This Friday night, March 10, one of my favorite singer-songwriters is performing at the Lincoln Theatre in downtown Raleigh. Glen Phillips has been building a solo career ever since the breakup of his band, Toad the Wet Sprocket, back in 1998. It has been interesting to watch him grow into a mature performer (Toad formed when he was only 16 and ended when he was still only 28) after already having experienced solid commercial success.
This particular show was supposed to be with Melissa Ferrick as co-headliner, but she has had to pull out of the tour due to an illness. The Lincoln Theatre has confirmed that Glen will still be performing but that they will offer ticket refunds for the next 10 days to anyone who would like one. Personally, I am not a Ferrick fan so I’m kinda happy to have all the focus on Glen.
The show itself will be partially seated as his performances are pretty mellow with just him and his guitar. Last time he performed at the Lincoln Theatre they filled the bottom section of the room with folding chairs which made the environment really intimate. Oh, and Glen has announced that he will be selling a new EP on this tour called the Unlucky 7 which is made up of outtakes from his last album. His new album, Mr. Lemons, is due out May 2nd. Plus, the former members of Toad have confirmed that they all will be getting back together for some shows this summer which is great news. They will be playing the old Toad stuff and Glen will perform some tracks from his new album. Fingers are crossed that they will make it to the East coast somewhere within driving distance!
So come on out and support good independent music (Glen has split ways with Lost Highway Records and his releasing his music independently now) and continue to put Raleigh on the music map!
I saw Glen open for Melissa last Friday. He did a terrific job and I enjoyed his performance quite a bit. I was a Toad fan but had never seen them perform. I’m definitely a Glen Phillips fan, now.
But I have to ask, how can you not be a Ferrick fan?
Well, I’m unfortunately a big music snob and she’s just not my thing. A little too Ani DiFranco-ish to me, which I know leads to the question “How can you not be a DiFranco fan?” Just harsher than I prefer my acoustic music, I guess.