Todd Rundgren - Live At The Forum - London 95 (DVDA)

All Music Guide

Todd Rundgren's 1993 album, No World Order, marked his departure from major-label status and his overt embrace of new technologies; he billed himself as "TRi," or "Todd Rundgren interactive" for the release. It was a transitional moment, a time when many fans lost track of Rundgren while others followed him into his less-accessible pursuits. So, it may be appropriate that this first volume in Rundgren's Bootleg Series of archival releases looks back at that time, specifically at two shows he played on the No World Order tour in October 1994 in London. He took the "interactive" aspect of his new persona to heart at the concerts, and he is heard here early on explaining to the audience the red, yellow, and green lights that will tell them when they are welcome to come on-stage themselves (i.e., when the green light is on). True to his word, he turns on the green light during the Utopia song "Secret Society" and hands his guitar off to several audience members to play their own solos, offering only the advice that the song is in D flat. As a thanks for their participation, he gives out condoms as gifts. All of this, of course, is what one can tell from listening to a performance that probably has to be seen on video, if not actually attended in person, to fully appreciate. Minus the gimmicks, the show is a fairly typical 90-minute selection of Rundgren's music, much of it drawn from No World Order, an album that added rap and hip-hop elements to Rundgren's usual melodic hard rock and thoughtful lyrics. While the amateur guitar players turn out not to be bad, the drummers who join in on the set-closing "Bang the Drum All Day" can't seem to find the beat. Not all audience participation is worthwhile.

- William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide