Concert review: The Toadies at the Annex in Madison

We've been steadily enjoying our four-day vacation this week, despite the fact that we were one of the few Midwesterners that didn't make it down to Lollapalooza this weekend. If you are like us and missed your chance this year at Lolla, you can head over to Largehearted Boy where they've got a running collection of downloads going for sets from this year's fest.

Instead of taking in the Chicago area with the rest of the indie crowd, we hung a bit further north to Madison where we caught The Toadies in their Lollapalooza warmup gig alongside Madison locals The Box Social and Athens, Georgia travelers The Whigs.

If you've caught a show recently in the Midwest, there a good chance you've seen The Box Social on a bill, and these guys know how to get the job done as an opening act.


They ran through a blistering set of tunes off their debut album, Get Going, and their incredibly enthusiastic sound and stage presence (think Weezer, Blue album era) really got the crowd that had gathered near the stage excited for the rest of the show. If you're lucky enough to catch these guys in the Midwest (they'll be playing ahead of Bob Mould in Madison for the Forward Music Festival in September), you're in for a real treat.

The Box Social rock The Annex

Once described by Rolling Stone as "the best unsigned band in America," The Whigs followed The Box Social's set with a more polished brand of their My Morning Jacket-esque southern indie rock.

The Whigs

The Whigs

The Athens trio were certainly not a disappointment, and their tunes from Mission Control made many in the crowd instant fans. The band, which is compromised of drummer Julian Dorio (Esquire Magazine's best drummer of the year in 2007), lead singer Parker Gispert and bassist Tim Deaux, are currently touring in support of Mission Control and are even planning a tour with Tokyo Police Club in September that is sure to sell out fast.


Catch this Athens trio on tour in a town near you.

At 11 or so The Toadies took the stage flanked by what looked like their original security guards from days gone past and a bunch of crazy fans eager for their once favorite 90's band to again take the stage.

It was a fairly young, college-aged crowd but there was certainly a share of people in their 30's or 40's who came out to catch the show as well. The crowd by this point had swelled to a full house and were pushing over the monitors on the edge of the stage toward lead singer Todd Lewis, which prompted him to ask the crowd to let the band "have this area (the stage)" which I dismissed as a bit of a silly notion given that we were in The Annex, and how crazy could a Toadies show really get? After the band ripped through Rubberneck favorites "Backslider" and "Happyface" en route to a powerful "Hell Below/Stars Above," I knew that the plea for stage safety might actually be something the band would have to fight for that night as the masses swelled in the middle and began to push over onto the stage.

A Toadies setlist, before it ended up in Felicia's purse

The Toadies played a Rubberneck heavy set, (only "Velvet" was left out) mixing in a bit of old ("Away," "Push the Hand") with the new ("So Long Lovely Eyes," "Man of Stone") in the next couple songs before "finally starting the show" as Lewis called out before diving into crowd-pleaser "Possum Kingdom." "No Deliverance", "Mister Love," and "Nothing to Cry about" rounded out the next couple of songs, putting the total of new tracks off No Deliverance played to four by this point.

Lewis seemed hesitant to play some of the new tracks, asking the crowd if they were "ok" with the band mixing in some new stuff, to which the eager crowd replied "hell yeah", which I think, even for a grizzled rock star like Lewis was a vote of confidence.

The Toadies' Todd Lewis

Lewis croons, the crowd swoons

The Toadies rounded out the set with all old classics - "I Burn," "Plane Crash", "Quitter" and "I Come From the Water", before heading off for a brief break and the encore. The band returned a few minutes later to close down the show with another Rubberneck track - "Mexican Hairless", a new song that hadn't been played live yet, "Flower," and ended the night with crowd-favorite "Tyler."

All in all it was a pretty tight show from start to finish for all three acts, but the crowd didn't really respond as I had expected until The Toadies took the stage. A well-timed "I like you better than Lisa" yell to the new bassist from Felicia landed us his setlist and a pick, and the band even stuck around to greet and sign autographs for every single member in the audience after the show. The Toadies are known for keeping close tabs on their fan correspondence and Lewis even remembered the letter Felicia wrote him 10 or more years ago that he personally responded to. Their "handshake and hugs" campaign, once a mainstay of the garage rock era but now seemingly lost among the production and propaganda of current pop stars, will certainly help keep their current fans excited and tuned in, and will undoubtedly create a whole new generation of fans for years to come with their tour and latest release.

Just before the Toadies launched into "Tyler," Felicia leaned over to me in her Long Island Ice Tea voice and said "I feel like I'm 13 again" - which I think sums up the feeling most of the crowd had that night, watching the memories of their teen angst being played out in chords and choruses once used to channel away the pains of growing up, now being sung from the aged rock stars on the stage to their once youthful, yet always faithful fans eager to remember, reconnect, and rock their hearts out.

*More great photos from the show can be seen at You Be the Mouse