Toadies live: August 22nd vs. April 8th.

So I saw the Toadies for the second time this past Wednesday. When I heard they were coming to my little college town I got pretty excited. All that comes through here usually are country and Texas country (apparently there's a difference) bands, which of course I do not care about. Toadies, however, that's some news.

Outside of the state most people know the Toadies only for "Possum Kingdom" and maybe "Tyler", but in Texas they are still a band with a pretty big amount of support. Even though they are from Fort Worth I still find that surpising, given that they were big in the mid-90s when most of my generation was barely in elementary school, yet pretty much everyone my age has Rubberneck. Yeah they came out with a new album in August, but their following is basically still about what they did in '94.

They played at this country dancehall I'd only been to once before that most of time hosts country bands or plays that with a mix of rap music (apparently those two genres mix well. I don't understand it). It was quite odd. During the show I would be rockin' away, and every once in a while I would stop and look around and become momentarily very confused.

A couple of mediocre similarly styled rock bands opened. Don't remember who they were. I just know I liked the first one better. Seemed like it took forever for the main event to finally start. It was almost 10:30 when the local radio stations were on stage trying to plug their bit, and we were growing restless. Alas, Lewis & Co. emerged to much enthusiasm and kicked it off with "I Come From The Water".

They switched their set around almost entirely from when I saw them in August, which I thought was quite cool. For example, in Dallas they saved their two previously mentioned biggest hits for the encore, but this time they were played during the middle of the set. Even though they're a one trick band they do a good job of keeping things interesting. Their favorite bit is to play the intros to famous classic rock songs like "La Grange", "Hold On Loosely", and "Happy Jack", then immediately stopping at the first cymbol crash, playfully teasing the audience that maybe this time they'll actually play the whole song. It's quite funny and everyone gets a kick out of it.

One thing that confuses me about their shows is the crowds. Apparently the Toadies play music that is suitable for moshing. I never got this memo. I mean, I realize it's hard rock music, but this isn't a Slayer concert. I guess to some of the people that like the Toadies this is as heavy as it gets for them. Fortunately from seeing them before I was aware of this phenomenon prior to this show and put myself enough out of the way that I didn't have to deal with that for the most part. I just wanna nod my head and jump a little. Y'all can continue to push each other like 5 year olds.

I was quite pleased with the concert. I'd have to say I liked it better them better in Dallas, because the overall atmosphere was better given that it was in an actual rock venue and Dallas is their backyard. They were pretty enthusiastic here too, though, and they care a lot about their fans. They said they planned on staying after the show until the place closed so that they could meet everybody. I was about to take them up on that but I hadn't eaten in 13 hours so I opted for food instead. Hopefully next time.

Here's a song from their little known second album (video is from 2001):