Todd Rundgren is headlining the new Beatles' tribute tour, dubbed "It Was Fifty Years Ago Today: A Tribute To The Beatles." The trek will also feature Moody Blues and Wings co-founder Denny Laine, Badfinger’s Joey Molland, Christopher Cross, former Chicago bassist Jason Scheff, and Rascal Flatts' Jay DeMarcus. The ensemble will be tackling material from the "Fab Four's" 1965 Rubber Soul and 1966 Revolver albums.
As of now, the tour kicks off on March 1st at Montclair, New Jersey's Wellmont Theater and runs through March 27th when it hits Kansas City, Missouri's Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts.
Todd Rundgren, who first toured as part of Ringo Starr's All Starr Band in 1992, made no bones to us about where his allegiance lies as a Beatles fan: ["Well, my favorite Beatle is Ringo, now that I've worked with him. He's just the easiest to get along with (laughs). I haven't been much of a Paul McCartney soloist fan, and John Lennon hasn't done any recordings in a real long time."] SOUNDCUE (:12 OC: . . . real long time)
Denny Laine shed light on his relationship with the Beatles prior to becoming Paul McCartney's right-hand-man for a solid decade: ["You gotta remember, I spent a lot of time with the Beatles. They used to come over to our house and play us their demos, and we used to go over to their houses. I was at John (Lennon's) house when they got back from Shea Stadium to watch that footage."] SOUNDCUE (:11 OC: . . . watch that footage)
JUST ANNOUNCED: The "It Was Fifty Years Ago Today: A Tribute To The Beatles" tour dates (subject to change):
March 1 – Montclair, NJ – The Wellmont Theater
March 2 – Pittsburgh, PA – Carnegie of Homestead Music Hall
March 3 – Ridgefield, CT – Ridgefield Playhouse
March 5 – Atlantic City, NJ – Sound Waves at The Hard Rock Hotel
March 6 – Westbury, NY – NYCB Theater at Westbury
March 7 – Red Bank, NJ – Count Basie Center for the Arts
March 8 – Annapolis, MD – Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts
March 9 – Medford, MA – Chevalier Theater
March 10 – Derry, NH – Tupelo Music Hall
March 11 – Staten Island, NY – St. George Theater
March 12 – Jim Thorpe, PA – Penn’s Peak
March 14 – Newport, KY – PromoWest Pavilion at OVATION
March 16 – Clearwater, FL – Ruth Eckerd Hall
March 17 – Tallahassee, FL – The Moon
March 19 – Lake Charles, LA – Golden Nugget
March 20 – Dallas, TX – Majestic Theater
March 23 – Ft. Lauderdale, FL – Broward Center for the Arts
March 25 – Bonita Springs, FL – SW Florida Event Center
March 27 – Kansas City, MO – Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts
IN OTHER TODD RUNDGREN NEWS
Out now is the Todd Rundgren tribute album, Someone/Anyone?, which was spearheaded by producer Fernando Perdomo. The two-CD set covers the entirety of Rundgren's watershed 1972 double-album, Something/Anything?, and features performances by such notables as Marshall Crenshaw, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers' co-founding drummer Stan Lynch, Kasim Sulton of Utopia, Jordan Rudess of Dream Theater, the Smithereens' Dennis Diken, Van Duren, Carmine Appice, Carole King and Gerry Goffin's daughter Louise Goffin, along with Darian Sahanaja, Probyn Gregory, and Rob Bonfiglio from the Brian Wilson band, among others.
Famed power pop author Ken Sharp also contributed to the new set and spoke about what fans can expect: ["Todd Rundgren's Something/Anything? album is considered one of the greatest double albums in rock n' roll history. It's the album where he really became this mad scientist in the studio doing most of the instrumentation. And the Someone/Anyone? tribute album is a reimagination of the album; but what makes it really special is it's not a karaoke version of the album. All the artists put their own stamp on it."] SOUNDCUE (:24 OC: . . . stamp on it)
For more info on Someone/Anyone? — log on to: https://bit.ly/3olbU9z