Local News / Entertainment Go to a Section ------------- News Sports Weather Trivia Entertainment ------------- Home Message Boards Guestbook History Top 10 Pages Sitemap

DETROIT -- This show seemed to bring out fans who had not seen Todd for quite a few years; free during a recession is always good. The show was held at the Comerica Cityfest in Detroit's New Center area. The Cityfest (formerly Tastefest) is an annual festival held on Grand Boulevard amidst the grand buildings of the area. Although is is called the New Center it is no longer "new." The heart of the New Center was developed in the 1920’s as a business hub that would offer convenient access to both downtown resources and outlying factories.

According to Wikipedia, the New Center may be the original “edge city,” a sub-center remote from, but related to, a main urban core. The area hosts both the Cadillac Place and the Fisher Building, which are historical landmarks. Motown Hitsville is just down the road, so I hope some fans were able to do a drive-by to see the Michael Jackson tribute which seems to be ongoing and growing daily.

I have never seen the Cityfest main stage draw such a large crowd (although Weird Al was close a couple years back). It was a beautiful evening, the weather was pleasant and it didn't rain. Since we last saw Arena, a year ago in Cleveland, the music was even tighter and the addition of Kasim is always a plus; his playing of keyboards, guitars and vocals gave the concert a fuller sound and it was LOUD. Jesse and Todd, as usual, played perfectly off one another and Prairie held the whole thing together with rock steady rhythms with Rachel on bass.

One fan kept shouting “Hello It’s Me” and Todd told them if they wanted to hear that song they would have to watch a Tums commercial. He was definitely there to rock the Arena. Someone overheard another guy say that it was about time someone rocked this *u@&ing festival!!! Along that line, Todd intro'd "Strike" by talking about how Detroit always was and always would be a union town. My son Shaun thought the show was really good because the songs sounded angry and he liked that, plus Rachel Haden was eye candy for the guys who like punk-dressed babe bass-players. So Todd is appealing to a younger crowd with this show, even if the younger crowd probably hasn't been buying a large percentage of tickets to his shows. So, once again, free is good; it exposes people who wouldn't normally show up.

Many fans were "Mystified" as to why there was no merchandising booth (STRIKE, while the iron is hot). They were wanting t-shirts and cds. Others had heard about an AWATS show but didn’t really know what was going on so I handed them one of Rundgren Radio’s flyers.
To sum it up, one of my friends emailed me that she was in "Todd Shock." Great concert, great venue, great crowd, good times.

For more on Todd Rundgren, visit www.tr-i.com.