Todd Rundgren’s Utopia reunites after 32 years at Penn’s Peak in Jim Thorpe on April 18
From a press release:
For 32 years, fans have been clamoring for a reunion. The wait is over.
No longer able to turn a deaf ear to the unceasing requests from fans and the media alike, Todd Rundgren, Kasim Sulton, Willie Wilcox, and Ralph Schuckett are reuniting as Todd Rundgren’s Utopia for their first North American tour since the Chernobyl nuclear reactor exploded.
Presented by SiriusXM and produced by Live Nation, the 1970s progressive rock band will be performing across North America, starting at Penn’s Peak in Jim Thorpe on Wednesday, April 18 at 7 p.m.
Tickets, which are $40 for regular reserved seating or $45 for premium reserved seating, go on sale this Friday, Feb. 23 at 10 a.m. and will be available at livenation.com, ticketmaster.com, and all Ticketmaster outlets, the Penn’s Peak box office (325 Maury Rd., Jim Thorpe), and Roadies Restaurant and Bar (325 Maury Rd., Jim Thorpe). Penn’s Peak box office and Roadies Restaurant ticket sales are walk-up only; no phone orders.
Citi is the official pre-sale credit card of the tour. As such, Citi cardmembers will have access to purchase pre-sale tickets beginning today at 10 a.m. until Thursday, Feb. 22 at 10 p.m. through Citi’s Private Pass program. For complete details, visit citiprivatepass.com.
In celebration of the upcoming reunion tour, Friday Music has announced the blockbuster seven-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 for the first time in CD digipak gatefold covers featuring the original album artwork elements, rare inner sleeve art, 15 bonus tracks, new written commentary from the band, and more. The box set has a scheduled street date of Friday, April 20. Fans can pre-order the box set starting Feb. 20 at Friday Music, Amazon, and the Record Store Day website.
Todd Rundgren’s Utopia formed in New York in 1974 out of Rundgren’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 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 in its own right.
Standout Utopia albums included “Oops! Wrong Planet,” “Adventures in Utopia,” and “Oblivion,” spawning hits like “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 Rundgren’s own Utopia Video Studios, featured some of the most lavish, outrageous, and audacious stage productions in rock history.
In 1986, after 10 years of nonstop recording and arena touring cycles, the band declared they were “going on sabbatical,” and Rundgren 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 him further into the superstar limelight with hits like “Can We Still Be Friends” and “Bang the Drum.” In April, that 32-year-long sabbatical comes to an end.
