I’m not going to sidestep the issue here. Everyone at LRLM.net knows I’m the loose cannon of the group. I’m fine with that, so why should that change now? To preface all of this, I am still coming off of a cold, so I’ve been in lower spirits recently, but I still want to address some things about Rev Room as a venue. Sure, it's a huge place that caters to pretty much every walk of life. The beer is overpriced, but what venue in downtown Little Rock isn’t horrendously overpriced? I see the wheels in your head turning and they can’t come up with a good answer for that question. To continue, the venue has great lighting and ample space for a lot of people in front of the stage and immediately behind closer to the bar. Finally, they have been booking decent acts where other venues have been falling off. I’m okay with most of that, but last night was one of the most unpleasant experiences I have had there, and maybe I can’t fully blame it on the venue itself, but I sure can say that I won’t be going back until Wolf Parade in November, unless something spectacularly decent comes through before that date.
My night started off all right. I got the venue around 8:30, and was surprised to see that the first opener, Arranda (who I’ve never heard of), had been playing since about 8pm as the website advertised as the time of the start of the show. Normally I thought they’d just be getting started after sound checks and goofing around, but I’ll give the venue props for actually starting when they said they would. Arranda was okay. There were lots of heavy bass lines, jostling drumbeats, and crazy amounts of guitar. I only heard two of their songs, but they were pretty catchy and very high energy. After they finished, they cleared off the stage and made way for the better known opener.
People in Planes took the stage and were immediately plagued by technical difficulties. They spent around 20 minutes or so fixing everything and by the time they were finally ready to play they apologized profusely, even though it wasn’t their fault. They started playing and immediately got the crowd in to it. They are pretty straight up indie rock, but they don’t really sound like every other typical indie band. They have witty lyrics and catchy music that draws you in, so it was a pleasure to see them. I saw them several years ago and don’t remember them being as good, and I don’t know if I’ll see them again any time soon because they hail from Southern Wales, and who knows when they’ll get back to Arkansas.
So, my night had been decent up until that point. I got my front row center spot for the Toadies. As soon as I’d gotten settled in there, a burly security guard comes up to me and says, “You have a camera? You were taking photos during the last set? You can’t take photos during the Toadies.” He was not nice about the whole thing, and from what I could see, I was the only one he told that too. I tried asking why, but he disappeared quickly, leaving me confused and pretty pissed off. As I stand there silently fuming, this guy muscles his way in to the front directly besides me. I brush it off for a while, but soon come to realize it’s going to be that guy who no one wants to stand next to because he's that obnoxious. Sure, it’s fantastic when a band can bring out those kinds of fans, but I’ll be dammed if I want to stand next to them. After a monitor was almost dropped on my foot because that idiot just fell over, I decided I’d had enough of this guy. He kept pushing in to me, so I threw a few swift elbows here and there. He finally calmed down a bit and after a while left to go towards the back. I was relieved, and up until that point had had a sneer on my face. That prompted the Toadies’ bassist, Doni, to mouth at me, “Are you ok?” I silently mouthed back yes, and kind of rolled my eyes towards where the guy had been. He nodded at me in agreement and smiled at me. They continued to play and delivered just as great of a performance as the last time I saw them in December 2007. The show this time was more loud, raucous, and high energy. I was none to thrilled when a mosh pit started up behind me and pushed me in to the stage. So naturally, I threw a few more elbows in its general direction and people shifted away. The Toadies were good. They’re straight up post-grunge, alt-rock. They played the popular crowd favorites, “Possum Kingdom”, “Tyler”, “Dollskin”, and “I Come From the Water.” The crowd sang along to all of these, and it was just interesting to see that that many people knew all of the words. The Toadies also played several new songs, which I’d never heard and they were pretty good. So, to sum up all of that, The Toadies, no matter how many line-up switches and years go by, can still bring it and play a great show.
I did take some photos of them after I was told not to. They didn’t turn out that well because I couldn’t risk getting the camera I was using confiscated, so I wanted to say sorry in advance. At the end of the Toadies encore, the bassist leaned over and stripped his set list from the stage and handed it to me, instead of the 10 other people around him, all the while saying, “Sorry you had to stand by that asshole.” That literally made my night. The group stuck around afterwards and talked to their fans, took photos with them, and signed whatever anyone could come up with, including this one girl’s foot, as long as she promised not to get it tattooed on. They are a great group of guys, and I’d willingly see them again the next time they come through Little Rock.
--L
P.S. I have a big mouth and that translates in to me writing too much sometimes, but I’m not particularly sorry about that. :o)
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