SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – For a moment there, it looked like the Lit show at Frog Alley Brewing Co. was going down in flames, like one of those drunken train wreck evenings the band so often sings about.
Just days before the performance and without explanation, the venue announced that Lit’s performance (and the next day’s show by ‘90s alt rockers Fuel) would no longer be held outside as planned on the large festival stage behind the brewery, and would instead be moved indoors to the main tap room. Still closer to the date, Frog Alley announced it was postponing the weekend’s Fuel gig entirely, citing “unforeseen circumstances.”
So it was under a cloud of uncertainty that I departed for the show, trying to imagine how the place was going to wedge Lit—a multi-platinum international touring act with decades of success, and in this reviewer’s opinion, one of the finest pop-punk/power-pop bands of their era —onto a tiny indoor platform that normally hosts local Top 40 cover acts and acoustic duos.
If nothing else, this was going to be interesting.
And I wasn’t wrong: Upon arrival I couldn’t get over the size of stage—just a couple of feet off the ground, of modest width and virtually freestanding—with just a thin gate between the crowd and the bands. That’s when my surprise began to turn to excitement, since this was a much more intimate room than Lit typically plays. The place was filling fast and the mercury was rising, but it was still a much different scenario than, say, when the band played nearby 23 years ago at the height of their popularity; a certain gig in Rome, NY, at Day One of the Woodstock ’99 Music Festival.
But back to Schenectady.
As opener Marcy Playground took the stage, it was clear there was a significant faction of the audience who were there specifically to see the ’90s alt rock trio, whose ubiquitous 1997 hit “Sex and Candy” has earned the band lasting relevance in a modern rock scene that now (rightfully) reveres the ‘90s. The energy from the growing crowd in the club propelled the band’s set further as they ripped through huge chunks of material predominantly off their 1997 self-titled debut (“Poppies,” “Saint Joe on the School Bus,” “Sherry Fraser,” “Opium”) and 1999 sophomore effort, Shapeshifter (“Pigeon Farm,” “Wave Motion Gun,” “Secret Squirrel,” “All The Lights Went Out”).
With the set nearing a close, the audience erupted as singer-guitarist John Wozniak croaked the opening lines of “Sex and Candy,” and for good reason: It’s still a genre classic, and a barnburner live, full of satisfying moments to shout along (which we did). But anyone who caught the band’s performance that night also likely went home with a greater appreciation for Marcy Playground’s broader body of work, this reviewer included. “Sex and Candy” was just the icing on an impressive overall set.
When the four members of Lit walked onto the stage—with no fanfare, and not even a backdrop—you could sense something special was about to happen. Boldly kicking off with a new song—a riotous rendition of “Kicked Off The Plane,” from their 2022 release Tastes Like Gold, Lit made it immediately clear they weren’t turning their amps down or holding anything back. The show may have been moved inside, but Lit were about to blow the roof off the place.
From there the band—brothers A. Jay and Jeremy Popoff (vocals and guitar, respectively), bassist Kevin Baldes and drummer Taylor Carroll—treated fans to a sweaty, old-school run through Lit’s classic material, primarily drawing from 1999’s A Place In The Sun (“Four,” “Zip-Lock,” “Down,” “Quicksand”). The resulting nonstop energy of the crowd, and the enjoyment Lit got from seeing it, turned what could’ve been an underwhelming date for the veteran band into an opportunity to enjoy a rousing return to their small club roots.
Despite the humble stage, Lit made it abundantly clear they are a world-class touring band. There’s an obvious time and tour tested chemistry between the Popoff brothers and Baldes (also a founding member), who’ve all played together as a unit since the late ’80s, but what surprised me was the massive presence of drummer Carroll, who only joined the group back in 2018. (The band has gone through several drummers since the death of fellow Lit founder Allen Shellenberger in 2009 from a brain tumor.)
Carroll brings an incredibly raw and physical element to the band’s live dynamic, hitting the drums with maximum velocity and force, keeping the intensity levels high throughout the set. A. Jay remains a charismatic frontman who can still hit most of the notes, while Jeremy and Baldes both cranked out all the band’s juicy riffs with truly impressive live tone and clarity. Jeremy tap danced nimbly across a massive pedal board when he wasn’t bringing the crunch, layering the sound with a rich palette of effects.
Lit also drove home the point that the band is still much more than some aging nostalgia act; their hook-filled heaviness remains impactful and relevant today. About midway through the show the band transitioned to a block of new material off Tastes Like Gold, taking the songs to an even higher level than their recorded versions. Tastes Like Gold is filled with strong new material that fans enjoy, but it has a uniquely modern, pop-centric production quality; live, however, radio-ready tracks like “Do It Again” and “Mouth Shut” take on a much edgier nature, to their benefit. That album’s cover of The Cars’ “Let’s Go,” which Lit also performed live, had spirit that justified the band recording the song in the first place. Later in the set, Tom Petty’s “American Girl” was given similarly rejuvenated life.
Then came a second and final block of greatest hits, notably a medley of “The Last Time Again” and “Lipstick and Bruises,” off 2001’s Atomic, followed by the slow burn of the jarring, discordant Place In The Sun single “Miserable.” After tearing through “No Big Thing,” the group pretended to exit the stage and went straight into the encores, closing with “American Girl,” the Atomic anthem “Something to Someone,” and finally Lit’s massive 1999 hit, “My Own Worst Enemy.” Sure, that song might’ve been a bit overplayed on the radio back in the day, but live, in that room, it was a celebration.
So despite its foreboding start, in the end Marcy Playground’s and Lit’s performances at Frog Alley made for an epic show. Lit even gave some real weight to the current ’90s/early 2000s “revival,” beyond just mere nostalgia’s sake. Based on their electrifying set and the strength of Tastes Like Gold, the band appears to once again be golden.
Not bad, for what began as a potentially dubious night out in Schenectady.
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Lit – Frog Alley Brewing Co., Schenectady, NY – 8/19/22 (Photos by Kylie Spinelli)
