Frog, joined by Woods, made their Durham debut earlier this month on October 2nd, bringing the aesthetics and sonic quality of an adult basement show to a packed venue of dedicated ‘froggers’ at Cat’s Cradle. The two bands brought intimate acts, destroying the distance one usually might feel between themselves and the performers on stage, for a touching and memorable show.

Woods, otherwise known as Woods Family Band, joined Frog for five of their shows in the Northeast. The word ‘family’ doesn’t simply feel like a moniker, but rather a direct description of the band's quality and connection. As the four-piece took the stage (consisting of Jeremy Earl, Jarvis Taveniere, Kyle Forester, and Andrew Maguire), the band brought a sound that perfectly complemented what would follow their performance. Earl’s vocals have a similar quality to that of Frog’s lead singer, occupying a shaky high range that complements the folkier sound the band maintains. Their energy was alluring, drawing the crowd into a gentle, acoustic world with cutting guitar and sax melodies. With openers nowadays, many concert-goers seem to prefer pointing their attention to conversation or devices rather than a band they do not know. However, not only were people attentive, but the band had loyal fans chanting for them, and many new fans hooked. My friends and I found ourselves copiously complimenting them afterward.

Frog is a band; this is the title of the tumblr page for the New York based duo/trio started by Daniel Bateman and Thomas White (later joined by Daniel’s brother, Steve, on drums), and is a stupidly accurate description of the group. It is difficult to tie Frog down to one sound, as qualifying it requires tying them to only one iteration of themselves. As Danny acknowledged when responding to a fan, “songwriting is an evolving craft; you have to keep making it fun for yourself so it can be fun for the listener too.” Their music spans from slower, uniquely individual love ballads like “You Know I’m Down”, bouncy, gritty car jams like “Black on Black on Black”, and jazzier, funkier tunes like “SAX-A-MA-PHONE VAR.XII”. All of these vastly different sounds cumulate into a dynamic and diverse discography that left me not knowing what to expect from a Frog concert.

When the show kicked off with “Hartsdale Hotbox”, the opener to their 2019 album, Count Bateman, I was surprised to find how personal the concert felt. The crowd echoed Bateman's lyrics back to him as the trio performed with one guitar, one bass, and one drum set, spread across a stage that seemed expansive with so little to fill it. Their sound was not limited by their size, though, and as the night continued, I felt thoroughly immersed within each song they played. It was as if I had stumbled upon a basement show of a friend, as the three shared jokes in the interim between such raw and concise pieces of music.

Enough is said about Frog’s devout followers in the image of an inflatable frog costume bouncing around near the front of the crowd (god help those standing behind the ballooned head during the concert, which happened to be my friends and I; we enjoyed reveling in the absurdity of it). Known colloquially as ‘froggers’, ‘froggies’, and ‘frog nation’, there were members of the crowd that had been listening to the band since their inception, having first released music in 2013. For many, this was the first and only time they had ever seen Frog live, as the band has only toured three times, and only came to North Carolina once previously for Hopscotch festival last year. Although the band is more well known in younger generations, an older sort of concert etiquette was maintained; I didn’t see many filming the show or pulling their phones out at all. Everybody was invested in what was happening in front of them.

This investment was for good reason. Frog is an enigma, a band confident in its own sound. Bateman has a warbly voice that fits perfectly into the gaps of sparse instrumentation. Their lyrics, often cheeky and immature, invite a sense of informality; this draws you into the gut punches the band throws at you, either in a devastating lyric or a crunchy guitar. All of the dynamism found in their music is found on the stage. Throughout the whole show, there was not a single moment where their energy, or the crowd's energy, dropped. Even during their slower music, the crowd screamed out with Bateman. The show left a lasting impact on the ear; their music was simple enough to always remember, and individual enough to be unreplicated by anyone else.