Todd Rundgren - Live in San Francisco

Todd Rundgren - Live in San Francisco
by Jesse Block

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Movie Reviews of Todd Rundgren - Live in San Francisco

Movie Review: Todd Rundgren's Power TRiO Live!
Summary: 5 Stars

First the snafu's: a little too much glare from the overpowering lights and the stage crew fumbled their way around a bit, amps conking out, monitors dying and a couple of guitar switches flubbed - but hey no broken strings (a rarity for this tour!). The film crew leaves a lot to be desired as the picture can be hazy and the camera angles are odd at times. Packaging also COULD have been better, e.g., a group picture for the cover, Kaz and Trey could have been CREDITED on the cover or any other indication that it was a power TRiO!?

There must have been technical problems at the beginning of I Hate My Frickin' ISP, cuz OH chose to splice together some sound checks of varying quality to begin the song with. Yer Fast rocks pretty hard and Todd appears to be in top form. The guitar playing is so hot that you forget about the problems with ISP! Todd "Faithfully" pulls off a searing version of Black And White that prepares the way for No. 1 LCD, the song is slow and seductive Hendrix style ballad and culminates in a "screaming" guitar solo! Back to a TRiO of rockers, the NAZZ song Open My Eyes, has an almost grunge sound to it but sounds like it was made for a little garage band. Trapped is always a hits you like a mack truck doing 120mph! And segues into Trapped, a great Utopia tune. The opening of Love In Action quickly follow and Todd does a pretty good job of performing the keyboard solo on guitar. Kaz and Try get a break while Todd performs Bang The "Ukulele" Daily Hawaiian style with reference to "Elvis in Hawaii" and some entertaining whooping. Another song reinvented by Our Hero. One of Todd's later compositions, Temporary Sanity follows. It's another musical hybrid with funny lyrics and a great bass line laid down by Kaz. Todd, sensing the end of the show gives his vocal chords a work screaming, literally! Todd does his SRV impersonation in the Mystified/Broke Down And Busted Medley. Despite technical glitches, it's a bluesy ballad that showcases the cohesiveness of the group and a side of Todd we rarely get to see anymore! Buffalo Grass is the only mellow-ish pop tune preserved from the show. Mp3 keyboards are quickly drowned out by the band and the background vocals are superb. One World kicks off immediately and is carried off extremely well. The Ikon - TRi-O version, starts the encores. Great riff, truly awesome solos! This song alone is worth the price of the disc. Hammer In My Heart follows and truly rocks. This song sounds more like a "hit" now than ever! World Wide Epiphany, again Todd's musical mutational foray into new worlds shines brightly! Despite playing to an mp3, the song comes off as raucous, rowdy, funky and very, very much like a perfect "Todd" anthem to finish a show with! They really bring this song to life and much like Temporary Sanity, you'll be humming, singing, playing "air" bass and screaming this song for hours after you've heard it!

Usually, I dislike concerts being edited for release. In this case though less IS more! Most of the songs were NOT meant to be played by a three-piece band. But given their new life, and Todd's refusal to grow old gracefully, the Power TR-iO comes off sounding like Cream and the Jimi Hendrix Experience! Coming in at 81 minutes, it's just a little linger than a CD so it DEMANDS repeated play. In less than a week, I've watched it about 13 times. Record companies rarely put out decent product, especially "live" DVDs and they've bare boned this one as well. The less than stellar picture quality and flawed start of ISP should NOT keep you from buying this disc. Technical problems of the show aside, this is an absolute historical gem of a keeper. They do, after all, add a little flavor to the live act. Hell, if you want to hear the record, PLAY the record!

Summary of Todd Rundgren - Live in San Francisco