Live Is the Answer: Todd Rundgen's Utopia to release new concert album and video capturing 2018 reunion show

Dan Weir

6 years ago

Cleopatra Records

Cleopatra Records Last spring, Todd Rundgren reunited his old band Utopia for its first tour in 32 years, a North American trek that ran from an April 18 concert in Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania, through a June 5 show in Riverside, California. One of the performances, a May 22 concert in Chicago, was captured for a live album and video that will be released on April 5.

Todd Rundgren’s Utopia: Live at the Chicago Theatre will be available as a two-CD/Blu-ray/DVD set and a limited-edition two-LP green-vinyl collection.

The CDs and video discs will feature the band’s full 24-song set, which featured selections from the group’s early prog-rock era and later power-pop period. Among the tunes performed were “Road to Utopia,” “Set Me Free,” “Love in Action,” “Hammer in My Heart” and “Love Is the Answer,” as well as a cover of The Move‘s “Do Ya,” which also was featured on the 1975 Utopia concert album, Another Live.

The vinyl version of Live at the Chicago Theatre contains only 11 songs, and focuses mainly on the band’s prog-rock material.

Utopia’s reunion tour lineup features three-fourths of the band’s longest-lived incarnation — Rundgren, bassist Kasim Sulton and drummer Willie Wilcox — as well as new keyboardist Gil Assayas.

You can pre-order both versions of Live at the Chicago Theatre at CleoRecs.com. Check out a preview video from the release at Cleopatra Records’ official YouTube channel.

As previously reported, Rundgren will launch a hybrid book/concert tour in April in support of his recent memoir The Individualist: Digressions, Dreams & Dissertations. The North American portion of the trek kicks off April 10-11 in Atlanta.

Here’s the track list of the CD version of the Live at the Chicago Theatre:

CD 1
“Utopia Theme”
“The Ikon”
“Another Life”
“Do Ya”
“The Wheel”
“Back on the Street”
“Back on the Street”
“Something’s Coming”
“Monument”
“Overture — Communion with the Sun”
“Last of the New Wave Riders”

CD 2
“Road to Utopia”
“Play This Game”
“Swing to the Right”
“Trapped”
“Set Me Free”
“Love in Action”
“Hammer in My Heart”
“Princess of the Universe”
“I Will Wait”
“Rock Love”
“Love Is the Answer”
“One World”
“Just One Victory”

And here’s the vinyl edition’s track list:

Side A
“Utopia Theme 1”

Side B
“The Ikon”
“Another Life”
“Do Ya”

Side C
“Freedom Fighters”
“The Wheel”
“Back on the Street”
“Something’s Coming”

Side D
“Monument”
“Overture — Communion with the Sun”
“Last of the New Wave Riders”