During the height of his fame, Todd Rundgren took a step back from the world of arena rock and played smaller venues to get closer to his audience. Just in time for Christmas of 1978, Todd released the double live album Back to the Bars documenting this intimate tour. In 2008, he wanted to recapture the huge sound necessary to fill the air in the giant sporting facilities. Arena was a huge sounding record although it only featured Todd singing and playing all the instruments. He became a one-man hard rock band. But when it came time to hit the road, Todd put together a full band to recreate the heavy nature of the sound. Todd Rundgren – The Arena Tour Live captures the night they tore up Boulder, Colorado at the Boulder Theater.
This isn’t just a straight ahead concert film. Todd is interviewed at the start of the film as he gives a sense of what he was trying to do on this tour. He walks onto stage with a band that consists of Jesse Gress on guitar, Prairie Prince on drums, Matt Bolton on guitar and keyboards and Rachel Haden on bass. For those curious, Rachel Haden from That Dog and The Rentals was filling in for longtime regular bassist Kasim Sulton who was on a European Tour with Meat Loaf. Todd had produced Meat Loaf’s Bat Out Of Hell album and talks about how it was supposed to be a spoof of Bruce Springsteen. On this night, Todd had put together a band that’s able to handle Todd’s old material and his new album.
The night opens with “Love In Action,” “Black Maria,” “Open My Eyes” and “I Saw the Light” so that longtime fans feel like they’re getting time with the hits they loved all along. Then Todd and his band go deep into the songs from Arena. The only two songs skipped over from the album are “Mercenary” and “Gun.” The new material “Mad,” “Afraid,” “Courage” and “Mountain Top” feel like they should be played on the stage of your local hockey barn. Todd makes out the three guitars to make the sound huge. From a few reviews I found online, the show was louder than usual when Todd got into Arena songs. During one of the short interview breaks, Todd says “Mountain Top” is supposed to be a sports anthem. It’s great if you need a backing track for your kid’s basketball dunk highlight video. “Weakness” is a solid love song. The set wraps up with two older tracks: “Just One Victory” and “Couldn’t I Just Tell You.” To give a true sense of an encore, the last song happens after the end credits.
Todd Rundgren – The Arena Tour Live shows how Todd Rundgren is fearless on stage. How many legacy rock acts who had been performing for 40 years would dedicate the bulk of their setlist to their latest album? Having attended enough concerts at arenas over the years, it’s never a good response when singer of a classic rock band announces, “Here’s a song off our new album.” Not that the fans boo. But this is seen as the perfect time to get out of your seat to either get another round of beers or use the bathroom. But the good news is that Todd Rundgren’s audience is into the new songs. They’re still packed up against the stage enjoying the arena rock of Arena in the Boulder Theater. There’s a lot of bands playing arenas that are jealous of what Todd achieves on The Arena Live Tour.
PS – my article about finding Todd Rundgren albums in record store Cut-out bins is up at I Have That On Vinyl.
The Video is 1.78:1 anamorphic. The concert was shot in high definition back in 2008. The review in the Denver Post points out the show was delayed for an hour because they were trying to fix a glitch in the HD system. Things look great so the technicians found a solution. The Audio is Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo. You hear all of Todd’s guitar solos that make Arenas rock.
Rams Head Interview Part 1 (30:55) & Part 2 (29:40) has Todd Rundgren talking about an interactive concert he did that involved the TV audience picking the songs. He talks of his adventures interactive TV before the internet happened. He gets into what he did to create a communality with the audience.
Cleopatra Entertainment presents Todd Rundgren – The Arena Tour Live. Starring Todd Rundgren, Jesse Gress, Prairie Prince, Rachel Haden and Matt Bolton. Running Time: 87 minutes. Rating: Unrated. Release Date: June 6, 2025.
