Nestled on a narrow, one-way street in New Haven among Yale University buildings, a pizza joint and an ice cream shop, Toad’s Place looks like a typical haunt for college kids.
But inside the modest, two-story building is a veritable museum of paintings and signed photos depicting the head-turning array of artists who’ve played the nightclub over the years:
The Rolling Stones. Bob Dylan. Billy Joel. Bruce Springsteen. U2. The Ramones and Johnny Cash. Rap stars Kendrick Lamar, Drake, Kanye West, Cardi B, Run-D.M.C., Snoop Dogg and Public Enemy. Blues legends B.B. King, Bo Diddley, Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon and John Lee Hooker. And jazz greats Count Basie, Dizzy Gillespie and Herbie Hancock.
This year, the New Haven institution is celebrating 50 years in business. And the people who made it happen are reflecting on Toad’s success in attracting so many top acts to a venue with a standing-only capacity of about 1,000 people.
“You know, I thought it would be good for a few years and then I’d be out doing something else,” said owner Brian Phelps, 71, who started as the club’s manager in 1976. “And then the thing started to happen when some of the big bands started to come here.”
Music and cheap beer fuel success
Original owner Mike Spoerndle initially opened Toad’s Place in January 1975 as a French restaurant with two friends he later bought out. Before that, the building had been a burger and sandwich joint.
But when the restaurant got off to a slow start, Spoerndle had an idea for bringing in more customers, especially students: music, dancing and beer. A Tuesday night promotion with bands and 25-cent brews helped turn the tide.
Among the acts who performed was New Haven-born Michael Bolotin, who would change his name to Michael Bolton and go on to become a Grammy-winning ballad writer and singer.
The gregarious and charismatic Spoerndle, who died in 2011, endeared himself to bands and customers. A local musician he tapped as Toad’s booking agent used his connections to bring in area bands and, later, major blues acts.
Then, in 1977, came a crucial moment. Spoerndle met and befriended concert promoter Jim Koplik, who would bring in many big names to Toad’s over the years, and still does today.
“Mike knew how to make a really great room and Brian knew how to really run a great room,” said Koplik, now president of Live Nation for Connecticut and upstate New York.
A year later, Springsteen stopped by Toad’s to play with the Rhode Island band Beaver Brown after he finished a three-hour show at the nearby New Haven Coliseum.
In 1980, Billy Joel stunned Toad’s by picking it — and several other venues — to record songs for his first live album, “Songs in the Attic.”
That same year, a little-known band from Ireland would play at Toad’s as an opening act. It was among the first shows U2 played in North America. The band played the club two more times in 1981 before hitting it big.
An unforgettable show for $3.01
On a Saturday night in August 1989, Toad’s advertised a performance by a local band, The Sons of Bob, and a celebration of Koplik’s 40th birthday, followed by a dance party.
The admission price: $3.01.
After The Sons of Bob did a half-hour set, Spoerndle and Koplik took the stage.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” Spoerndle said.
Koplik followed with, “Please welcome the Rolling Stones!”
The stunned crowd of around 700 erupted as the Stones kicked off an hourlong show with “Start Me Up.”
“Thank you. Good, good, good. We’ve been playing for ourselves the last six weeks,” Mick Jagger told the crowd.
The Stones had been practicing at a former school in Washington, Connecticut, for their upcoming “Steel Wheels” tour — their first in seven years — and had wanted to play a small club as a warmup. The band’s promoter called Koplik, who recommended Toad’s. The band agreed, but insisted on secrecy.
Those at Toad’s kept a lid on it for the most part, but swirling rumors helped pack the club.
Doug Steinschneider, a local musician, was one of those at the venue that night after a friend told him the Stones would be playing. He wasn’t able to get in, but managed to get near a side door where he could see Jagger singing.
“It was amazing!” said Steinschneider. “For being a place where major bands show up, it’s a tiny venue. So you get to see the band in their real element. In other words, you’re not watching a screen.”
A few months later, Bob Dylan’s manager reached out looking for a club where he could warm up for an upcoming tour.
Dylan’s 1990 show at Toad’s sold out in 18 minutes. He played four-plus hours — believed to be his longest performance — beginning with a cover of Joe South’s 1970 song “Walk a Mile in My Shoes” and ending with his own “All Along the Watchtower.”
“That was a good one,” Phelps recalled.
Variety is the key to longevity
Phelps — who bought out Spoerndle’s stake in Toad’s in 1998 — believes the secret to the venue’s longevity has been bringing in acts from different genres, along with events such as dance nights and “battle of the bands.” Rap shows especially draw big crowds, he said.
Naughty by Nature and Public Enemy played Toad’s in 1992. After releasing his first album, Kanye West played there in 2004 with John Legend on keyboards. Drake played Toad’s in 2009, early in his music career. And Snoop Dogg stopped by to perform in 2012 and 2014.
“When you have all these things, all ages, all different styles of music, and you have some dance parties to fill in where you need them, especially during a slow year, it brings enough capital in so that you can stay in business and keep moving forward,” Phelps said.
On a recent night, as local groups took the stage for a battle of the bands contest, many were in awe of playing in the same space where so many legends have performed.
Rook Bazinet, the 22-year-old singer of the Hartford-based emo group Nor Fork, said the band members’ parents told them of all the big acts they’d seen at the New Haven hot spot over the years. Bazinet’s mom had seen Phish there in the ’90s.
“Me, the Stones and Bob Dylan,” Bazinet added. “I’m glad to be on that list.”
