Gig review: TODD RUNDGREN – The Sub Rooms, Stroud, 26 October 2025

October 30th, 2025 by GRTR! HQ

With an image of Todd towering over the stage for the duration this gig was all about Todd and not his audience. Don’t get me wrong, it was a nice image, but do we need it so omnipresent? Surely back projection can be more creative especially in the hands of a technological innovator?

As if to perpetuate the Cult of Todd he remained enigmatic throughout: there was absolutely no inter-song banter. As soon as he stepped up to the microphone you expected at the very least “Hello Stroud!” but he went straight into another song.

Me/Me rather than Me/We?

I wonder if any of this is noticed by the faithful but to the less partial it might seem somewhat bizarre. The energy levels sustained by this near octogenerian in a two hour set were, though, mightily impressive.

The more cynical might say that without that audience interaction punters would be better served watching a good quality video.

Rundgren gigs are a rarity here in the UK with his last visit (London only) in 2023. This almost secret gig in a small Gloucestershire market town was something of a coup for promoter Hugh Phillimore who runs the venue as a charitable trust. We were told it was not a warm up for the more widely advertised dates in Birmingham and London although at times it did feel like an extended soundcheck in front of an invited audience.

Here at GRTR! we’ve followed and supported Rundgren’s renaissance in the UK since at least 2004 when he played his first dates since 1994.

The setlist tonight featured four songs from Liars, an album we described back in 2004 as matching the best of his seventies and eighties work. This included the exquisite ‘Afterlife’.

As previously, the gig is as much a showcase for Todd’s voice as his guitar playing which to me is under-utilised. But this time the gig was also a showcase for a fantastic band, with four of the five members supplying backing vocals. This was particularly evident on a superb ‘Buffalo Grass’ with faithful lieutenant Kasim Sulton particularly impressive as he was throughout.

For this less partial fan Rundgren’s more soulful grooves impress most. Songs like “Secret Society’, “Sweet’ and ‘Worldwide Epiphany’. In a two hour set there are inevitably a few less engrossing diversions – the ska flavoured ‘Down With The Ship’, a three way acapella ‘Honest Work’ and the vocal centric ‘Hawking’.

It’s just a shame that Rundgren didn’t use the opportunity to provide context and a few stories about the tunes and the times. A medley of covers reflecting those artists he has produced would also be welcome, showing off a stellar career.

Still, any Todd appearance – no matter how unusual and especially in what might be considered a semi-rural backwater – is to be welcomed. The faithful no doubt fully satiated especially as he encored with a greatest hits medley.

For the rest of us this no-chat-no merch, no grace, affair bemused and bedazzled in equal measure.

Review and photos by David Randall

With thanks to Hugh Phillimore, Stroud Sub-Rooms

I Think You Know/ Secret Society/ Weakness/ Stood Up/ Lost Horizon/ Buffalo Grass/ Beloved Infidel/ Hit Me Like A Train/ Wouldn’t You Like To Know/ Sweet/ Kindness/ Woman’s World/ Afterlife/ Down With The Ship/ Honest Work/ Rock Love/ God Said/ Fascist Christ/ Hawking/ Worldwide Epiphany/ Encore:I Saw The Light / Can We Still Be Friends / Hello It’s Me/ The Last Ride/ A Dream Goes On Forever

Album review (Space Force, 2022)

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