Todd is God

The Scottish Daily Record today reviewed the Glasgow gig calling it "self-indulgent" saying "the music might have taken second stage to the theatrics, but that was no excuse for Rundgren's egotistical showboating. From Eighties-tinged cover versions to electronic shenanigans and lengthy jazz improvisations, some songs lasted longer than a set by the Jesus & Mary Chain" and that Todd " delivered a performance so OTT not even Derren Brown could predict if he was serious or not, though the fans lapped it up" Glasgow's Evening Times reviewer also felt Todd was "self-indulgent" saying " for all the on-stage theatrics (multiple costume change and choreographed movements) something was missing - good, old-fashioned songs. The songs, taken from his rich back catalogue of 18 solo albums including his latest effort, Liars, ran into each other with little distinction. Even when he swayed between prog rock, rap and metal, it failed to ...

The Miami Herald today has a wonderful short review of 'Liars': "Todd Rundgren, Liars (Silverline). Singer-songwriter plays all the instruments in his attempt to explain the concept of ''truth'' using chilly electro pop instrumentation. Strange. Available as a surround sound DVD-Audio."

Martin Townsend in The Sunday Express could not have been happier about the London gig (Frankly about time someone was). He says "Rundgren is a superb performer. His frenzied but melodic guitar-playing reminds you why you fell in love with electric guitars in the first place and, at 56, his passionate, soulful voice has scarcely sounded better ... Rundgren re-worked arcane tracks such as Born To Synthesize into cheesy lounge jazz, stormed through The Want Of A Nail and performed vocal gymnastics on tracks from Liars, his new CD. He finished with Hello, It's Me and the anthemic Just One Victory. The capacity crowd - including Tom Robinson, Joe Jackson and Tony Banks from Genesis - were on their feet in sheer admiration. So moved was Rundgren that he even, briefly, removed his shades. Awesome" Meanwhile, Campbell Stevenson in the Observer said of the Bristol Academy gig that things such as the WMGGW cover "break a set that is touched by brilliance"

Fiona Shepherd in the Scotsman, while giving the Glasgow gig a three out of five star rating commented "Rundgren may be ahead of the game with his hardware, but his music is stuck in a time when rock dinosaurs and bass solos stalked the Earth"     Peter Aspden in the Financial Times meanwhile felt of the London Gig: "There were times during the show's first half hour when his attitude towards his devoted audience seemed to border on contempt: no chat, no smiles, no oldies, just a blitz of material mostly from the latest (very good) album, Liars, played at a pitch and volume that were anything but soothing to the unconverted. It struck me, and much of the restless audience, as perverse. When you have such gems - mostly unknown to today's wider rock audience - as "I Saw the Light" and "Hello It's Me" in your back catalogue, why not hook the crowd in early? Rundgren finally conceded the latter number as an encore, and the delirious re...