Monday, October 5, 2009
Concert review: The Toadies at Austin City Limits (October 4)
Dallas rock icons sling it out for a muddy crowd in Austin's Zilker Park.
AUSTIN — Due to Saturday's monsoon, you can only imagine what the park looked like for Austin City Limits' final day. All the lovely green grass that felt so good under your bare feet Friday was now nothing but huge puddles of mud and hay. So, as the Toadies took the Live Strong stage Sunday, it seemed only appropriate that they began with "I Come From the Water," a staple from their first album, Rubberneck.
Kenneth Smith
For a crowd of what seemed to be 20,000 people, the tenured Texas hard rockers, fresh off their "umpteenth" Dallas Observer Music Award in that particular category (Best Hard Rock Band), blistered through a diverse set that included songs from each of their three albums.
They stayed close to what made them popular back in the mid-90's by playing "Happy Face," "Backslider," "Possum Kingdom," "Mexican Hairless," and the obvious crowd-pleaser with which they closed, "Tyler." These Rubberneck gems were juxtaposed with notable tracks off their sophomore effort, Hell Below/Stars Above ("Push the Hand" and "Plane Crash") as well as the title-track to their new album released on Kirtland Records, No Deliverance.
Since I hadn't seen them since their farewell show at Waterloo Park in Austin five or six years ago, I was reminded of what the Toadies really bring. I noticed they don't have to jump all over stage and act like pompous a-hole performers, or even use extravagant light shows or visuals in order to captivate a crowd. They just stood up there and played their brand of Texas rock music like they've always done. Loud, fast, and grooving.
Mark Reznicek's drumming, while not fancy, is the epitome of solid. Clark Vogeler's lead guitar pierces while he plucks, and whips as it wobbles, with his stellar command of his whammy bar. And frontman Vaden Todd Lewis' southern evangelical pipes always serve up a nice slice of angsty-soul pie. That's why they're playing ACL 15 years after releasing their first album and melting young and old faces alike.
J.B. Hawkins is a pop culture analyst based in Denton, Texas.
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Scott Doyle, says:
<i>These Rubberneck gems were juxtaposed with notable tracks off their sophomore <b>effort</b></i>
In the words of the Virgin Mary, come again? Not sure if this was an intentional boot to the junk, but it reads with a very strong implication from where Doyle sits. Hell Below/Stars Above kicks about as much ass as Rubberneck, imo.
Verified
2 months, 1 week agoLink to this comment | Suggest removal
jtmbls, says:
Geez...Is it that time of the month again? The Doyle is tho thensitive!
Anonymous
2 months, 1 week agoLink to this comment | Suggest removal
Scott Doyle, says:
It deserves bettah, jtm!
Verified
2 months, 1 week agoLink to this comment | Suggest removal
hawkinsjb, says:
Doyle, that is in no way a boot to the junk of fans of "HB/SA", I personally think the sophomore effort is just as solid (and more diverse) than Rubberneck. I suppose the language and tone used lent itself more to the fact that the Toadies made it big off of there first album, and that's the album that most people at the festival wanted to hear. It received the loudest applause and the most sing-alongs by far.
I will say, I was highly disappointed they didn't play Doll Skin. One of my favorite Toadies songs of all time.
Anonymous
2 months, 1 week agoLink to this comment | Suggest removal