Todd Rundgren is a confusing man. After his tune-packed 1972 album Something/Anything? drew comparisons to Carole King and Brian Wilson, he took a pharmacopoeia of psychedelics and made a vexing masterpiece, A Wizard, a True Star, with no singles at all. He’s produced classic albums by Meat Loaf and the New York Dolls but he’s also released a record of nothing but vocals (A Cappella) and the world’s first interactive album (No World Order). Counting only the artists who appeared on his last two albums, his fans include Trent Reznor, Robyn and the Lemon Twigs. He called his memoir The Individualist.

Rundgren certainly looks the part. With his Addams Family hair, tinted goggles and limber dance moves, he could be a goth raver. Everything he says sounds teasingly sarcastic, even when he’s thanking the audience for spending their “discretionary income” on a ticket. He says the curfew means he can’t tell stories about the songs but it would have been worth sacrificing a couple of his two-hour show’s stodgier numbers to hear them.

Rundgren’s two sets represent more than half of his 26 solo albums as well as his bands, the Nazz and Utopia, but there’s scant evidence of the try-anything polymath who inspired generations of studio auteurs. While I Saw the Light is giddy power-pop perfection, there’s an awful lot of middling rock in part one. Due in part to the stuffiness of the all-seater venue and the advanced age of his fanbase, it never takes off.

After the interval Rundgren travels to more rewarding destinations. A slinky cover of Marvin Gaye’s I Want You and an extraordinary a cappella folk song, Honest Work, showcase a voice far more resilient and versatile than most artists of 78. The acoustic section is simply gorgeous, with shades of Joni Mitchell’s capricious melodies on Cliche. When Rundgren grabs a baton to conduct his five-man band through the symphonic Kindness, he seems like the man who can do anything. What he chose to do this time is not the most interesting take on his unclassifiable career but as one man tells his friend on the way out, “You take what you’re given with Todd.”

• Todd Rundgren plays Bristol Beacon, 10 September; then touring the UK until 13 September