So, you say you want melodies? Placing your priorities there might consign you to minority standing amongst 2025’s wider bloc of pop followers. However for the sonorously starved amongst us, a little bit of manna from a extra euphonious heaven has arrived within the type of “What the World Wants Now: The Burt Bacharach Songbook Dwell in Live performance,” a multi-artist outing whose beneficiant setlists are, luckily, as long-winded because the tour’s title. For anybody nostalgic for a time when a man who couldn’t sing might turn out to be a type of pop famous person simply by way of his command of chord progressions, it’s about 2 hours and 45 minutes of bliss.

The tour hit L.A.’s Wiltern on Sunday evening on simply its second evening out, following a gap evening in Ventura. There will not be almost as many nights left (about 20 in all) as Bacharach devotees from areas which might be being bypassed would possibly want. That is the place trains and boats and planes come in useful, as “What the World Wants Now…” is value not less than a brief journey for the Burt buff who will not be more likely to get this stable a tribute once more any day now. It’s solidly forged, with Todd Rundgren as maybe the one true marquee attraction however loads of different voices who do the catalog simply as a lot justice, and it’s particularly solidly anchored, with Bacharach’s longtime music director/conductor, Rob Shirakbari, ensuring that every thing sounds precisely as you’d hope, even with a reasonably modest lineup of 9 gamers and/or singers on most nights. You’re in one of the best palms potential: Shirakbari is aware of the place the our bodies are buried, so to talk, in all these exquisitely nuanced ballads and Burt’s occasional bops.

Rundgren has participated in a couple of different multi-act tribute excursions lately — a White Album-based present that additionally handed by way of the Wiltern, a separate “Rubber Soul”/”Revolver” tour with a few of the identical members, and a David Bowie salute. He was terrifically suited to all of these, having fairly properly nominated himself by doing so many covers on his “Devoted” album as soon as upon a time. Nonetheless, you might need puzzled if these had been actually his coronary heart’s need… in the event that they represented ardour or a paycheck. Most likely simply sufficient of each, between his recurrently scheduled tour regimens. Nevertheless it’s not onerous to see that paying Bacharach again would contain higher novelty in addition to karmic debt and permit for the nice vibrations of doing justice to a repertoire that isn’t such a staple of oldies or classic-rock radio.

Rundgren had 9 songs in Sunday evening’s present (seven solo, two duets), and you’ll inform he’s had fun rifling by way of the Bacharach discography — or not less than no matter checklist of likelies Shirakbari offered him — to cowl a enjoyable gamut. His vaunted Philly-soul aspect is acceptable for the ballads he fronts, and can also assist clarify why the one tune he sings backup on is “You’ll By no means Get to Heaven (If You Break My Coronary heart),” a track that turned a success for the Stylistics a decade after it was one for Dionne Warwick. Rundgren stored warning the viewers that he was about to make them unhappy, as he took on acquainted downers like “Anybody Who Had a Coronary heart,” “A Home is Not a Residence” and the Elvis Costello collaboration “God Give Me Power” within the first half. However after an intermission, he took a childlike glee in declaring he was exiting a melancholy mode and performing out elements of the delightfully ludicrous Act 2 kickoff, “What’s New, Pussycat?” He additionally turned that frown upside-down in saving the evening’s finale, “Raindrops Preserve Fallin’ on My Head,” for himself.

Rundgren was considerably distinctive among the many evening’s repeat singers in that he doesn’t actually vocally resemble anybody who is legendary for singing Bacharach. That allowed him to do a gusty model of the rock-soul fashion he rings to his personal materials. However “What the World Wants Now…” does additionally profit drastically from the presence of a few feminine frontwomen who’re absolute ringers for the forebears whose footwear they’re filling, or who not less than will be, when referred to as upon. Briefly: Wendy Moten is Dionne Warwick. And Tori Holub is Karen Carpenter. However there’s an apparent imbalance there: The Carpenters solely did one Bacharach track, “(They Lengthy to Be) Near You” — whereas Warwick did near 100, by some counts. So one approach to redress that’s, sure, to provide a few of these Warwick hits to Rundgren… however to even have Holub cowl the sprightly “I’ll By no means Fall in Love Once more” and the Vietnam-era lament “Home windows of the World” as in the event that they’d been Carpenters hits.

