Twiddle Presents ’90s-Themed New Year’s Eve Concert In Maine

Twiddle rang in 2023 on Saturday with a ’90s-themed New Year’s Eve concert at The State Theatre in Portland, Maine. The band loaded the setlist with many covers from the decade, including a handful of debuts, and was joined for portions of the sold-out show by guitarists Scott Hannay and Jimmy Law (Dogs In A Pile).

Dogs In A Pile started the night with a support set. The Asbury Park, New Jersey-based jam quintet brought out Twiddle guitarist Mihali and drummer Adrian Tramontano for a cover of Ween’s “Voodoo Lady” in the middle of the frame.

Twiddle, who will start an indefinite hiatus at the end of 2023, lit into Nirvana’s “In Bloom” with Hannay after keyboardist Ryan Dempsey played a bit of the Rugrats theme to launch the quartet’s first set. Next up was a “Doinkinbonk!!!” that featured a Zdenek Gubb-sung take on “Too Many Puppies” by Primus within. The set continued with a wild “Orlando’s” sequence in which they inserted “Mamunes The Faun” encapsulating covers of Eagle-Eye Cherry’s “Save Tonight” and Counting Crows’ “Mr. Jones.” Hannay augmented the band on the first portion of “Mamunes The Faun” and the Twiddle debuts of “Save Tonight” and “Mr. Jones,” the latter of which was last played by the group way back on February 23, 2020.

Jimmy Law emerged to help out on the ensuing fan favorite “White Light.” Twiddle and Law jammed “White Light” into and out of the band’s first rendition of Blues Traveler’s “But Anyway” since August 24, 2019 — a span of 179 shows. The four-piece then went it alone to end the set with “Beautiful” from their 2022 studio album Every Last Leaf.

Saturday’s second set began with Dempsey teasing the theme to ’90s sitcom Family Matters as a lead-in to the Twiddle premiere of Blink-182’s “Dammit” featuring Hannay on second guitar. “Syncopated Healing” then birthed a blissful jam over which Mihali counted down into 2023. From there, Twiddle worked the traditional “Auld Lang Syne” as balloons filled the venue into “Slippin’ In The Kitchen.” Next came the recently debuted “The Mission,” which bled into the band’s first performance of the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ 1992 smash “Under The Bridge.” Hannay augmented the quartet for “Under The Bridge” as well as the Twiddle premiere take on “Two Princes” by Spin Doctors, which came within “Zazu’s Flight.”

Twiddle still had one more seamless sequence to close Saturday’s second set. “The Box” gave way to a debut cover of Sublime’s “Santeria” and their first version of the Green Day classic “Longview” since September 9, 2016. Scott Hannay contributed to both covers but the four-piece went it alone to wrap the set with the end of “The Mission.” Twiddle capped the night with an encore featuring Every Last Leaf tracks “Mushrooms Of The Sea” and “Every Last Leaf II” connected by the outro to Guns N’ Roses’ “November Rain.”

Listen to an audience recording of the show taped by Taper Chris below:

The quartet kicks off their winter tour on January 19 in Washington DC.

Setlist (via Twiddle Facebook)

Set One: Rugrats Theme (tease), In Bloom [1] -> Doinkinbonk!!! -> Too Many Puppies [2] -> Doinkinbonk!!!, Orlando’s -> Mamunes The Faun -> Save Tonight [3] -> Mr. Jones [4] -> Mamunes The Faun -> Orlando’s, White Light [5] -> But Anyway [5] [6] -> White Light [5], Beautiful

Set Two: Family Matters Intro (tease), Dammit [7] -> Syncopated Healing -> Auld Lang Syne -> Slippin In The Kitchen, The Mission -> Under The Bridge [8], Zazu’s Flight -> Two Princes [9] -> Zazu’s Flight, The Box -> Santeria [10] -> Longview [11] -> The Mission

Encore: Mushrooms Of The Sea -> November Rain (outro) [12] -> Every Last Leaf II

• [1] Nirvana; w/ Scott Hannay on guitar
• [2] Primus; w/ Scott Hannay on guitar
• [3] Eagle-Eye Cherry; tease; w/ Scott Hannay on guitar
• [4] Counting Crows; w/ Scott Hannay on guitar
• [5] w/ Jimmy Law (Dogs In A Pile) on guitar
• [6] Blues Traveler
• [7] Blink-182; w/ Scott Hannay on guitar
• [8] Red Hot Chili Peppers; w/ Scott Hannay on guitar
• [9] Spin Doctors; w/ Scott Hannay on guitar
• [10] Sublime; w/ Scott Hannay on guitar
• [11] Green Day, w/ No Rain (Blind Melon) tease; w/ Scott Hannay on guitar
• [12] Guns N’ Roses; w/ Scott Hannay on organ