Toad the Wet Sprocket at Marquee Theater  -  Mar 26th, 2011 11:04am

Back in 1990 I got a CD player for Christmas and along with it exactly 1 CD in the old double tall cardboard containers that got the record industry in trouble with the green crowd.  That was "Fear" by Toad the Wet Sprocket.

I was so proud of that CD.  Toad was a band I found on my own.  None of my friends listened to them, and while they had a moment of popularity a year or two later, they were too folky for mainstream radio and too soft for the MTV crowd.  I followed them throughout the 90's wearing out each of their CD's as they were released, but I never saw them in concert.  Something that's always frustrated me.

Last night I was finally able to fix that.  Toad played the Marquee in Phoenix and Tara and I were there with smiles plastered on our faces to see them.

I've seen a lot of "indie" concerts lately.  Appleseed cast, Yann Tiersen, Getup Kids, etc..  All these shows seemed to sport the same 20/30yr old hipsteresque crowd.  Hoodies and beards abounded, everyone is walking around drinking PBR and generally reveling in their theoretical differentiation.  Toad was decidedly different.  There were kids with their parents, teens, lots of 20 and 30 somethings, even a few blue hairs.  It could only be described as a cross section of white people.

These suburbanites were rewarded for their attendance with 2 of the most generic non-offensive opening bands ever.  The Reign Kings and a very forgettable Matchbox 20 clone.  They weren't bad, they weren't good... they really just took up a little time and set the stage for Toad to come on around 9 oclock.

When Toad finally took the stage I was immediately reminded why I was so enamored with the band and Glen Phillips in-particular.  They are a very personable group.  Like Ben Folds or the guys from They Might Be Giants, Toad is a bunch of nerdy college students who got together to play music and have a good time.  They are silly, light hearted, intelligent, and seem to have confidence without ego.  They also launched into my favorite song right off the bat :)

They played about a 2 hour set - mostly old stuff from Coil, Pale, and Dulcinea.  I was stoked to hear a Glen Phillips single and really stoked when they played 2 new songs which will hopefully be on a new album they said they were about to get to work on.

The Marquee's acoustics are a little bit bass-y and they serve the worst rot-gut rum that this world has ever seen, but its a great place to catch a show and Toad sounded wonderful.  It was so fun to finally see this band I've listened to for so long.  To do so with a crowd who sang along to every song, and a girl who was also a fan is really all anyone could ask for.