Moten is finest recognized for her second-place end on Season 21 of “The Voice,” and in Nashville for much less showy duties like her stint in Vince Gill’s Time Jumpers. Clearly she’s the definition of adaptable, however she might by no means be better-suited for something than she is to decoding this songbook. You may hear her ease in passages that will throw so many different vocalists, just like the fast-singing, conversational code to “Stroll On By,” which Moten actually does make appear like a stroll within the park, when it’s extra of a quiet dash. It’s onerous to think about many different maestro/muse skilled relationships in pop which might be fairly as in depth as Warwick’s and Bacharach’s; that may be an important factor to nail in a tour like this, and Moten does it so effortlessly that the remainder of the present might virtually coast.

Holub sounds so near Carpenter at instances that she has in a short while turn out to be a cult favourite of the Carpenters’ fan neighborhood. With reportedly only some stay reveals underneath her belt, and nonetheless in her early 20s, Holub should take care to emphasise not being a Karen, as she stretches her wings additional. (And the web proof is that she has loads of different tones to her voice she will depend on.) However for this specific occasion, an viewers can benefit from the resemblance absolutely guiltlessly. Holub’s voice, just like the one she’s paying tribute to, has that uniquely comforting tone that may make you’re feeling like every thing is true on this planet — even when she’s singing about the way it isn’t, in Hal David’s quasi-protest lyric for “Home windows of the World.” Today, we’ll take an easy-listening sound bathtub like that whereas we are able to get it.

There are a number of different singers in Shirakbari’s arsenal, a few of them instrumentalists who step as much as the plate sometimes to sing; the Wiltern present additionally included a couple of one- or two-night-only visitor vocalists. The 2-man horn part (each of whom additionally performed a number of different devices) was made up of Brian Wilson Band veteran Probyn Gregory and Woody Mankowski. And whereas Gregory stayed within the again always, Mankowski got here up entrance on 4 events to ship gentle/gritty pop-R&B lead vocals ok that these might’ve been the only purpose he was employed. On “Arthur’s Theme,” he was in a position to assume the roles of Christopher Cross and unique sax man Ernie Watts, attaining some type of MVP standing.

Drummer Elise Trouw clearly has a following of her personal — therefore the signature sticks that had been on the market alongside the tour T-shirts within the foyer — and did some double-duty herself, singing “My Little Pink E book” and “The Look of Love” from behind the package and ultimately “Alfie” in entrance of it, the latter as a duet with Moten. The vocal resemblance to Karen Carpenter will not be nice on this occasion, however in fact the concept of a singing feminine drummer is implicitly a tribute in itself, despite the fact that Trouw earns her preserve simply on the drumming half alone. Clearly she’s not attending to get too thunderous in a Bacharach-themed present, however feels like the best of a Broadway pit-band percussionist nonetheless, her tom-tom fills properly reinforcing simply how crucially analog almost all this music is.

Rundgren followers acquired a bonus in having his longtime sideman on each solo and Utopia stints, Kasim Sulton, get a outstanding position within the present past simply bass duties. Sulton earned the lead vocals on “This Man’s in Love With You” “(There’s) At all times One thing There to Remind Me” (the latter executed, maybe surprisingly, not in a ’60s mode however within the synth-happy new wave association popularized by Bare Eyes within the early ’80s). For all their collaborations over time, Rundgren and Sulton haven’t executed that many full-on duets, so Todd followers had been delighted to see the remainder of the band briefly exit the stage in order that Rundgren choose up an acoustic guitar and commerce verses along with his companion on a folky model of “Trains and Boats and Planes.” That one sounded barely tough, this early within the tour, and wasn’t any the much less charming for it.

Sunday’s L.A. present, just like the opener in Ventura the evening earlier than, had two visitor spots: Colin Hay of Males at Work fame acquired the plum task of “I Simply Don’t Know What to Do With Myself” (returning it extra to its AC roots after years of the track being most frequently coated by Jack White). And Girl Blackbird and Chris Pierce teamed up for a “That’s What Mates Are For” that was surprisingly compelling, even in case you spent the final 40 years pondering you’d in all probability heard that track sufficient in a lifetime.

