by Eric Thomson
Toad the Wet Sprocket delivered the goods with a high-energy, extremely entertaining performance at the Carnegie Music Hall in Homestead on September 19. Having seen them before, I knew what songs they were likely to play, but there are always surprises when seeing Toad. After performing their crowd-pleasing favorites like “All I Want”, “Good Intentions”, and “Fly From Heaven”, they got out the acoustic instruments and delivered a brief Appalachian-style set, which took the show in a beautiful and unexpected direction. They also delivered a raucous rendition of “Closer to Fine” and a Glenn Phillips solo of “Mercy Street”.
Glenn Phillips is a humble yet engaging front-man for the band, and he performed barefoot, per his usual MO. Dean Dinning used all of his Lakland basses and also delivered a two-man drum-off with Josh Daubin, who has done a great job replacing original drummer Randy Guss. Todd Nichols and Jonathan Kingham help hold it all together with their multi-instrumentalist prowess. The band was in top form, as always, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to see them yet another time. If you aren’t familiar with Toad’s music, I highly encourage you to plug into it–you will not be sorry.
