9.19.2010 - Toad the Wet Sprocket
September 27, 2010
The Vogue
Indianapolis, IN
Toad the Wet Sprocket is the band behind some of my favorite 90's songs, so I was pretty excited when I saw that they were set to come to The Vogue for one of their rare tours that has been occuring ever since the band "broke up" in 1998. Yep, that's right - this is a band that's been touring on material they recorded pre-1998 for over 10 years now. I'm not sure many bands could pull that off, but Toad seems to have some incredibly loyal fans. There was a slightly older crowd at The Vogue to see Toad...a lot of mid-to-late 30's and above. Probably the crowd that was in college in the early/mid 90's when the band was in their heyday.
First things first - Megan McCormick opened up for Toad, and did quite a fantastic job of getting the crowd into the music. Her music is a great blend between rock and soul - her voice is reminiscent of Amy Ray of the Indigo Girls. She was alternately shredding on the electric guitar and singing deep, heartfelt lyrics. She's young - only 23, but you wouldn't know it by reading her lyrics - "Two become one/The fallacies are greater/And honest words/And honest words are just another lie/I am a cheat/I am a liar/I am not a lover" from the title track to her new LP "Honest Words", which was just released in August 2010. Bottom line - she's different. Not like the hundreds of singer/songwriters trying to find their place in a mold - she's broken it. Check out the link to the right and listen to then buy her album, I think you'll enjoy it :)
Then it was time for, as the crowd affectionately referred to them, "Toad", to take the stage. The connection that fans have with the band was apparent when the balcony all but cleared out when they took the stage - everyone moved down to stand on the floor and get a closer view. If you happened to read our preview of this show (Toad Preview) you'll know that Toad's lead singer, Glen Phillips, is a member of roughly 4 bands, including Toad the Wet Sprocket. We had the pleasure of seeing him with his band WPA on the Cayamo cruise in February of this year. And I'm not kidding when I say Toad has some loyal fans - before the show, we heard many audience members discussing how many shows they've been to over the years, how they know all the words to all the songs, etc.
Toad opened with "Something's Always Wrong" from their last album that went Platinum - 1994's Dulcinea. Granted, this was my first live Toad the Wet Sprocket show, but I think they sound just as good as they did in the 90's. There wasn't a ton of banter from the band during the show, but they did mention that the Midwest is one of their favorite places to be. They, of course, played their biggest hits - "All I Want", "Fall Down", "Good Intentions", and during the encore portion of the evening, "Walk on the Ocean". Can't blame those loyal fans for knowing all the words to all the songs - I still know the words to all of their top songs after a decade of rarely hearing them. Definitely good music!
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