Todd Rundgren
Greenwich Odeum
East Greenwich, RI
May 20

The Greenwich Odeum is a small-town venue that reflects a growing movement toward reestablishing local cultural hubs. Originally built in 1926 during the waning days of vaudeville and the concurrent rise of motion-picture palaces, the 400-capacity theater located in downtown East Greenwich, R.I., screened first-run films for nearly seven decades until the construction of a nearby national multiplex ushered in its closure. Following a series of fits and starts,
the Odeum re-opened in 2013 as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization staffed entirely by volunteers, embracing a model now shared by numerous like-minded community revitalization projects.

The Odeum has hit its stride in recent months, bringing such artists as Leon Russell, Martin Sexton and Jorma Kaukonen to Main Street in East Greenwich. The latest enlightened booking arrived on a temperate mid-May Friday night as Todd Rundgren came to town with his quintet. For his current run of “Hot Toddies” dates, Rundgren is focusing on his best-known and most-beloved material, drawing from 50 potential songs for a given evening’s setlist. As the father of two sons who have pursued baseball careers, Rundgren explained that he would throw no curve balls, opting instead to deliver material straight down the middle.

On what Rundgren joked was the first and only night of his Rhode Island tour, he opened with a run from “I Saw the Light” (from 1972’s Something/Anything?), through “Love of the Common Man” (1976’s Faithful) and “Open My Eyes” (the first song on Rundgren’s 1968 debut with Nazz and later re-recorded for The New Cars project in 2006). He then greeted the audience, introduced the evening’s mission statement and commented on the vagaries of New England weather, alluding apologetically to the high pollen count. While the throat irritant may have initially inhibited the high end of his range, by the time Rundgren reached “It Wouldn’t Have Made Any Difference” in the fourth spot of the night, his voice was in fine fettle.

The band was well–equipped for a guided tour of his catalog. Bassist Kasim Sulton first joined him in Utopia in the late 1970s, while drummer Prairie Prince, guitarist Jesse Gress and keyboard player John Ferenzik have all been steady accompanists since the 1990s. The group held the stage for just over two hours and, as promised, the material spanned Rundgren’s career from the Nazz era (they also performed “Kiddie Boy” from 1969’s Nazz Nazz) through “Soothe,” which appeared on 2015’s Global.

Highlights included the pulsing “Drive,” from 1982’s The Ever Popular Tortured Artist Effect (paired with the album’s sports-arena staple “Bang the Drum All Day”), as well as the understated “I Don’t Want to Tie You Down,” along with Utopia
standouts “Hammer in My Heart,” “Lysistrata,” “One World” and the closing “Love in Action.”

All told, the evening had a fitting, timeless quality to it, spanning nearly 50 years and supplying an ideal soundtrack for a pre-summer Main Street stroll.