Toad the Wet Sprocket w/ Lee DeWyze – Mill City Nights, Minneapolis (11/23/13) concert review
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Setlist
12/07/13 “KFOG Concert For Kids”
01/29/14 Phoenix, AZ Crescent Ballroom 01/30/14 Flagstaff, AZ Orpheum Theater 01/31/14 Salt Lake City, UT Depot 02/01/14 Stateline, NV Harrah’s Lake Tahoe 02/05/14 Bend, OR Tower Theatre 02/06/14 Portland, OR Aladdin Theater 02/07/14 Spokane, WA Bing Crosby Theater 02/08/14 Seattle, WA Showbox 02/13/14 Boise, ID Knitting Factory 02/15/14 Napa, CA Uptown Theatre Napa
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The band, named after a Python “Rock Notes” skit, took fans both backwards and forwards, with generous samplings of both their 90’s-era radio hits, and selections from their latest and first in sixteen years, the Kickstarter-funded New Constellation, self-released on their own Abe’s Records label.
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LEE DEWYZE
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While fellow American Idol winner Phillip Phillips was just down the street opening for John Mayer, Season 9 winner Lee DeWyze entertained with a 40 min. opening set promoting his latest, Frames (Vanguard Records). New songs like ‘Silver Lining’ and ‘Fight’ were well received, and the audience was mostly receptive to his humble and honest songwriting.
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Glen Phillips
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“Nice to see you!”, Toad singer, the ageless Glen Phillips remarked just as the Divine Fits intro music faded and the band launched into new song, ‘The Moment’ to start their set. A familiar ‘Good Intentions’ got the mostly thirty-something crowd swaying, Phillips and bassist Dean Dinning harmonizing the chorus as if it were twenty years prior.
“This band wouldn’t be a band without Minneapolis”, Phillips mentioned, then related all the area bands off of the top of his head that he considered an influence, before cheekily asking Dinning if he knew the bassline to ‘When Doves Cry’. The band, rounded out by guitarist Todd Nichols and Randy Guss on drums, was more than ably assisted on stage by Jonathan Kingham playing keyboard, steel guitar, and mandolin.
TTWS’s songs have always blended a California sensibility with echoes of similar Brit and Aussie alt-pop that was also happening during their heyday (i.e. The La’s, Crowded House, etc.) but it’s maybe because they all came from a similar songwriting approach rather than were directly influenced, and the songs from New Constellation fit seamlessly alongside their older back catalogue.
Guitarist Nichols took over lead vocals for several tracks, including ‘Inside’ and ‘Crazy Life’ with deft Kingham organ playing, Nichols’ voice somewhat deeper and slightly rougher than Phillips, but no less melodic.
Phillips asked the crowd to sing along in three part melody (balcony, floor, and front) prefacing ‘All I Want’ and marveled at Minnesotans’ ability to dress for “10 degrees outside and 80 degrees inside”- “you have mad skills…or you’re standing on piles of coats!”, which prompted a collective laugh.
Somehow appropriate (though may have been more suitable during ‘Fall Down’), the band paused ‘Dam Would Break’ mid-song as he noticed a girl collapsing in the middle of the floor, only to pick it up again quickly as the boyfriend embarrassingly hustled his companion away briskly. Phillips playfully strummed the beginnings of The Replacements’ ‘Unsatisfied’ before giving up and instead going into the much-more familiar ‘Come Back Down’.
‘Nightingale Song’ was a crowd clap-a-long, prodded on by bassist Dinning keeping the collective time on tambourine. “Enough of love”, Phillips declared, “we’ll go back to boys and ladders”, finishing the new ‘Rare Bird’ and going into ‘Is It For Me’ from 1991’s Fear. A spirited ‘Fall Down’, from the band’s other platinum selling album, 1994’s Dulcinea, closed the main set with an energetic finish.
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Setlist with Guitar Changes
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The encore began with hit ‘Something’s Always Wrong’ followed by the new ‘I’ll Bet on You’ and ended with ‘Walk on the Ocean’, embellished by Kingham’s mandolin and whose choruses seemed to be sung in a lower key, but was no less entertaining.
Like a comfortable blanket or familiar book, Toad the Wet Sprocket returns to form, like they never left us as the 1990’s ended, less dark in theme now and more assured and relaxed in concert than before. For some in the audience, it was re-capturing the soundtrack of their glory years; for others, a welcome revisiting of the past with new beginnings and songs to make future memories with.
As the crowd filtered out to the outro music of Python’s ‘Always Look on the Bright Side of Life’, what’s ahead for Toad the Wet Sprocket is only on the bright side once again.
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Toad the Wet Sprocket at Mill City Nights, Minneapolis (11/23/13) |
Thanks for this. It’s a brilliant synopsis that captures the music, the scene and the spirit of the night. Very much appreciated by this superfan.