On Friday, May 7th at 8pm, “Road to Utopia—A Tribute to Todd Rundgren” will take place at the Regent Theatre, 7 Medford Street, in Arlington, Massachusetts.  A stellar nine-piece band, led by Gary Backstrom of Jiggle the Handle, will present an unprecedented evening of music written and recorded by Todd Rundgren—whose career spans more than 40 years.

In celebrating the 40th Anniversary of Todd Rundgren’s first solo album, “Runt,” released in 1970, Backstrom has pulled together some of his favorite Boston area musicians for the occasion.  The resulting group—featuring members of The Gordon Stone Band, Jiggle the Handle, Gary Backstrom Band, Another Planet, Uncle Sammy, The Grass Gypsies, Humble Bee, and All the Animals—will be performing music from many of Rundgren’s albums from throughout the last four decades.  As to why Todd Rundgren, Backstrom says; “I have found that I have outgrown some past influences such as The Dead and Allman Brothers and feel the need to challenge myself with something totally different.  His [Rundgren’s] music touches me on a very deep, unspoken level and I have found a new world of musical inspiration in all different phases of his music.”  In addition to Rundgren’s many instrumental albums to choose from, Gary will be performing a song off his album, “A Cappella”, in which every sound on the album is a product of Rundgren’s voice.  For this performance Backstrom is bringing in the Family Folk Chorale.

The band includes:
Gary Backstrom - Guitar and lead vox             Chris Nemitz - Keys and vox                     Dave Brunyak – Guitar

Brian O’Connell - Bass                                   Dave Scandurra - Drums                          Colleen Rusconi Kleya - Backing Vox
Kevin Silvia - Backing Vox                              Chris Belden - Sax and Flute.                    

About Todd Rundgren:

A prolific songwriter covering styles of music from Philly Soul, British Pop, Progressive Rock, New wave, ballads, and even some hard rock, Todd Rundgren began his career leading The Nazz in 1967.  In 1970 Rundgren put together the band Runt and released its self-titled album.  Over the years, in addition to recording and performing his own work, Todd Rundgren has produced guested on many highly acclaimed albums by artists including; Meatloaf, New York Dolls, Badfinger, Grand Funk Railroad, Hall & Oates, Patti Smith, XTC, Cheap Trick, The Psychedelic Furs, The Band and many others. Rundgren is still recording and touring today.  His most recent release, “Arena” was released in September 2008.  He also toured as vocalist with The New Cars in 2006, which performed a mix of classic Cars tunes and new songs.