Spend a Sunday Night With Toad the Wet Sprocket at Humphreys Concerts by the Bay
Some bands settle into being a nostalgia act. Toad the Wet Sprocket kept writing. Forty years in, they’re touring behind a record that reworks their own catalog as it sounds today, and that tour docks at Humphreys Concerts by the Bay on Shelter Island.
Songs That Reach Toward the Light
Toad’s music does something specific. It finds the places you didn’t realize were aching and sits there for a while.
“When you hear songs about sadness, grief, loss or difficulty, you know that you’re not alone,” says lead singer Glen Phillips.
He’s careful about the hope part. “It’s not a sunny platitude or a guarantee that everything will be okay in the end. A happy song works better when there’s shadow in it.”
From Dawson’s Creek to the Friends Soundtrack
Fear landed in 1991 and put two songs in the top 20 of Billboard’s Hot 100: “All I Want” and “Walk on the Ocean.”
Then came the placements. “Little Heaven” on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, “All I Want” and “Amnesia” on Dawson’s Creek, “Hey Bulldog” in I Know What You Did Last Summer, “Crazy Life” in Empire Records, and “Good Intentions” on the platinum-selling Friends soundtrack.
If you came up in that decade, you know more Toad songs than you think you do.
Forty Years, Rebuilt From the Ground Up
Rings: The Acoustic Sessions arrived gradually, shared with fans a piece at a time over the past year. The limited edition vinyl sold out in ten minutes.
It isn’t an unplugged greatest hits collection, and it isn’t a remaster with nostalgia poured over it. The band re-recorded hits and deep cuts as they play them right now, which is a different thing entirely.
The band hits its 40th anniversary in 2026, and they’re on the road all year.
Steve Poltz Just Makes Stuff Up
Poltz opens, and he’s not the kind of opener you show up late for. His album Stardust & Satellites came out of a stalled touring year and an open door at Oliver Wood’s place.
“I just make stuff up,” he says, then immediately undercuts himself: “it sounded good to say that.”
He downplays the writing, but the songs are built to celebrate life at every stage. Expect stories between them. That’s half of what you’re paying for.
See you there!
Sunday night on the water, two songwriters decades deep, and a catalog you already know by heart. Grab a seat early and let the harmonies do the rest.
📆 Sunday, August 23 | 7:30 PM
📍 2241 Shelter Island Dr, San Diego
🎟️ Get your tickets here
ℹ️ See the full schedule here
See you there, San Diego!
