Austinist Review: Todd Rundgren @ Antone's

Todd Rundgren gives amazing guitar face—the kind that only works when it accompanies top-level playing, riveting stage presence, and a set list that would please almost anyone. We caught his performance on Tuesday night at Antone's, and though we're a Rundgren neophyte, we had a blast. With two hours of tightly arranged, listenable tunes and a charismatic performance from Rundgren, it was an evening of great music.

Though he apologized early in the show for likely disappointing the audience by not playing every song we might want to hear, that's an unavoidable situation for someone with the career Rundgren has had. More than likely it was just advance warning that he'd play neither Hello It's Me nor Bang on the Drum. Nevertheless, the band worked through both old songs and new, as well as a few covers&mdash most memorably fantastic versions of The Call's The Walls Came Down and Red Rider's Lunatic Fringe.

In spite of a series of technical problems, the band members and Rundgren in particular seemed to be having a blast. Midway through the show Rundgren dumped his mic and it took two replacements to get one that worked; guitarist Jesse Gress broke a string...and then another. All the while, the band played on and Rundgren stayed focussed and completely on cue—smiling and cracking jokes. We particularly got into the more recent Soul Brother and Mammon, off the album Liars. Older favorites such as One World and I Saw the Light were well served.