- July 28, 2003 - The Ark - Ann Arbor, Michigan
- The Ark was host to a sold out Todd Rundgren show on this night and no one left the place disappointed. It was a beautiful night in Ann Arbor and the crowd was very excited about seeing Todd Rundgren in such an intimate setting (the ARK only holds 400 people). There were a few unfortunates outside trying to gain access to any extra tickets (only a couple got lucky), but it didn't dampen their enthusiasm to try and see Todd, several people were from out of state.
- Todd entered the stage wearing a brown suit and bowed to a standing audience and mentioned "that's how I want every show to be in the beginning, a standing ovation!" He then took another bow and said, "thank you, good night, I'll see you next time" to which the crowd laughed. He then broke into "Lysistrata" followed by "Love Of the Common Man" and then "I Don't Want To Tie You Down." Todd then made a referance to the crowd "clapping like Republicans" and added "Al Gore, he claps like a Republican... that Nazi clapper!" Todd then played "Black And White," a Red Rider song called "Lunatic Fringe" where he mentioned the Bush administration all falling under one umbrella and asked the crowd "who do you fear more, terrorists or your government?" Then jokingly said, "I'm going to sail my longboat into a tall building!" Then Todd sang "Beloved Infadel."
- Todd then moved over to the piano and broke into "Wouldn't Have Made Any Difference," "Song Of The Viking," "Compassion," and performed a flawless version of a song he said, he hasn't played yet on this tour called "Kindness."
- Then it was time for some of Todd's shenanigans, he broke out the ukulele then some guy from the crowd handed Todd a Hawiian butter knife with a hula girl on the handle, Todd thanked him and told the crowd what it was, then a woman from the crowd came up front and put a lei around Todds neck to which he thanked her and went into a Hawiian version of "Bang On The Drum." Then came the Beatles song of "Hide Your Love Away," followed by another Beatles song "I've Just Seen A Face," where Todd said, "A lot of my songs are country... 'Icon' and 'Glass Guitar' were country..." the crowd roared. Todd added the "Prairie Song" by Lorne Greene half way through the song and mentioned how close they were and almost the same song, then played the final verse of "I've Just Seen A Face." The crowd was ecstatic and loving every bit of it, then Todd broke into "Born To Synthesize" and "Male, Free and 21."
- Next for our entertainment, Todd broke out the MP3 and said, "Machines are our friends, we can work with them..." We then were treated to a Bosa Nova type club sound of "I Saw The Light," "Influenza," "I Want You," and "Can We Still Be Friends" all the while Todd was sitti9ng on a stool and shaking an orange that had been turned into a morocco.
- Todd ended the night with "One World." The crowd was loud and demanding and soon Todd appeared again, this time for an encore. Todd sat down at the piano and plunked away at "Hello It's Me" and messed it up a few times, he had a hair that kept getting in his eye and he even stopped the song midway to get it out. He made a comment about having to wear glasses and occasionally getting a hair stuck in the nose bridge of his glasses that wouldn't go away and how annoying it was, the crowd laughed, then Todd finished the song. Todd then went back to the guitar for the Marvin Gaye classic "What's Goin' On?" Thanked everyone for coming and that was the show.
- The crowd was very polite throughout the show, and occasionally someone would yell out a song title to wich Todd replied "I don't take requests." Two times during the night though he did do the song that was yelled out from the crowd. Towards the end of the night, some chucklehead yelled out "Freebird" to which Todd paused at the mike and said, "Be careful what you wish for..." the crowd loved it. I should also add that Todd never broke a string and his voice was in great shape.
- Written by Donrad
|
