What do the Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, U-2, The Police, Phish, the Black Crowes, Steve Martin and Bob Dylan have in common? They have all spent at least an hour and half in front of an intimate crowd of about 1,000 at Toad’s Place.
Large venues such as Hartford’s Meadows Music Theater and Oakdale Theater desire the intimacy of a rock club but cannot afford to cut their ticket sales. Fans don’t want to pay $50 for a concert ticket, but every once in a while they want to witness a big-name act.
Toad’s Place is the solution for both of these problems. It feels like a bar. It feels like a concert arena. But it’s a nightclub. It can be a comedy club. It’s a haven for the literally all the living legends. Most importantly, it’s only 20 minutes away.
Toad’s Place sits comfortably and confidently right in the middle of downtown New Haven’s cultural Mecca, near the Yale University Repertory Theater, the more-than 50 year-old Cutler’s Record Shop and many trendy and intellectually enchanting shops.
Toad’s celebrates 30 years in business this year. It isn’t hard to imagine that this prominent figure in the national music business can still be hopping (premeditated pun) with an incredible lineup of live music and dance parties.
New to the Place is the aptly named lounge The Lily Pad. It seems to be on a more laid back level of hopping-ness; maybe it leaps. Pitched for its martinis and casual atmosphere, prices are cheap.
Toad’s has been voted nightclub of the year several times over and doesn’t show signs of stopping. Yahoo Travel will tell you this as well as remind you consider a trip to Toad’s so you can literally partake in music history.
On Saint Patrick’s Day, the Black Crowes showed up. Next weekend Everclear will take over, and later in the month Reel Big Fish, Lifehouse, Papa Roach and Tower of Power will all perform. Rumors and hopes suggest that the Rolling Stones will tour this summer. Will they stop at Toad’s like they did in ’89? Don’t expect it, but don’t be surprised either.
Tickets for shows at Toad’s Place are available at a variety of locations, including Strawberries, Exile on Main St. New Haven, Merles Record Rack and they are also available online through etix.com if you have a printer. Make sure you buy as early as humanly possible, though, because almost all shows have the very real potential to be the hottest tickets around.
The box office is located upstairs from the club at 300 York Street, New Haven.
It’s open 11 a.m. – 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. Phone number: (203) 624.TOAD. Tickets are also sold at the door on the night of the show if there are any left.
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