Utopia is an American rock band formed in 1973 by Todd Rundgren. During its first three years, the group was a progressive rock band with a somewhat fluid membership known as Todd Rundgren’s Utopia. Most of the members in this early incarnation also played on Rundgren’s solo albums of the period up to 1975….but by 1976, the group was known simply as Utopia ….which was a stable quartet of Todd Rundgren, Kasim Sulton, Roger Powell and John “Willie” Wilcox. This version of the group gradually abandoned progressive rock for straight forward rock and pop.
In 1980, they had a top 40 hit with “Set Me Free”. Although the group was often thought of as a Rundgren-oriented project….the truth is that all four members of Utopia wrote, sang, produced and performed on their albums….a perfect example being that “Set Me Free” was sung by Sulton. The group broke up in 1986, but reunited briefly in 1992. More recently, beginning in 2011 the earlier prog-rock incarnation known as Todd Rundgren’s Utopia was revived for a series of live shows. In 2018 Rundgren,Sulton and Wilcox reunited for a tour with new keyboardist Gil Assayas under the moniker Todd Rundgren’s Utopia.
During this 1975 live Todd Rundgren and Utopia concert….they perform two of their classic progressive rock songs in “Love is the Answer” and “You May Think That I Am A Fool”…..which really display their style prior to switching to more pop rock….and we at ImaSportsphile are more than happy to have their work in our treasure chest of vintage memories….for the work of Todd Rundgren and Utopia deserve their play in music history.