Was there any restrict in any respect to simply how nice so many songs that rockers as soon as dismissed as easy-listening might sound, now that we and the tunes all have a couple of extra years on us? Properly, truly, sure: “Heartlight,” co-written and recorded by Neil Diamond in 1982, and sung by Sulton right here, stays one track that’s harder to redeem than the remaining. (It would’ve been good to listen to yet another monitor from Bacharach’s Costello collaboration, or “Wives and Lovers,” rather than this, if any votes are being taken.) However, the film track “Making Love,” sung by Moten, as soon as appeared like a forgettable piece of the catalog however with a little bit time and distance now comes off virtually as one in all his masterpieces.

Possibly throwing in some instrumentals comes naturally when a non-singing keyboard participant is on the helm, however kudos to Shirakbari regardless for ensuring that the present was dotted with a couple of ditties that didn’t profit from the complementary genius of Hal David. These cheaper thrills included a “On line casino Royale” rating excerpt and the evening’s most sudden selection: the ABC Monday Evening Film Theme from the glory days of ’70s tv instrumentals.

“What the World Wants Now: The Burt Bacharach Songbook Dwell in Live performance” setlist, on the Wiltern in Los Angeles, March 23, 2025:

Set 1
Any Day Now
Child It’s You – Todd Rundgren
Stroll On By – Wendy Moten
I Simply Don’t Know What to Do With Myself – Colin Hay
I’ll By no means Fall in Love Once more – Tori Holub
A Home Is Not a Residence – Rundgren
Message to Michael – Moten
You Don’t Must Say You Love Me – Woody Mankowski
Do You Know the Method to San Jose? – Holub
Anybody Who Had a Coronary heart – Rundgren
Making Love – Moten
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Child Theme
Guarantees, Guarantees – Mankowski
God Give Me Power – Rundgren
Attain Out for Me – Moten
The Home windows of the World – Holub
My Little Pink E book – Elise Trouw
(There’s) At all times One thing There to Remind Me – Kasim Sulton
What’s New Pussycat? – Rundgren

Set 2
Make It Simple on Your self – Rundgren
On My Personal – Moten and Mankowski
Heartlight – Sulton
On line casino Royale Theme – instrumental
The Look of Love – Trouw
Are You There (With One other Woman) – Holub
Trains and Boats and Planes – Rundgren and Sulton
Nikki/ABC Film of the Week Theme – instrumental
One Much less Bell to Reply – Moten
Arthur’s Theme (Finest That You Can Do) – Mankowski
That’s What Mates Are For – Girl Blackbird and Chris Pierce
You’ll By no means Get to Heaven (If You Break My Coronary heart) – Moten
This Man’s in Love With You – Sulton
(They Lengthy to Be) Near You – Holub
I Say a Little Prayer – Moten
What the World Wants Now – Rundgren, Girl Blackbird and forged
Alfie – Moten and Trouw
Raindrops Preserve Fallin’ on My Head – Rundgren

The remaining tour dates:
3/25 Del Mar, CA – The Sound
3/26 Phoenix, AZ – Superstar Theatre
3/28 Dallas, TX – Longhorn Ballroom
3/29 Houston, TX – Heights Theater
3/31 Nashville, TN – Ryman Auditorium
4/01 Akron, OH – Akron Civic Theatre
4/02 Detroit, MI – MotorCity On line casino – Sound Board
4/04 Bethlehem, PA – Wind Creek Occasion Middle
4/05 Atlantic Metropolis, NJ – Music Field at Borgata
4/07 Munhall, PA – Carnegie of Homestead Music Corridor
4/09 Boston, MA – The Wilbur
4/11 Englewood, NJ – Bergen Performing Arts Middle
4/12 Ridgefield, CT – The Ridgefield Playhouse
4/13 Patchogue, NY – Patchogue Theatre
4/15 Glenside, PA – Keswick Theatre
4/16 Annapolis, MD – Maryland Corridor
4/18 Indianapolis, IN – Murat Theatre at Outdated Nationwide Centre
4/20 Atlanta, GA – Buckhead Theatre
4/22 St. Petersburg, – FL Mahaffey Theater
4/23 Fort Lauderdale, FL – The Parker