Todd Rundgren Utopia press photo.
CLEVELAND, OH - Todd Rundgren’s Utopia is reuniting after 32 years and will play the Hard Rock Rocksino Northfield Park on Saturday, May 19th.
In celebration of the upcoming reunion tour, Friday Music is excited to announce the blockbuster 7-disc box extravaganza THE ROAD TO UTOPIA: THE COMPLETE RECORDINGS (1974-82). This limited-edition collection will bring each of their seven classic albums to life, now in first-time CD digipak gatefold covers featuring the original album artwork elements, rare inner sleeve art, 2018 written commentary from the band and more. The box set has a scheduled street date of April 20. Fans can preorder the box set starting February 20 at Friday Music, Amazon and Record Store Day.
Todd Rundgren’s Utopia formed in 1974 out of Todd’s desire to explore new musical territory after four years of making solo albums (including the seminal “Something/Anything?”, which included radio core evergreens “Hello It’s Me” and “I Saw The Light”, and which prompted the rock press to dub him “Rock’s New Wunderkind”, and “Rock’s Renaissance Man”). Starting as a prog-rock-progenitor septet featuring Moogy Klingman, Ralph Schuckett and “M. Frog Labat” on keyboards, John Siegler on bass, Kevin Ellman on drums, and Rundgren on guitar, the band’s music ranged from extended synth experiments to four-song albums, while their live shows were distinguished by their ahead-of-the-curve video backdrops and computer-generated music.
In 1976, the group evolved into the shiny mainstream power-pop rock quartet, “Utopia,” uniting Rundgren with Willie Wilcox on drums, Roger Powell on keyboards, and Kasim Sulton on bass. The best known and most commercially successful Utopian incarnation was born, and by 1980, Utopia had developed into a hit-making entity. Standout Utopia albums included Oops! Wrong Planet, Adventures in Utopia, and Oblivion, with spawning hits including “Rock Love,” “Set Me Free,” “Mated,” and “Love Is The Answer.” The band’s tours, the first to aggressively incorporate then-state-of-the-art video technology, produced at Todd’s own Utopia Video Studios, featured some of the most lavish, outrageous, and audacious stage productions in rock history.
In 1986, after ten years of non-stop recording and arena touring cycles, the band declared they were “going on sabbatical”, and Todd returned to his stellar solo recording and producing career. His myriad production projects include albums by Patti Smith, Cheap Trick, Psychedelic Furs, XTC, Grand Funk Railroad, Hall And Oates, and Meat Loaf’s seminal “Bat Out of Hell”, while his solo offerings catapulted Todd further into the superstar limelight with hits like “Can We Still be Friends” and “Bang The Drum”. In April, that thirty-two-year-long sabbatical comes to an end.
Tickets for the Hard Rock Rocksino Northfield Park show go on sale on Friday, February 23rd through Live Nation and TicketMaster.