For my summer vacation I decided to follow two of my favorite bands around California. I’ve been loving Toad the Wet Sprocket since the early 1990s and their opening band Beta Play for the past three years, since I first saw them open for Toad at an unforgettable show in Fresno under their former band name Tommy and the High Pilots. This post covers four shows that I attended and will be a little more personal than my usual posts — part travelogue, part recap. The first show I saw on this road trip was at the Crest Theatre in
Tag: New Constellation
Down on Cahuenga
I was at Hotel Cafe in Los Angeles, CA on October 27, 2016 to see Jonathan Kingham and Glen Phillips. The show was scheduled for 7pm, but didn’t start on time, giving a chance for the crowd to build and allowing some time for socializing. This was a pretty low-key show put on by two easy-going singer-songwriters for an attentive Thursday night crowd. Jonathan took to the stage and announced, “I’m kind of the appetizer. This song is about food, more about fried chicken, hot chicken.” I don’t know if those guys didn’t eat before the show or maybe they
All This Love is Still Here
Glen Phillips officially released his new album Swallowed By the New last week and is currently touring around the country in support of the album. I was able to catch him playing a free concert at the Levitt Pavilion in Pasadena, California on September 17, 2016. He played a selection of songs from the new album, mixed in with work from his solo career, and some of the popular tunes from his band Toad the Wet Sprocket. Glen was supported at the concert by Michael Eisenstein on guitar, Abe Rounds on drums, Khäsy Modisette on background vocals, and the album’s producer,
Nothing But the Moment
I headed south to The Observatory North Park in San Diego, CA on July 9, 2016 to see one of my favorite bands, Toad the Wet Sprocket, on their summer tour. I’ve been a fan of Toad since my first year of university and saw them in concert a couple of times at the height of their popularity in the mid-90s. As they are local to Southern California, it has been easy for me to catch their shows multiple times over the past few years. This summer they are on the road with Rusted Root, co-headlining shows and taking turns