It's been too long since I made a blog entry and I feel compelled to write a review of my recent concert experience, the first of a handful of summer concerts I have lined up. Two of the bands I had seen before, but never reviewed those concerts. The third was a pleasant surprise to round out what is just being called "2026 Summer Tour" but harkens back to the mid 1990's when these bands were all at their commerical heights. The event I attended was at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, CT. It's a great venue to see a show because it's easy to get in and out of and the arena is pretty well organized. The only thing that bothered me was sitting in traffic for three hours on the way to the venue. It used to take me that long from NJ and should have been half the time from my current residence. Fortunately, I made it to my seat with minutes to spare before the first band came out. As a casino arena, they do like to start on time and get you out early to hopefully spend some more money before you go home.
The Spin Doctors came out first at 6:05 and played seven songs in 50 minutes including a Purple Rain cover and three songs off of their most famous album, Pocket Full of Kryptonite (Jimmy Olsen's Blues, Little Miss Can't Be Wrong, and Two Princes). The lead singer is still energetic and throws a few high kicks during the set. The speakers were pretty loud and I am glad I brought my ear plugs thinking I may not need them in the upper deck. The band sounded balanced and strong, but not as good as I saw them last in 2020. The reason I think is two-fold. First, they didn't have long time bassist, Mark White, after he was fired in 2022 for refusing to get the Covid-19 vaccine and going MAGA. Ironically, Spin Doctors were the last band I saw before the quarantine! The second reason they weren't as impressive is likely that they were the opener and bands bring a different energy when they are the headliner. Still they got a good reaction from the crowd that built throughout their set. During the third song, Margarita, they had Blues Traveler keyboardist, Ben Wilson, play with them. The Prince cover and song "Two Princes" were highlights.
After a 30 minute set change Gin Blossoms came out announcing themselves as "your favorite band from Tempe, Arizona." They launched right into one of their biggest hits, "Follow You Down" which is my favorite of theirs and sounded incredible. After that, lead singer Robin Wilson quoted Roddy Piper from They Live when he said "We came to chew bubblegum and kick ass, and we are all out of bubblegum." They went on to play a dozen songs in total across five albums in one hour. Lead guitarist Scotty Johnson rotated between three different guitars, changing after each song. Before playing "As Long as It Matters" from Congratulations I'm Sorry, Wilson quipped tongue in cheek, "We're very proud that this song hit number one . . . in the Phillipines." For "Hands are Tied" Blues Traveler's Ben Wilson again performed on keyboards. This one was a nice upbeat track in the middle of the set. Robin then said "Now we're going to play the rest of the hits," leading into Found Out About You, Allison Road, featuring his very animated and talented son on lead guitar, Hey Jealousy, and closing with Til I Hear It From You. I wasn't sure what to expect from this band only being familiar with their radio singles, but I thoroughly enjoyed them. At the break I used the restroom and got a hot dog and a beer. The concession stands built to long lines, but they moved pretty fast and there are multiple places along the concourse to do your business. I thought that they might stretch the break to 9PM, but at exactly 8:50 "Team America" played as Blues Traveler took the stage.
They quickly began with 2012's "Things are Looking Up." The song features John Popper's harmonica playing and a guitar solo. It appeared at one point John had a problem with one of his harmonica's because he called for a replacement and then tossed one into the audience. One or two other times it looked like he was playing but the microphone wasn't catching it. Other than that he still sounds great and the harmonica playing is a highlight of their show along with extended jam versions of songs. Speaking of which, the second song began as Devil Went Down to Georgia, but John sang "Devil Went Down to Stamford" and changed a few other words as he played to the Connecticut crowd while telling a bit of his origin story. This led into their big hit "Run-Around" and then they finished "Devil Went Down to Georgia." Next John left the stage as the rest of the band played a trippy jam. John returned to launch into their first popular song, "But Anyway." John then continues his story about how in 1983 he moved from Stamford to Princeton, NJ. It was there he met some of his bandmates and Chris from Spin Doctors. I didn't know this, but John and Chris played together in a band called Trucking Company before John started Blues Traveler and the old band evolved into Spin Doctors! Chris is invited up on stage and they talk about how Sandford and Son inspired a song about alcohol called Champipple. It sounds like the main melody to Uncle Kracker's "Follow Me" with funny lyrics. The song was actually released by John's side project with the Duskray Troubadours and recently returned to the Blues Traveler set list in 2025. They then played "Look Around" from album Four which is like an emo ballad featuring a keyboard solo and saxophone and lyrics like, "You'll get no answer from me; About what I get or what I want. That was enough to make her leave. She's not the first one come and gone." Next came an extended jam version of Carolina Blues with Eric Shenkman from Spin Doctors on guitar. At 9:50PM They closed the set with fan favorite "Hook" and then said "This is normally the part where we leave and pretend we're not coming back, but we're just standing over there on the side of the stage and you all know we're coming back for one more song so we're going to skip that. Do you want one more song?" They invited Robin Wilson up for the encore and did a cover of Tom Petty's "Breakdown". At about 10:05PM it was over. The lights came up and I still had time to go get a burger from Bobby's Burger Palace and donuts from Krispy Kreme. When I saw Blues Traveler in 2011 at the Wellmont in Montclair I was more impressed with the harmonica playing and the set was longer with about twice as many songs. However, they still sound terrific and are worth seeing if you get the chance. I could have listened to another hour of them easily, but I think the venue likes to get you in and out as quick as possible. Check out clips of several songs on my YouTube channel, and let me know if you have suggestions for more blog posts. Keep rockin'!
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| Spin Doctors 7/31/26 |
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| Gin Blossoms 7/31/26 |
