The only thing more surprising than Todd Rundgren’s continuing ability to surprise concertgoers is that he still cares enough to do so after nearly 60 years of making music. 

And Rundgren had several surprises in store July 5 at the Columbus, Ohio, stop on the Damned if I Do tour, which found the chameleonic musician plumbing his deep and expansive songbook with a set that spanned 1968 and Nazz’s fuzzy garage-rock anthem “Open My Eyes” to his 2026 re-recording of “Walls Came Down” with the Call. 

The first shocker – not counting the bass drum emblazoned with the word Damned that seemed to signal a punk gig – came 60 minutes in, when, after a joyful version of “Woman’s World” that found Rundgren turning windmills on the sea-green guitar he calls “Foamy,” the 78-year-old announced a short “pee break.” 

When Rundgren and his band returned 10 minutes later, the KEMBA Live! stage was transformed for an acoustic set that opened with “Love of the Common Man.” Rundgren and Bruce McDaniel played six- and 12-string guitars, respectively; Kasim Sulton was on acoustic bass; keyboardist Gil Assayas remained plugged in; and drummer Prairie Prince, the only man standing, played a small kit with his hands. 

Multi-instrumentalist Bobby Strickland (woodwinds, keys, percussion) meanwhile, added pipe while McDaniel played mandolin – an instrument never utilized at Rundgren shows – on “Cliché.” Next, Strickland’s saxophone took the place of feedbackjng electric guitar on “Tiny Demons.” 

“I Don’t Want to Tie You Down” and “Born to Synthesize” followed. The latter was stretched out; swinging and jazzy while each musician took a solo at Rundgren’s direction. 

The playfulness was followed by the earnestness of “Honest Work,” delivered a cappella by Rundgren, Sulton and McDaniel through a single mic to a dead-silent house that gave a standing ovation when it, and the acoustic detour, ended. 

The homestretch of the 80-minute back half began with the novelty of “Bang the Drum All Day,” featuring an audience member on the titular instrument. It proceeded to the guitar-based blues of “No. 1 Lowest Common Denominator” and continued with the classical-leaning “Kindness,” with a baton-wielding Rundgren conducting. Then, the Motown medley of “I’m So Proud/Ooh Baby Baby/I Want You,” the latter in a bossa nova arrangement; and Utopia’s anthemic, pop-rock, sing- and clap-along “One World.” 

Though the first set was more typical of a more-typical Rundgren gig, it, too, featured left-field switcheroos. These included opening with the EDM-era track “Evrybody;” “I Saw the Light” in the No. 3 slot; a baritone-sax solo amid McDaniel’s acrobatic guitar work on “Black and White;” and a new, even more-complex vocal arrangement on the ethereal “Lost Horizon.” 

Early on, Rundgren said he’d been playing Ohio’s capital “since days of yore,” thanked fans for buying tickets during a time of war-initiated inflation and apologized if their dogs are limited to a month of dry food as a result. The joke re-emerged before the final encore – another surprise in the form of the almost-never-played “Sweeter Memories,” which followed “Can We Still be Friends” and “Hello it’s Me,” hits Rundgren relegated to a medley with “Light” on his last two tours. 

Though he doesn’t sing or jump as high as he once did, Rundgren remains a remarkably powerful vocalist and his lead-guitar playing is as potent as ever, whether on the dance-floor groove of Utopia’s “Secret Society” or the stately blues-rock of “Black Maria.” 

“Where’s he playing tomorrow?,” my wife asked during the second set. And the first thing we did upon arriving home was to book tickets to Rundgren’s August gig in the Utopian stronghold of Cleveland.