Tuesday
Oct022007
Glen
Tuesday, October 2, 2007 at 01:01PM
Glen Phillips is great.
He ended being the de facto headliner of a festival I played this past weekend. Due to sponsors pulling out, lack of publicity and a host of other issues, a few artists were asked to not come and the attendance was spotty at best.
So there was Glen all alone on this huge stage in front of a thin, scattered audience. And he was awesome.
Back in the 90's he was the lead singer/songwriter of Toad the Wet Sprocket, one of my all-time favorite bands. He's since been making great solo records, though I admit I haven't followed them religiously.
Well, he was all pro this weekend. The barriers between him and the audience were fairly great and he just didn't let it affect him at all, or let it show anyway. As an encore, he just walked out and stood in front of the stage while about a hundred people crowded around. He probably played five songs, got folks to sing other parts, made a few jokes. It was really great.
I was glad to realize that I liked some of his new songs as well, if not better, than a lot of the old Toad hits. It's hard to keep up that consistency, and it was an inspiration.
I don't know why we as an audience always seem to focus on the newest, hottest thing and leave behind the artists who are growing in their craft, their wisdom, their abilities... Not that Glen's old or anything, he's not, but he's a decade past Maroon5 or whatever boring band is on the radio now. It's our loss. So I'm excited that I have three or four records of Glen's I can explore now.
Anybody have songs or albums to recommend? Of Glen or other artists that you feel may fall in that same category?
He ended being the de facto headliner of a festival I played this past weekend. Due to sponsors pulling out, lack of publicity and a host of other issues, a few artists were asked to not come and the attendance was spotty at best.
So there was Glen all alone on this huge stage in front of a thin, scattered audience. And he was awesome.
Back in the 90's he was the lead singer/songwriter of Toad the Wet Sprocket, one of my all-time favorite bands. He's since been making great solo records, though I admit I haven't followed them religiously.
Well, he was all pro this weekend. The barriers between him and the audience were fairly great and he just didn't let it affect him at all, or let it show anyway. As an encore, he just walked out and stood in front of the stage while about a hundred people crowded around. He probably played five songs, got folks to sing other parts, made a few jokes. It was really great.
I was glad to realize that I liked some of his new songs as well, if not better, than a lot of the old Toad hits. It's hard to keep up that consistency, and it was an inspiration.
I don't know why we as an audience always seem to focus on the newest, hottest thing and leave behind the artists who are growing in their craft, their wisdom, their abilities... Not that Glen's old or anything, he's not, but he's a decade past Maroon5 or whatever boring band is on the radio now. It's our loss. So I'm excited that I have three or four records of Glen's I can explore now.
Anybody have songs or albums to recommend? Of Glen or other artists that you feel may fall in that same category?
Reader Comments (26)
oh, by the way "Jump, Little Children" was the name. The comma might lead to "comma-fusion". lame.