982) will be released on April 20.

The collection features seven of the band's classic albums: 1974's Todd Rundgren's Utopia, 1975's Another Live, 1977's Ra and Oops! Wrong Planet, 1979's Adventures in Utopia, 1980's Deface the Music and 1982's Swing to the Right. It also includes 15 bonus tracks, plus new written commentary from Rundgren, Wilcox, Sultan and Powell. You can pre-order The Road to Utopia now at Friday Music, Amazon and RecordStoreDay.com.


https://is.gd/uPC3m6

Ralph Schuckett?

It's cool if Rundgren wants to play the Utopia songs on a tour again

... but, it's not really Utopia without Roger Powell. Not sure to what degree this qualifies "as a reunion". Rundgren's performed regularly with Kasim Sulton over the more recent years, and well, Wilcon's just the drummer. Powell had a very distinctive way of writing songs and singing, and I think his contributions really made Utopia more than just "Todd Rundgren's band".

Joining Todd for the band's summer tour is Willie Wilcox, Kasim Sulton and Ralph Schuckett. Roger Powell declined the invitation due to problems hearing, according to his manager.

Here are all of Utopia's confirmed tour dates:

4/18 -- Jim Thorpe, PA, Penn's Peak
4/20 -- Englewood, NJ, Bergen Performing Arts Center
4/22 -- Houston, TX, House of Blues
4/23 -- Dallas, TX, Majestic Theater
4/25 -- Broward, FL, Broward Center for the Performing Arts
4/27 -- St. Petersburg, FL, Mahaffey Theater
4/28 -- Atlanta, GA, Tabernacle
4/29 -- Durham, NC, Carolina Theater
5/1 -- Huntington, NY, Paramount Theater
5/2 -- Washington, D.C., Warner Theater
5/3 -- New York, NY, Town Hall
5/5 -- Philadelphia, PA, Tower Theater
5/6 -- Boston, MA, Orpheum Theater
5/7 -- Ridgefield, CT, Ridgefield Playhouse
5/9 -- St. Louis, MO, Peabody Opera House
5/10 -- Cincinnati, OH, Taft Theater
5/12 -- Milwaukee, WI, Pabst Theater
5/13 -- Minneapolis, MN, State Theater
5/15 -- Grand Rapids, MI, 20 Monroe Live
5/16 -- Toronto, ON, Canada, Massey Hall
5/17 -- Detroit, MI, The Fillmore
5/19 -- Cleveland, OH, Hard Rock Live
5/22 -- Chicago, IL, Chicago Theater
5/24 -- Denver, CO, Paramount Theater
5/26 -- Las Vegas, NV, The Joint at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Las Vegas
5/27 -- Phoenix, AZ, Comerica Theater
5/29 -- Los Angeles, CA, The Wiltern
5/30 -- San Francisco, CA, The Masonic
6/1 -- Seattle, WA, Moore Theater
6/2 -- Portland, OR, Revolution Theater
6/4 -- Sacramento, CA, Crest Theatre
6/5 -- Riverside, CA, Fox Performing Arts Center

This song is a gem. Inspired craftsmanship and Todd's heartfelt vocals, a winning combination.