Royal Oak Music Theater played host to the Toadies this past Wednesday in Royal Oak, Michigan. The band is on tour to celebrate the 25th (and then some) anniversary of their platinum debut ‘Rubberneck’ with Nashville Pussy and Reverend Horton Heat opening. After having to re-schedule two times, a third set time was a success.

            Doors opened to the venue at 7pm and quickly filled in. At 8pm sharp, Nashville Pussy hit the stage, followed by Reverend Horton Heat. Both bands got the crowd singing and cheering as it felt like they too were the top band of the tour. Fans of both bands made the venue electric.

            At 10:15pm, the lights went down and ‘Staying Alive’ by the Bee Gees came on signaling the Toadies are on their way. As promised with the tour, the band played the entire ‘Rubberneck’ album front to back. Fans of all ages came and sang along and to each song.

All in all, it was a great night of music by all three bands. The instrumental solos as well as all three bands vocal abilities made for one great tour performance. I spoke to a fan after the event and he said how he has loved the Toadies since the ‘Rubberneck’ album. This was his first time seeing them live and was just amazed by how great they sounded, some 27 years later.

            In a press release given to us, it is stated:

                        Rubberneck might be 25 plus years old but it still has enduring staying power in pop culture. The LP’s smash hit ‘Possum Kingdom’ remains one of the most played recurrent tracks on Active Rock and Alternative radio and still pops up all over the place to this day: Earlier this year Ultimate Guitar named Rubberneck one of the Top 10 Grunge albums that survived the ’00’s and the album also made Rolling Stone’s ’50 Greatest Grunge Albums’ as well as their list for 1994: The 40 Best Records From Mainstream Alternative’s Greatest Year. Tracks from the album continue to appear in unexpected places from Guitar Hero to as far away as England’s NMEincluding it in their A History Of Rock’N’Roll in 100 Riffs right along with Johnny Cash, Beatles, Stones, The Who, Fleetwood Mac, Queen Ramones, The Smiths, Metallica, Rage, Nirvana, Foo Fighters, Muse, and White Stripes.  TV shows from This is Us to For All Mankind on Apple + have included Rubberneck tracks.  Robotman in Season 2 of Doom Patrol even wore a vintage Toadies shirt. Girl Talk’s ‘This is the Remix’ sampled ‘Possum Kingdom,’ while Kelly Clarkson was seen and heard  singing along to the song in her dressing room during an episode of last season’s The Voice.  Indie chanteuse, St. Vincent also covered the song on a Sirius XMU Session.

More inspiration from Rubberneck has made its way to the written page with Marvel Comics featuring the band in two X-Men comics and NY Times and USA Today best selling author Xio Axelrod’s latest novel The Girl With the Stars in Her Eyes has the main character’s band cover Toadies ‘I Burn’ off Rubberneck. Vaden Lewis has also done his own series of lyric comics including ‘Tyler’ and ‘I Burn.’

The Toadies have released an EP as well, Damn You All To Hell. The Ep features four songs:

1.  Damn You All To Hell

2.  Deep Deep Water 

3.  Forgiven

4. Sound And Vision (David Bowie Cover)

Be sure to check out all three bands in the remaining tour shows listed below:

Oct. 15 – Pittsburgh, PA – Jergel’s^ SOLD OUT

Oct. 16 – New York, NY – Irving Plaza^

Oct. 19 – Boston, MA – Paradise^

Oct 20 – New Haven, CT – College Street Music Hall^

Oct. 21 – Asbury Park, NY – Stone Pony^

Oct. 22 – Philadelphia, PA – Underground Arts^ SOLD OUT

Oct. 23 – Silver Spring, MD – The Fillmore^

Oct. 25 – Nashville, TN – Brooklyn Bowl^

Oct. 26 – Atlanta, GA – Buckhead Theater^

Oct. 27 – Orlando, FL – House Of Blues

Oct. 28 – Ft. Lauderdale, FL – Culture Room^

Oct. 29 – St Petersburg, FL – Jannus Live^

Oct. 31 – House of Blues – New Orleans, Drakulas only support

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