Coming off of a brand new album, There Is So Much Here, Glen Phillips returns to St Pete for another special intimate listening-room-style event. HIDEAWAY RECORDING STUDIO is happy to team up to bring this Santa Barbara native and founding member of Toad the Wet Sprocket to take the stage at The Venue at Bayboro Brewing! We’re so excited to welcome him back to St Pete and to this beautiful new room and stage, bare feet and all. Come join us! What a great Christmas present this will make đ
Brewery opens at 4. Doors to venue open at 6. Glen takes stage at 8:15. Opener TBA.
A limited number of VIP Meet & Greet passes are available as add-ons to your ticket – these will go fast – be sure to add yours to your Front Row or GA ticket purchase to have a chance to chat with Glen before the show in the Green Room.
Tickets
$35 General Admission
$45 Front Row
+ get your $50 VIP Meet & Greet Add-on
ABOUT GLEN PHILLIPS | RSVP | GET TICKETS
Bayboro Brewing is located at 2390 5th Ave. S, St Petersburg, FL.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
On the new album…..
Toad the Wet Sprocket front man Glen Phillips dives into the joys and sorrows of everyday life with help from Dave Depper (Death Cab For Cutie), Ji Tanzer (Blue Cranes) and John Morgan Askew.
âIâve seldom allowed myself to stay in one place for very long,â Glen Phillips says, explaining the genesis of his new album, ï»żThere Is So Much Here. âI was lucky during the COVID lockdown to move in with my girlfriend, now fianceĂ©, and to stay home for the longest stretch Iâve had since the birth of my daughter, 20 years ago. After a life of travel and seeking out peak experiences, I began to appreciate the subtle beauty of sitting still.â
The 11 tracks on Phillipsâ new album are informed by the time that the pandemic shut down allowed for reflection, moving between quiet love songs and rockers that consider the multi-faceted meanings hidden in our everyday lives. âStone Throatâ is a jazzy, midtempo rocker that looks at a couple in a new relationship, trying to find the balance between desire and responsibility, or as Phillips sings, âtrying to find the balance, between the sacred and the street.â Thereâs a hint of new wave ska in the rhythm of âI Was a Riot,â a song that casts a compassionate eye on the end of a relationship.
The COVID lockdown inspired âThe Sound of Drinking,â is an appreciation of the familiar things in life, like drinking a glass of water on your back porch. Phillips plays soft acoustic guitar and sighs a lyric of gratitude for simple pleasures. âCall The Moondustâ is the most metaphysical song in the set. Thereâs a hint of secular gospel in Depperâs piano, and the ambient effects that suggest the vastness of the cosmos. Phillips delivers an emotional performance over a tense arrangement that hints at the wonders of the universe. âThe beauty of life is in its mystery,â Phillips states. âIf we think we have an answer, weâre deluding ourselves.â
While Phillipsâ critically-acclaimed 2018 release, Swallowed by the New, was about grief, the new album is a post-divorce outing with Phillipsâ writing from a place of hope and optimism. He explains: âI was writing love songs again, focusing on gratitude, beauty and staying present. Happiness is about allowing what is, to be what it is. I used to view the everyday happenings around me as a distraction. I was suddenly hopeful again, knowing you can never know what the outcome of any action, or inaction, is going to be, but doing it anyway. Thereâs no pure happy endingâthe world is a mess, the future is uncertainâbut I find found truth in the poet Mary Oliverâs words: âAttention is the beginning of devotion.â I was suddenly in a state of being that wasnât about my loss. I woke up and things felt doable again. This is an album about showing up for what is and letting it be enough.â
Glen Phillips has been making music for over two decades, with a career that began as the 14-year-old frontman for Toad the Wet Sprocket. Since then, heâs accumulated an esteemed body of work comprising eight albums with Toad (which collectively have sold close to 4 million units) and three as a solo artist. Writing about his solo work ABC News said: âSongwriting-wise, Phillips continues to come off like an American answer to Crowded Houseâs Neil Finn. Both men are masters at delivering dense, seemingly effortlessly-crafted songs rich with context and depth.â
âSongwriting-wise, Phillips continues to come off like an American answer to Crowded Houseâs Neil Finn. Both men are masters at delivering dense, seemingly effortlessly-crafted songs rich with context and depth.â
âABCNews.com