Call it pop rock, call it dad rock, whatever the case, the Greek Theater hosted three nineties greats last Friday evening that was (for the most part) exactly what you would expect it to be – songs filled with crisp, radio-friendly melodies, sunny sing-alongs, cheesy jokes and touching moments of sincerity. Led by Canadian legends Barenaked Ladies, the Last Summer on Earth Tour finally arrived after three years of postponements and the audience was thrilled to finally enjoy it.
I can’t say I listened to too much Toad the Wet Sprocket during their heyday in the nineties, but I have spent the last couple years becoming more familiar with them and growing to appreciate their relaxed songwriting and excellent harmonizing. They opened the show with “Come Down” and the beautiful “Good Intentions”. One of the first things I noticed was that the lead singer was barefoot on a carpet, emphasizing the group’s California vibes. The band only included the smooth “Transient Whales” from their latest album Starting Now (which is a shame as I would have loved to hear the title track). Their hit single “All I Want” was a crowd favorite, though surprisingly not the closer – the group still had four more songs, including a cover of “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding”. The group closed with “Walk on the Ocean”, which did feel appropriate to play in the California setting.
Having seen Gin Blossoms twice before, I knew what to expect from the road warriors and they delivered. Opening with my personal favorite “Follow You Down” (also a favorite of TV’s Ted Lasso), the group played a tight set of their (many) hits, with the only outliers being the haunting “Face the Dark” from Mixed Realities, and the deep cut rocker “Hands are Tied”. While I will always campaign for them to insert songs from their under-appreciated album Major Lodge Victory (at least “Learning the Hard Way”), I can understand the issues the band has had with that album’s label which prevent it from hitting streaming services is likely discouraging. Still, one can never complain hearing stand-outs like “Found Out About You”, “Hey Jealousy” or the closer “Till I Hear it From You”. It should also be commended that frontman Robin Wilson organized an auction of a guitar signed by all three bands to raise money for Chef Jose Andres’ World Central Kitchen. Just another reminder of the heart and soul these bands have.
Though I have been a Barenaked Ladies fan since hearing “One Week” on the radio, I have never seen the band live, but did have high expectations based on responses heard from other longtime fans of the group. They opened strong with “New Disaster”, one of our Top Ten Songs of 2021, a socially-conscious rocker that shows off some of the band’s best lyrics in a long time. They remained on a roll playing fan-favorite “It’s All Been Done”, the appropriate “Summertime”, and one of their strongest pop songs “Pinch Me”. Mixed with the nostalgic home video reels playing behind them, the song is one I will always associate with summer, with its dreamy, escapist lyrics capturing the youthful spirit of that time of year.
The group made light of their plan to play new material, jokingly saying there was an insistent section of the audience demanding it (hint – mostly not true). Not that there aren’t good tracks on their new album. The opener is the strongest of them, but other tracks like “Living Well”, which frontman Ed Robertson discussed as being inspired by the poor relationship he had with his father, was a moving number to hear live, and “Big Back Yard” was given a perfect animated background video. Another evening highlight was 2013’s “Odds Are”, the hopeful anthem that felt cathartic based on the times we have recently lived through.
While I also enjoyed new song “Man Made Lake”, performed by the band as a tighter ensemble in a folk style, I think the group could have done without the psychedelic metal freak-out “Internal Dynamo”. They recovered from this with the strong combo of “Brian Wilson”, “Good Life” (another strong new one) and the bubbly “Looking Up”. The band then teased their big sitcom theme hit, but threw the audience a curveball with a cover of the “Happy Days” theme before doing their actual hit “Big Bang Theory Theme”.
When “One Week” came, the audience was up on its feet and doing their best to sing along with the tongue-twisting song. While the track is an indelible hit, its also polarizing for marking the band as novelty songwriters, which is a truly unfair designation for BNL, who have a sizable number of songs that tackle more meaningful subject matter (“Off the Hook”, “You Run Away”, “Easy”). But those songs are generally not the ones people come to see them perform live. They instead want “If I Had $1,000,000”, which they got after “One Week”. This provided some fun call-and-response parts with the band, that would have been a fitting closer to the main set…but then came a crazy medley with the drummer on vocals and Robertson picking up the sticks. Including songs like “Just a Friend”, “Whip It”, “Tom Sawyer” and “Whole Lotta Love”, the choices were amusing, though ultimately I would have much rather have heard the band bust out “Falling for the First Time” or “Bull in a China Shop” over these covers.
At least for the encore the band played the sentimental “The Old Apartment”, which is rightfully an enduring song for the band. Blending humor with pathos, with the ability to make you sad while smiling, it’s a reminder of the talent the group has as storytellers, and perhaps if more Americans gave the group a chance beyond their goofier singles, there might be more appreciation for BNL and their brand of fun-loving rock.
So while I would have adjusted the set-list, BNL put on an endearing performance to cap off an enjoyable, nostalgic night of music. Take a listen to the Last Summer on Earth playlist put together by the bands!
The Indy Review 