Todd Rundgren Utopia
August 8th 1983
Pier 84
New York City, New York
Todd Rundgren-guitars, timbales, vocals
Roger Powell-keyboards, vocals
Kasim Sulton-bass, vocals
Willie Wilcox-drums, vocals
source/lineage-torrent share of EXC audience capture on equipment shown below> Audacity> TLH> TTD
01 The band hits the stage/levels
02 Hammer in My Heart � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � ��
03 Set Me Free� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � ���
04 Princess of the Universe
05 Burn Three Times� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � ���
06 Real Man� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �
07 Swing to the Right� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � ���� � � � � � � � � � �
08 Todd speaks� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �
09 I'm Looking at You But I'm Talking to Myself� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � ���
10 You Make Me Crazy� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �
11 Call it What You Will� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � ���
12 The Very Last Time� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � ���
13 Todd Talks� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � ��
14 Bang the Drum� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � ���
15 Overture/Communion with the Sun> The Ikon> The Seven Rays> Todd guitar solo into....� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � ���
16 Singing and the Glass Guitar > Initiation� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � ���
17 Road to Utopia� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �
18 Caravan� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � ���
19 Last of the New Wave Riders� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � ���
20 One World, � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �� � � � ���
21 Just One Victory� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � ���
This is a really fine audience recording from an outdoor Utopia show, that has made the rounds before in a couple of separate shares dating from 2013 and 2019 (presumably from StPatrick and julsay repsectively-thanks to them). Each show sounded identical to the other, but the tracking was different, and one may have been a little more complete. As it's being presented here in 2026, it's now been tracked a little better, and gotten a "fresh coat of paint" via some tools in Audacity that have been used to generally good effect and reactions for many Todd and Utopia shows coming back on the tracker over the last year and a half. You'll hear how it had sounded, and how it now sounds in one of the samples below. They each should generally reveal this to be a fine sounding show, and a particularly good capture from an outdoor venue.
This is Utopia between record labels. Their Bearsville days had been over for a few years at this point, and they'd had great hopes for a new situation with a a label called Network, but those went bust when the label quickly folded. By 1984, they'd find themselves on Passport for a couple of worthy albums that regrettably got very little attention. This is all to say that they weren't really touring a new release at the time of this performance. One of the newer songs in fact is Todd's Bang the Drum, from his final Bearsville solo album, The Ever Popular Tortured Artist Effect. To my knowledge, this is a rare instance of that song being performed by Utopia (with guests Todd pulled out of the audience). This strikes me as a great show, and tracks 15-19 were actually played as a lengthy and challenging medley (35 minutes plus) that refuted Todd's tongue-in-cheek stage talk about the new levels of sloppiness in evidence from the band after they played Swing to the Right.
In mentioning the bunch of Utopia/Todd things shared here at TTD since the site almost went under, many came from fnord (Dean Gustafson), and I'm bringing this one out now in tribute to him. I've just learned that he passed away late last month after Covid led into pneumonia. One of our final communications had been about my plan to bring this show back, and how he himself would possibly go back to some of his shares from his pre-remastering days. He seemed eager to apply some of that "fresh paint" to them. Dean was a pretty remarkable guy who I only knew in our context of being fellow TTD torrenters who liked Todd. We'd first PM'ed over the idea of not wasting each others time by working on a Todd show, only to find that the other was prepping the same show. We began to PM and email about these plans. Shortly after that, he had about a month's worth of computer problems, and asked me to finalize a show or two for him and seed them afterwards. From that, I learned that he was actually in an assisted living situation due to advanced ALS, that he'd lived with for about 10 years. It was the availability of a solid internet connection there that created his dilemma.
He sorted that out, and became interested in learning what I had discovered and was applying using tools in Audacity to remaster shows. We started to write back and forth about what he himself might do or try in that direction. In the course of that, I learned that he was controlling everything he did on his computer through tracking his eye movements alone. That included our correspondence, but also the work he was doing on the torrents that he shared here. The ALS also meant he couldn't wear headphones, and he often was concerned that he was missing something sonically due to that. He'd send ideas he had about the sonics of a show over for my feedback, and I'd write back with my critique and possibly some new ideas. He'd keep going until he was ready to seed the shows here. It was fun for me, and he was really into getting music out that he loved for others here to enjoy, and he was graciously alluding to some help he'd gotten from me in that process. He was always happy with good reactions that his torrenting efforts got, but he was perhaps a little too sensitive whenever someone might be a little snarky about his doing work on a show they'd originally shared or recorded. For what it's worth, he'd gone to a lot of shows himself in California (and elsewhere) before the ravages of ALS really set in, and he'd gotten some nice recordings himself.
Oddly enough, we'd both just about exhausted the many Todd shows that we each had on hand in February or March of this year, and the question was "what to do next with the things he'd learned". He'd often end our correspondence when a show was finished and seeded with a line from Todd's International Feel-"There's always more..." Regrettably, there won't directly be more now from fnord/Dean, but I'm hoping to take the idea of revisiting some of his pre-remastering Todd shares, and applying that "fresh coat of paint" he'd intended to them on his behalf as we move forward. Meanwhile, spare him a kind thought or prayer if you're someone who's happily grabbed any shows here from him. RIP, Dean.
source/lineage info from an earlier share of this show is pasted in below:
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Source :� Sennheiser 421's > Sony TCD5M > TDK SAX90 (dolby B encoded).�
Played back on Nakamichi CR-7A (azymuth adjusted) > HHB CD burner
Lineage :�AUD > 5th - 10th row� DFC > Master Tape > CDr > ME > EAC >
Adobe Audition > CD wave > TLH level 8 > Flac 16 > You > enjoy
along with Co-sponsor� "recorded via accommodations from the Pier 84 security team"
� -���HEY U SIT DOWN���