The Lowdown:
Lineup:
Glen Phillips (alternative rock/singer-songwriter)
Gretchen Pleuss (folk/singer-songwriter)
Venue:
Music Box Supper Club, Cleveland, Ohio
Concert Date:
May 9, 2018
Related Articles:
October 8, 2018
Glen Phillips with Gretchen Pleuss
Music Box Supper Club, May 9, 2018
All photos by Jason D. 'Diesel' Hamad, No Surf Music
Music has always been one of the most potent conjurers of nostalgia. Music and memories are locked in a symbiotic relationship. A song can instantly evoke memories imprinted decades before, taking the listener right back to the first time it came on the radio or some particularly poignant moment through which it played, and suddenly the sights, the smells, the emotions, and the relationships associated with that moment are as real in the mind as they were in the moment itself, even decades later. And those memories strengthen the affinity for the music associated with them even more. The music of one’s youth always summons these flashbacks more strongly than that of any other era, and seeing Glen Phillips, frontman of Toad the Wet Sprocket, was a great chance to get my 90’s kid on, eliciting the feeling of driving around in a convertible and feeling the wind blowing through my hair as the radio blared 107.9 The End back at a time when radio was actually something worth listening to. What, you don’t remember that? Well, that’s ok; I don’t really remember having hair, either.
I have to admit, I haven’t kept up with many of the stars from that era when being a certified rock star was still a thing, and Phillips is no exception. Not so for the fans that came to see him that night. Sure, the strongest reactions—and the distinct waft of nostalgia—definitely accompanied songs such as “All I Want” and “Walk on the Ocean,” but it was obvious that most of the crowd members had been buying many a Phillips cd in the intervening years, and they’re the type who still listen to cd’s.
Adding a little extra bonus to the night was the opening set by frequent No Surf collaborator and fellow 90’s music junky Gretchen Pleuss, who wowed the North Coast crowd with her always-delightful vocals and passionate, introspective songwriting. Yes, I took way more pictures of Gretchen than Glen. Wouldn’t you? Her outfit was way cuter.
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