The Jan. 23 edition of Crashing The Ether paid tribute to Toad’s Place with two hours of music recorded at the legendary New Haven music venue which marks its 50th anniversary this year.
If you missed it, here’s the archive.
Opening its doors in 1975 as a restaurant, Toad’s was transformed into a live music club in 1976 and has been at the center of New Haven’s music scene for five decades.
Some of the industry’s biggest names have graced the stage at the York Street location — known as the place “where the legends play” — including The Rolling Stones, Billy Joel, David Bowie, Bob Dylan, James Taylor and most recently, Foo Fighters.
Bands that are today household names, such as U2 and REM, played Toad’s on their earliest tours, long before gaining international superstardom.
Some of the artists for the feature included, King Crimson, Ian Hunter with Mick Ronson, Nick Lowe with Paul Carrack, Little Feat, Rickie Lee Jones, Richard Thompson and Living Colour.
In 2021, Brian Phelps, the owner of Toad’s, collaborated with Randall Beach to write The Legendary Toad’s Place: Stories from New Haven’s Famed Music Venue (Globe Pequot Publishing).
Toad’s was inducted into the New England Music Hall of Fame in 2025.
Emmy Award winners Andy Billman and Joe Franco have collaborated on an independently produced documentary about Toad’s — Where Legends Play — which could be released this year.