Toad The Wet Sprocket To Take Patchogue Theatre's Stage This Fall

PATCHOGUE, NY — Platinum record winners Toad the Wet Sprocket will play the Patchogue Theatre this fall when the venue opens up for performances after over a year of empty seats due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The band is the theatre's first new booking since it closed down.

The hit recording artists, who derive their name from a Monty Python comedy sketch, are part of a generation of alternative rockers who helped define the 90s. They are best known for songs like "All I want," "Walk on the Ocean," and "Good Intentions."

Stephen Kellogg will open for them at the Oct. 2 performance.

"I think its going to be a really great evening of music," Michelle Rizzo-Berg, the theatre's executive director.

Rizzo-Berg said she is a fan of the band and was able to book them because she previously presented them at the Boulton Center for the Performing Arts and mentioned to their manager that she would love to have them perform in Patchogue.

"And that is how that happened," she said.

The show will bring a new demographic of 45 to 55 year olds who normally do not come to Patchogue, she said.

Toad the Wet Sprocket's performance will follow the drop of the band's first album since 2013 titled, "Starting Now" on Aug. 27, Newsday reported.

Lead singer-guitarist Glen Phillips told the outlet that he and his bandmates are anxious to get out on the road.

"The experience of performing songs for people, getting to see their faces and the energy of it all is one of my favorite things about being alive" said Phillips, 50. "We are really happy to be doing it again."

Phillips said that recording the new album was really a different process with band members "working at home and Dropboxing tracks to each other."

"On one hand, it might seem disjointed, but I think it helped us see our own strengths. We came together with something that was wonderfully cohesive," he added.

Toad the Wet Sprocket is part of a lineup of artists who will perform starting in September as the theatre opens up at full capacity to those with proof of vaccinations.

The Moondogs will perform from The Beatles' The White Album on Sept. 24. That will be followed up on Sept. 25 with SiriusXM's Kreeps with Kids comedy tour featuring Robert Kelly, Ron Bennington, Rich Vos, and Jim Florentine.

I am King: Michael Jackson Experience will play in a benefit for the Andrew McMorris Foundation on Oct. 1.

Rizzo-Berg, who directed the Boulton Center for the Performing Arts, said she will continue to make bookings throughout the fall, and she is excited about working in a larger space. In the future, she would love to see some acts that she has previously worked with, like Richard Marx, Howard Jones, and Post Modern Juke Box, perform at the theatre.

While the main stage is the focus, the theatre's management is considering how other areas of the theatre such as the loading dock and front lobby will be used, Rizzo-Berg said. The loading dock was previously used for food pairings and quiet backstage dinners, while the front lobby hosted a local artist showcase series.

In the meantime, Rizzo-Berg urged theatre followers to keep checking its website for updates.