NEW HAVEN, CT – It was hard to tell who had more fun last night (April 26th), the fans who packed Toad’s Place wall to wall, or the long list of talented musicians on tonight’s bill, which featured Vermont based powerhouse Twiddle. Getting the night started were two solid opening acts, Tyrone’s Shoelaces and the Relative Souls, literally warming the crowd on a chilly night in late April.

When it was Twiddle’s turn to take that stage the anxious crowd got a nice little surprise. Drummer, Brooke Jordan entered with bassist Zdenek Gubb, and as they started to groove, the crowd began to cheer little louder when they saw Kung Fu’s Chris DeAngelis join them. The packed house didn’t even have enough time to show their appreciation for this addition to the show on this night, because as guitarist Mihali Savoulidis and keyboardist Ryan Dempsey took the stage, everyone in Toad’s erupted when they saw Todd Stoops and Rob Somerville take the stage as well.

Kung Fu & Twiddle recently teamed up for the Dirty Dozen tour, making stops in cities like Baltimore, Pittsburgh, and New York City. So we all knew these guys were well acquainted with each other, and were excited for the show they were about to put on. At one point in the show, Rob Somerville grabbed a camera and went center stage, laying on his back taking photos of Mihali, Chris, and Zdenek while they played for the cheering crowd.

Twiddle crushed hit after hit, like “Admyst the Mist”, “Subconscious Prelude”, and “Lost in the Cold” keeping the Toads crowd dancing and singing throughout the night. The Vermont based quartet is certainly filled with endless talent, but what I think make Twiddle stand out from many other groups, is the unique voice of lead singer and guitarist Mihali Savoulidis. As they ended their first set Mihali put those talents on display, treating the crowd to an energetic rendition of “Frends Theme”. Everyone in Toads was on their feet, singing and dancing along as Twiddle closed out their set.

Before the band even left the stage, everybody in the place was cheering for an encore. So, of course without much delay, the band (including their friends from Kung Fu) returned to the stage and kept everyone moving with two more hits for the encore -“Zazu’s Flight” and “Earth Mama”. Certainly a fun Friday night with a little surprise thrown in.

– Review and Photos courtesy of Scott Orkus

Set list:

Superjam (w/members of Kung Fu)

Admyst the Myst

Subconscious Prelude>

Polluted Beauty>

Subconscious Prelude

Brown Chicken Brown Cow>

List in the Cold

Frends Theme

Encore

Zazu’s Flight

Earth Mama