April 28, 1980 concert review: Todd Rundgren's Utopia in the Niagara Falls Convention Center



Nothing like a bad night to make you want to milk a theme to death.

April 28, 1980
Utopia Fails to Bring Best of All Possible Concerts
It was not the best of all possible nights. En route to 2½ hours of Utopia in the Niagara Falls Convention Center Sunday night, rock fans were likely to encounter torrential rain, a gauntlet of malodorous chemical fumes and a wreck on the North Grand Island Bridge.
It was not the best of all possible venues. The rear of the Falls Convention Center still has the acoustic personality of an overgrown high school gym. Good thing the place was only half full. Only a few people actually had to sit back there.
It was not the best of all possible starts. Utopia was late. While the sound system played the Pretenders, the eager crowd had plenty of time to move chairs up the aisles and move whole aisles forward toward the stage.
It was not the best of all possible evenings for Utopia either. Todd Rundgren explained that border problems held them up. Keyboardist Roger Powell’s voice failed on his first song. And Rundgren had to stop repeatedly to, as he put it once, “tune this stinking guitar.”
It was not the best of all possible sets. Pre-intermission songs from the admirable new “Adventures in Utopia” album were decidedly weaker than the recorded versions – the sound was muddy and the vocals needed a boost. Much of the old material lacked distinction. Rundgren recapped hits like “Can We Still Be Friends” and “Hello, It’s Me” in a quick medley.
It was not the best of all possible rock ‘n roll. The crowd was ready to rave up to a fever when Rundgren and Powell traded solos madly in the finale of “Caravan,” but there was little more of that kind of interplay.
It was not the best of all possible special effects. A gush of fog, a flash of powder, a burst of strobe – that was it, except for the post-intermission video. The ever-changing stage lights were a better show.
It was not the best of all possible stages. The clean, proscenium-arch design hid the amps and set the foursome on little white pedestals in front of a projection screen, where the video projections sustained the solo spots after the halftime break.
It was not the best of all possible video, though Rundgren’s million-dollar studio can generate some nifty special effects. Powell played with abstractions. Bassist Kasim Sulton led a storybook singalong. Drummer John Wilcox staged antic melodrama to “You Drive Me Crazy.” Rundgren? He documented bag ladies and devised the rolling on-the-road backdrop for Ravel’s taped “Bolero.”
One place where everything was for the best was the instrumentation – Rundgren’s hollow circle of a guitar, Sulton’s stick bass, Powell’s portable synthesizer and Wilcox’s wonderful revolving drum kit, which looked like a motorcycle.
The best of all possible Utopia concerts, then, remains the “Ra” tour a couple years back, which had Rundgren scaling a 15-foot pyramid and multiple lasers shooting off left and right. That was a real adventure in Utopia.
* * * * *
IN THE PHOTO: Utopia in their heyday. That's Todd Rundgren on the right.
* * * * *
FOOTNOTE: It should have been the ideal Utopia concert by this point, since the same lineup had been in place for four years, even though music trends were shifting away from the prog rock dream that propelled the band. Their label, Bearsville Records, thought that way too. They stopped promoting the group not long after this tour. Utopia split up in 1986 after albums with other labels tanked commercially. Everyone went on to solo projects, with occasional reunions. The most recent one in 2018 brought back bassist Kasim Sulton and drummer John "Willie" Wilcox.
Rundgren, meanwhile, is tireless. His most recent album, "Space Force," showed up in 2022. At this very moment (March 12, 2025) he's doing shows in Australia. Then, later this month, he sets out in California on the U.S. tour for "What the World Needs Now: The Burt Bacharach Songbook Live in Concert." Closest it comes to Buffalo on the current schedule is April 1 in Akron, Ohio. His website also touts his autobiography, "The Individualist: Digressions, Dreams & Dissertations," which was published in 2018.
Setlist.fm has what looks like a complete accounting of the Niagara Falls Convention Center date:
(Set 1)
The Road to Utopia
Back on the Street
Caravan
Shot in the Dark
Set Me Free
Love of the Common Man
The Last Ride
Trapped
Love in Action
Last of the New Wave Riders
(Set 2)
Bolero
Rock Love
Sands of Arrakis
Emergency Splashdown
Love Alone
Alone
You Make Me Crazy (including background movie)
Something's Coming (Leonard Bernstein cover)
Drum solo
It Wouldn't Have Made Any Difference/Can We Still Be Friends/Hello It's Me/A Dream Goes On Forever (Todd solo)
Bag Lady (including background movie)
Cliche
Communion With the Sun
The Seven Rays
Singing and the Glass Guitar (An Electrified Fairytale) (partial)
Freedom Fighters
Initiation
Utopia Theme
(encores)
Couldn't I Just Tell You
Just One Victory

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