For the last official day of summer 2022 I did what I set out to do almost exactly a year to the day earlier: see Toadies again, since the original date fell victim to the tail end of the pandemic. Toadies were to play the entire Rubberneck album top to bottom in sequence but this was actually the second time I had the privilege of seeing Rubberneck in full as I caught the performance to celebrate the 20th anniversary at the Belly Up back in 2014. I cannot believe this was eight years ago but really can’t believe that means the album is now 28 years old!
The show time was listed as 6:30 pm so Bob and I figured the actual start time would be 7. We showed up right before that to make sure to catch The Reverend Horton Heat at the behest of my buddy Joe. The next thing you know four fellows wearing matching sleeveless red leather vests appeared onstage. I had heard of RHH but did not really know much about them or what they looked like although I was pretty sure this was not them. The singer immediately started saying something over and over again but I could not quite make it out. After a while we figured out he was saying “Draculas,” which ended up being the band name that they stylize as DRAKULAS. These guys definitely had heard The Stooges and The Ramones before as their punk rock ways resembled both of those bands. Very fast, energetic songs with a frontman that took his cues from Iggy as he wriggled about onstage and spat out amusing banter in between songs. Their music was not so much my cup of tea but they were entertaining.
I did not know what to expect from The Reverend Horton Heat, which made their performance that much better. RHH’s sound was a mixture of rockabilly, country, surf, punk, swing and big band. I do not think it an exaggeration to say that Jim Heath is the best guitar player I have seen in a really long time. He was an absolute beast while Jimbo Wallace held down the fort on the upright bass and Jonathan Jeter would have fit in nicely with a full-on punk band. To keep with the theme of the evening they played their entire 1994 album Liquor in the Front. This album was produced by Al Jourgensen from Ministry and Jim playfully ripped on Al for taking 10 days to play his slide guitar part on one of the tracks. They ended the set with a spot-on version of Motorhead’s “Ace of Spades.” The interesting thing is that as I was researching something for this piece I learned that there is a 1925 American silent Western film serial called The Ace of Spades with a character named Jim Heath….
SETLIST: Big Sky, Baddest of the Bad, One Time for Me, Five-O Ford, In Your Wildest Dreams, Yeah, Right, Cruisin’ for a Bruisin’, I Could Get Used to It, Liquor, Beer and Wine, I Can’t Surf, Jezebel, Rockin’ Dog, The Entertainer, Ace of Spades
There is an excellent little documentary on YouTube called “Clark Vogeler’s “Dark Secrets – The Stories of Rubberneck.” I re-visted this before the show and noticed five different people in the documentary wearing a Reverend Horton Heat hat so it was nice to see them pay homage by having RHH open for them. “Little Sin” was a perfect opening song and we even got to hear an excellent new track called “The Charmer” before they were true to their word and played all of Rubberneck faithfully. “I Burn” was especially cool when they brought out the drummers from the opening bands to beef up the percussion. “I Put A Spell On You” was a fun way to come out for an encore as was more help from their friends for the closer “Rattler’s Revival.” Toadies never disappoint and this time was no exception.
SETLIST: Little Sin, No Deliverance, The Charmer, Jigsaw Girl, Mexican Hairless, Mister Love, Backslider, Possum Kingdom, Quitter, Away, I Come From the Water, Tyler, Happy Face, Velvet, I Burn, I Put a Spell on You, Push the Hand, Rattler’s Revival
