Welcome to Concert Memories May!  All of my Monday blog entries this month will be about memorable concerts.

Toadies had to tread a long and winding road on the way to getting their second full-length album released.  That's a strange thing to write, and is indicative of how much nonsense comes with the music business.  Toadies had a massive radio single and a platinum album, but still had to fight with their label to get Hell Below/Stars Above released.  The release was unsupported by their label, which never made any sense to me.  I think it's a stronger album than their debut.  For me and a few of my friends, it was certainly highly anticipated.  Once the album was released, Toadies hit the road to support it.  They played three shows in Ohio.  I attended all three.

My memories of these shows are too thick and convoluted to write into a cohesive narrative.  I think a bullet list would better fit here.  Here are just some of the things I remember:

• Driving to Columbus, meeting up with friends, then driving to the show in Cleveland
• Meeting Diffuser, conversing with Lawrence, the bass player, and him remembering us at future shows
• Seeing "Dollskin" live for the first time
• Walking down the street with Toadies after the show because we had parked in the same general direction as the tour bus
• Stopping for a snack in Lodi and having that stop be longer than anticipated because the keys had been locked in the car
• Learning all of the Diffuser songs by the next time we caught the show
• Talking to Toadies about Bands on the Run
• Realizing that "Paper Dress" was making a serious challenge as my favorite Toadies song 
• Enjoying the Toadies' nod to their influences, as they covered "Where Is My Mind?" every show

 

Here's a picture with my friend Brandy after the Cincinnati show, with Mark and Clark from Toadies.