Todd Rundgren -
Damned If I Do Tour
Todd Rundgren, one of the most influential and innovative musicians of the 20th century, is set to perform at the Abraham Chavez Theatre on Saturday, November 7 at 7:30pm. Tickets go on-sale Friday at 10am and are available at Ticketmaster.com and the Plaza Box Office.
With hits like “Hello It’s Me,” “I Saw The Light,” “Bang The Drum All Day,” “Can We Still Be Friends” and others, Todd Rundgren established himself as a multidisciplinary force in the 1970s, playing nearly all the instruments on his own albums as well as producing and playing on legendary records such as Meat Loaf’s Bat Out of Hell, Grand Funk’s We’re An American Band and Badfinger’s Straight Up. Rundgren’s 1972 solo album Something/Anything was named one of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time by Rolling Stone magazine, and his 1973 follow-up A Wizard, A True Star is considered to be a landmark in psychedelic music. In addition to solo work, Rundgren also had a long, commercially and critically successful career as the frontman of the experimental pop band Utopia.
Artists as diverse as Prince, Daft Punk, Tame Impala, The Lemon Twigs, Aimee Mann and Frank Ocean cite Rundgren as an influence. For this tour, Rundgren is set to be backed by longtime collaborators Kasim Sulton (Bass) and Prairie Prince (Drums) along with Gil Assayas (Keys), Bruce McDaniel (Guitar) and Bobby Strickland (Horns). Todd Rundgren last performed a full-length solo show in El Paso in 1986, but made a brief appearance in the region as a member of Ringo Starr’s All-Starr Band in 2017.
The concert is a fundraiser for Hardin’s Music Saloon - a 501(c)(3) nonprofit designated fund of the Paso del Norte Community Foundation - in their mission to open a live music-based community center and history museum in downtown El Paso. “Todd Rundgren is one of the most talented yet underrated musicians in history,” says Hardin’s artistic director Vincent Edward Arrieta. “It is an absolute dream come true to say we are bringing him to El Paso as a part of our mission.”
WAR - Two Intimate Evenings in Las Cruces
WAR, one of the most iconic bands of the 1970s, are set to perform two intimate evenings at Las Cruces’ Rio Grande Theatre on Saturday & Sunday, September 26 & 27. Tickets are on-sale now here and in-person at Hubbard’s Music N More.
Doors at 6pm, Shows at 7pm.
Since their inception in 1969, WAR has been one of the most beloved bands of the classic rock era, with countless hits such as “Low Rider,” “Why Can’t We Be Friends,” “Spill the Wine,” “Me and Baby Brother,” “The Cisco Kid,” “Slippin’ Into Darkness,” “Summer” and many others.
“We are thrilled to have a band so beloved by the community perform in such an intimate venue,” says Hardin’s artistic director Vincent Edward Arrieta. “It’s not often you get to see someone who rubbed shoulders with Jimi Hendrix in our beloved downtown theatre, so this is bound to be a truly special pair of evenings.”
As WAR sing, “We met down on the border Rio Grande...”
A Word From Our Executive Director
Hardin's Music Saloon is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) designated fund of the Paso del Norte Community Foundation dedicated to the creation and operation of a flexible live-music-and music-history-based community center in downtown El Paso.
Our mission is to enrich the underserved borderland communities of El Paso, Las Cruces, and Ciudad Juarez by offering the opportunity for people of all ages and backgrounds to experience world-class live arts and entertainment in their own hometown(s).
To make the El Paso/Las Cruces/Juarez Borderplex a mainstay for live musical and performing arts for generations to come by increasing the visibility of our unique community on the national level and providing opportunities for local musicians to have their creativity recognized throughout the borderland and beyond.
While we eventually plan to open a brick- and-mortar venue in downtown El Paso, we plan to continue to utilize the beautiful pre-existing venues of the region.
A number of tickets and profit from all of our events will be donated to music students in schools n underserved neighborhoods throughout the region. If a young person gets to witness live music - in-person - in their hometown, their imaginations grow in bounds. If the populations of El Paso, Juarez, and Las Cruces are counted as one metropolitan area, the population is more than 2.7 million people - larger than Buffalo, Cincinnati, Las Vegas, Pittsburgh, and Kansas City. Don’t we deserve to get the concerts they get?
- Vincent Edward Arrieta, Executive Director