It might seem far-fetched, but legendary singer-songwriter and producer Todd Rundgren came up with the idea to do a so-called virtual tour before COVID-19 forced the live music industry to retool its infrastructure. That’s actually fairly in line with Rundgren’s history of keeping ahead of the curve when it comes to the relationship between music, technology and the audience. Although hearing the material from his heyday — particularly his 1972 classic Something/Anything? — might spark your nostalgia for the warm tones of ’70s radio, Rundgren has always had his eye on the future. This time, the future lined up with the present: Rundgren’s plan was to play a series of dates from one city, thus making it more feasible to assemble a larger-than-usual band. Appropriately enough, this show — titled Clearly Human — celebrates Rundgren’s 1989 album Nearly Human, which marked the everchanging artist’s embrace of digital recording, live-in-the-studio performance and R&B stylings all in one shot. As a testament to capturing soulfulness with the assistance of machines, Nearly Human makes the perfect vehicle for creating the communion of a live concert with the means that are available to us. The show promises an additional hour’s worth of catalog-spanning material, as well as “production elements geared specifically to a Nashville crowd.” 8 p.m. Friday, March 6, via nocapshows.com SABY REYES-KULKARNI
Stream Todd Rundgren’s Clearly Human Concert
