TOAD WAS GOOD, BUT EVERYTHING BETTER

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, April 16, 1993                   TAG: 9304160050
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MARK MORRISON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
TOAD WAS GOOD, BUT EVERYTHING BETTER
Toad was fine enough. It's just that the Salem Civic Center was so big.
And so empty.
A meager 1,220 people - primarily from the college crowd - showed for Toad the Wet Sprocket's concert Wednesday night in Salem. The Salem Civic Center can hold more than five times that number.
It looked funny, the Toads playing to such an empty hall.
Lead singer Glen Phillips and his band mates - guitarist Todd Nichols, bassist Dean Dinning and drummer Randy Guss - did their best to fill the empty space.
Phillips has a mellow, easy-going voice that doesn't spark fireworks, but was pleasant enough. It was most effective on the softer material, which dominated the band's 90-minute show. Toad the Wet Sprocket is a rock band, but not a very hard-edged one. Much closer to - although not as good as - Squeeze than to Guns N' Roses.
If Toad wasn't plugged in, it would make a good, quiet coffeehouse band.
Even plugged in, the group, like Phillips' singing, doesn't create a lot of fireworks. Toad's thing is pretty mellow, bordering on dull and mediocre.
Maybe that partly explains the sparse crowd. Toad isn't a pack 'em in and punch 'em in the stomach arena-type act. The more intimate setting of an auditorium would have suited the band better. Something smaller.
The extra space did come in useful during one song, however.
Noting the mostly open floor, singer Phillips invited the audience to get a little exercise: "There is enough room for you to run laps around the sound board if you want."
About 100 or so people took him up on the offer.
Everything, a funky six-piece band based in Washington, D.C., opened Wednesday's show with a lively 40-minute set that laid down some solid grooves and arguably upstaged its headliner.
An extremely tight outfit, the band played like a funked-up, homeboy version of the Spin Doctors - only even more danceable. The group was infectious, playing like it was jamming to a packed club rather than an empty arena. The band generated that same sort of club-like atmosphere. Perfect for a college crowd.
A rollicking "Soul Fish" stood out in particular.
Everything is so far unsigned by any major label, but here's a hunch: it will be soon.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB