As one of the greatest bands in the history of rock and roll, The Frogs are capable of putting one hell of a show. I've seen it with my own eyes, and will gladly attest that they indeed are one of the best live acts out there today.

Even the best acts have off nights, and unfortunately, last night at Mohawk Place in Buffalo, New York was one of them. To be fair, alot of the problems were not the bands fault. The venue was, well, a piece of shit. The stage was very small, short, and boxy, so Jimmy kept hitting his head on an overhang and was blocking out the rest of the band most of the time with his signature 6 foot sequined wings. Not that it mattered - unless you were in one of the first two rows, which I was not, you couldn't see a damn thing anyways, ridiculous considering Jimmy is well over 6 feet tall. Mohawk also has no real sound set up to speak of, which caused numerous sound problems that the band just could not fix. Jimmy kept getting shocked by his mic and was getting wicked feedback from his guitar, their bassist's mic didn't work, the vocals were buried in the mix to the point of being uncomprehendable. And considering that The Frogs are a very visual band and their lyrics are usually the focus of the songs, these problems weren't helping the situation any.

Said problems were obviously pissing the band off, so after the first song, an incredible run through 'Sleep on the Street' from last year's "Hopscotch Lollipop Sunday Surprise" LP crossed with the first verse of Nirvana's 'About A Girl', they just did not seem to be into it at all. Dennis is notorious for in between song banter, usually cracking jokes or insulting someone in the crowd - or a mix of both. Tonight, he only kept calling the guy who was apparently in charge of the sound up to the stage to try and fix the problems.

The final straw came for me, however, when they started "I've Got Drugs [Out Of The Mist]", one of my favorite Frogs songs and a revelation live last time I saw them, and it failed to excite me. Again, the vocals were buried, and the song simply lacked any real energy. At this point, I was pretty much done with the show, but I stuck around a little longer to see if things might improve.

And they didn't. 'Whisper' was a mess. 'Homos', usually performed with a noisy rock arrangement live, was done mid-set with Jimmy on acoustic guitar and Dennis on keyboards, was incredibly dull. [I never thought I'd say that about this song.] Perhaps if used as an encore, that version would have worked, but mid-set, it bombed. And the new arrangement of 'Adam and Steve', usually a riff-heavy feedback ladened monster, was much too slow and was not appropriate for the song.

After about 45 minutes, I left. I had an hour plus drive back to Rochester, and it was already 2:30. [That's another thing - the first act didn't take the stage until well after 11:00, and there were three bands on the bill.] I never thought I'd do it, but The Frogs were on stage peddling their [usually] incredible brand of rock and roll, and I walked out bored. I left even knowing that 'Hot Cock Annie' - my absolute favorite Frogs song and one they didn't play last time I saw them - was on the set list.

The night wasn't a complete loss, though. Fake Brain, who played second on the bill, played an incredible set, and were even better than last time I saw them open for The Frogs. I also had the pleasure of speaking with the whole band for a good 10 minutes or so on my way out the door, and they were a group of incredibly nice, down to earth guys. James, the bass player, is a dead ringer for my friend Matt who was with me - they even somehow managed to both be wearing the same shade of bright orange t-shirt. They seemed to really get a kick out of that. This is their first proper US tour, and I'd highly reccomend getting out to see them if you get a chance. They're along the lines of a slightly more quirky and electronically enhanced Fountains of Wayne. Their tour dates are up at www.fakebrain.net - many of them with The Frogs. Maybe you can catch them on a good night.

I also had the pleasure of meeting two Frogs fans before the show, one from Albany and one from New York City, both of whom had travelled for the show. Friday nights at Mohawk are big biker nights, so the three of us felt a little out of place when we arrived at around 9:00 and the bar was ruled by bikers and drunk middle-aged professionals. I had a great time hanging out with them, and wish I had stuck around to the end of the show if only to get some contact info with them. However, I did notice that one of them was on his way out the door at about the same time I was.

Review by James Freeman