Concert Review: Toadies At Stubb’s: Texas rockers refuse to mellow with age with high energy Austin show.
The Toadies set at Stubb’s last Friday proves why they’re still going on strong where so many of their Lone Star State contemporaries have faded into the woodwork. The band’s set pulled from their entire discography, including their recent album The Lower Side of Uptown, arguably their strongest effort since their 1994 classic Rubberneck.
Click here for my review of The Lower Side of Uptown
Openers Local H made an absolutely monstrous sound for a two piece, and peppered the set with new material along with standbys like Bound For The Floor, Hands on The Bible and High Fiving MF.
Toadies took the stage with Take Me Alive, a skronky charmer off the new album which got the crowd moving, followed by the classic I Came From The Water, where frontman Vaden Todd Lewis’s granulated howl showed no sign of age.
Click here for my 2015 interview with Vaden Todd Lewis
With the glaring omission of Mr. Love, Toadies covered all the Rubberneck highlights, including a slamming takes on hits like Possum Kingdom and Tyler, while deep cuts like Happyface drew equal cheers. Dollskin off their underrated 1999 effort Hell Below/Stars Above was another highlight, showing the band at their most emotive.
Other new cuts like Polly Jean and Broke Down Stupid also went down well, and the energy between band and fans remained ebullient throughout.
Lewis acknowledged the recent mass shooting in Sutherland Springs, telling attendees that if they were angry about Texas lax gun laws to “get out and vote” before launching into a cover of Tom Petty’s Breakdown as a peace-offering, ending the song by saying “I feel better already.”
He then told everyone to shake their ass before breaking into Rattler Revival (joking about offering a “rent-an-ass” service if anyone left backsides at home).
The set ended with a positively apocalyptic rendition of I Burn, with Local H joining in on thunderous percussion, followed by the group’s playful cover of Screaming Jay Hawkins’ I Put A Spell On You. They burned indeed, their brand of alt-rock boogie heating up a particularly chilly fall night.
SETLIST:
Take Me Alive
I Come From the Water
Sweetness
Mexican Hairless
Push The Hand
When I Die
Tyler
Away
No Deliverance
Broke Down Stupid
Quitter
Dollskin
Polly Jean
Happy Face
Song I Hate
Possum Kingdom
Encore:
Breakdown
(Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers cover)
Rattler’s Revival
I Burn
I Put a Spell on You