by Elizabeth G

Created on: February 10, 2007   Last Updated: May 09, 2007

Prior to the summer of 2005, the song "Something's Always Wrong" by Toad the Wet Sprocket was the best song ever produced. "Something's Always Wrong" is a song that I never tire of, that I listened to countless times on my way to and from high school, back and forth from college, and now on my iPod when I run. It was also the song that instantly bonded me and Willem, a former boyfriend and now good friend, because it is his favorite song, too. We met in 2001, so by that time the song's prime was long gone, and yet the two of us still deemed it one of the best, if not the best song we'd ever heard.

Toad the Wet Sprocket was by far my favorite band in the 90's. I owned and memorized all of their CDs and to this day I can still sing the lyrics by heart to nearly all of their songs. I had the pleasure of attending their concert at the Loudoun Summer Music fest last night in Leesburg with my friend Sarah. On one hand, it's sad to see a band that was once so immensely popular perform at a relatively small venue with tickets at $12.50/each. But then again, I saw them back in 1997 at the 9:30 club for free if you bought their new CD. I suppose it was an effort to sell more copies of Coil and retain their popularity although it was dwindling by the late 90's.

What a perfect night for a concert! There was no humidity, the temperature was in the upper 70's, and there was even a full moon. The concert go-ers consisted of mainly adults in their 30's and many small children. There was a distinct lack of teenagers, but no shortage of small children, making for a meloow atmosphere. Surprisingly, I was one of the few people really getting into it and singing along and dancing. The good thing about this was that we were able to get very close to the stage, within 20 feet of the band. And we probably could have gone even closer if we wanted.

As for the music itself- outstanding! Even better than their extraordinary performance at the 9:30 club nine years ago. Glen's voice has definitely matured in a good way over the years. He sang the songs more colorfully and with more depth of emotion than in the recorded versions. The music sent chills up my spine, and reminded me of the years when I was absolutely obsessed with this band. I hoped they would open with "Something's Always Wrong", which they did, and they played their most popular tunes first. Most of their songs were from their most popular albums, Dulcinea and Fear. Although they did dip into their earlier albums, and played

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