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With Special Guest MUGWAMS |
New Haven, CT |
| Toad’s Place is the best place in Connecticut to see a band. This
club is relatively small, considering the bands that play here. Popular
Bands the likes of U-2 played here on their way up. Bob Dylan chose Toad’s
as the place to make his comeback to live shows. He played for five hours
with few breaks. During their Steel Wheels tour, The Rolling Stones played
an unadvertised extra show at Toad’s Place. I was happy to find myself
at Toad’s reviewing my first show, Mugwams and Steel Pulse. I went to Toad’s early and wandered around the bar and stage area drinking water from a plastic cup. The main room at Toad’s is large with the stage on one side and a bar on the opposite side. To the right of the stage is a large video screen, to the left another bar and tables and chairs. There is no seating in front of the stage, everyone stands and you can lean up against the base of the stage if you’re in front. There is a side room with a couple of pinball machines, pool tables and another bar. Bands like Bob Marley and the Wailers, Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers, and Juluka filled the video screen before the live show. Mugwams came on late, around 9:45. The crowd was light and still trickling in. Most people stayed seated where they were. A small crowd, maybe fifty people, stood between the stage and the main bar. I had no problem taking pictures at this point. I had plenty of room to move around. |
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| "Mugwams" are a local Connecticut Ska influenced band. I was
completely unfamiliar with them when I came to the show. They came on stage
individually. They started playing one by one, building the music as each
band member came on stage. The band is lead guitar, bass, drums, trumpet,
and sax. I was impressed with the lead singer’s stage presence. He
moved around the stage like he owned it. I could pick out few lyrics, but
his voice was strong and fit the music well. The band played eleven songs, some of them originals. At the end of the fifth song, the lead singer moved deliberately to the right side of the stage, put his mike down and stepped down into the crowd. It made me feel uneasy with the emptiness he left behind. Three Rastafarian singers took his place on stage. "Mugwams" played three songs with Rasta lead vocals. The lead singer returned for the final three songs. When "Mugwams" finished their set, I felt some kind of new electricity in the air. By now the crowd had grown to about 250 people. It was as though someone said, “Ok, you can get excited now, "Steel Pulse" is coming on next.” As one, as if on some hidden cue, the crowd calmly moved forward toward the stage. I found myself up against the stage on the right-hand side. I pulled my camera back out of my camera bag. I only had two songs to shoot pictures and I wanted to be ready. |
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| About 25 minutes later, Steel Pulse took the stage. It was obvious that
most of the crowd was very familiar with the band. Everyone started cheering
from the start. Steel Pulse opened their set with “Nyahbinghi Voyage”
and “Islands Unite”. Since I had only heard their new album, I
was unfamiliar with these songs, but the Reggae rhythm grabbed me immediately.
This band is really tight. I had trouble focusing on snapping my pictures,
because I wanted to move with the music. Instead, I pushed my way through
the front of the crowd, snapping shots from one side of the stage to the
other. They played a song called “Body Guard” next, followed by three songs from their new album Rage and Fury; “Role Model”, “Ku Klux Klan”, and “Peace Party”. I was thrilled because I knew these songs and “Peace Party” is one of my favorite songs from the new album. By now I was really getting into this band and so was the crowd. |
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“Taxi Driver” came next. I didn’t know this song either, but the Reggae beat, the enthusiasm of the band and the crowd carried me along. I found myself dancing a bit with the crowd. A medley of older songs followed “Taxi Driver” that included “Babylon Makes the Rules” and “Reggae Fever”. Many people in the crowd knew the songs and sang along. |
| I could tell “Back to My Roots” was a big song for Steel Pulse because the crowd cheered louder when they started playing it. They did a short brass solo and then a guitar solo during the song. The last song in their first set was “Steppin’ Out” Band members began spinning around and hopping as they played. This increased the excitement of the crowd and by now I really felt part of it. The chorus “Open says a me/ Here comes Rasta Man/Abracadabra/ Catch me if you can” grabbed me. The crowd knew the song and joined in singing it. As the song ended and the lights went down, we all began yelling louder and stamping our feet for more. |  |
| It wasn’t long before Hinds and crew took the stage again. They went right into “Ravers”. It was a great song. Then, they played the single from the new album, Van Morrison’s “Brown-Eyed Girl”. Everyone began to sing along. Even I did, and I’m not one to do that. |
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“Roller Skates” came next, a song about the establishment stealing the music. Their last song was “Rally Round (The Flag)”. They brought out two flags. One was green and yellow, the other was red and had a lion on it. Toward the end of the song, each band member did a solo, starting with sax and trumpet. Then keyboardist Selwyn “Bumbo” Brown did his solo. An awesome guitar solo followed and drummer Steve “Grizzly” Nisbett took his turn. |
As each soloist played, the bass line continued in the background.
Then it was the bass player’s turn. He received major applause from
the crowd when he started. Finally lead singer David Hinds did a guitar
solo. The effect was awesome. This band can really play! At the end of “Rally
Round” they left the stage quickly. It was about 12:20. Most the crowd
filtered out of Toad’s Place almost as quickly as the band left the
stage. Steel Pulse put on an awesome show.
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