As a fan of a wide variety of popular (and not-so-popular) music from the 1950s (and sometimes even earlier) up through the present, one of my bucket list projects for years has been to put together a list of my 100 favorite songs of all time. At some point I decided that, once I got around to figuring that out, I could put it out on a blog, for the infinitesimally small proportion of the Internet world that might be interested. So, here we are. While the Top 100 will be a major focus, I also plan to post on a variety of other musical (and occasionally non-musical) topics, in which you may or may not be interested. (If a particular posting doesn’t ring your bell, you’re only a few clicks away from a dancing cat video on YouTube.)

Tuesday, July 19, 2022

Barenaked Ladies/Gin Blossoms/Toad The Wet Sprocket – Wolf Trap, 7/17/2022

Prime Orchestra, Row F, Seat 119. This seems to be my permanent seat this summer. Fortunately, there was very little in-and-out this time.

 

With three name acts, the show started at 7:00, with Toad and the Gin Blossoms doing around 45 minutes each, while Barenaked Ladies finished up with 100 minutes or so, coming within 5 minutes of the venue’s 11:00 curfew.

 

Toad The Wet Sprocket started with a couple songs that I recognized but had forgotten about, followed by four that I hadn’t heard before. The second half kicked off with their first hit, “All I Want”, followed by a nice cover of “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding”, my two personal favorites (“Something Always Wrong” and “Fall Down”) and ending with “Walk On The Ocean”. Overall, it was an enjoyable, no-nonsense set of melodious, pop-oriented rock.

Setlist

 

Although the Gin Blossoms’ melodic rock is relatively similar to Toad’s, their sets were dramatically different, primarily due to the contrasting approaches of their respective frontmen. While Glen Phillips was on the quiet side and let the music speak for itself, Robin Wilson turned the energy/hype knob up to 11 on nearly every song. Sing along! Clap! Wave your arms back and forth! Get out your cellphones! I certainly don’t mind some of that, but for me he was pushing a good thing too far.

 

The songs, of course, were great, familiar (with the exception of “Break”) to just about everybody who followed the band during its 1993-1996 heyday. They did sound different live than on CD, as the harmony vocals were mostly lost in the mix. While I enjoyed the set overall, I wish they would have focused more on maintaining the subtleties that elevated their recorded material and less on coaxing the audience to participate in one way or another on nearly every song.

Setlist

 

Barenaked Ladies ended the evening, coming up with a first-rate set that showed off their versatility and greatly exceeded my expectations. They certainly did a fine job on their best-loved songs, including “Brian Wilson” (my personal favorite), “One Week”, and “If I Had $1000000”, most of which were performed in their default configuration, with Ed Robertson on guitar and lead vocals, Kevin Hearn on keyboards, Jim Creeggan on electric bass, and Tyler Stewart on drums. They changed things up for several numbers in the middle of the set, bringing everyone together up front with Creeggan on upright bass, Hearn on accordion, and Stewart bringing up a single piece of his drug set. They also complemented the music with some great videos on the large screen behind them, especially on the new “Big Back Yard” and their 2000 single “Pinch Me”.

 

In addition to the favorites, and a couple other older tunes, they did 8 of the tracks off of their 2021 album Detour de Force, which collectively impressed me so much that I ordered the CD the next day, despite the somewhat lukewarm critical reception. It deftly mixes serious and more whimsical tracks, some of which would be good for kids of all ages, and a few of which could fit well into the repertoire of some country music acts.

 

They concluded the main set with a rap-infused singalong medley led by Stewart, which started with “Sing” and ended with “Whole Lotta Love”, with “Just A Friend”, “Coincidance”, and “Whip It” in the middle. For their encore, they cleverly played on the Traveling Wilburys’ supergroup conceit, bringing the Gin Blossoms and Toad The Wet Sprocket back out to trade guitar licks and vocals on “Handle With Care”.

Setlist

 

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