Bits of Daniel Bateman’s (Frog’s lyricist) personal life appears, sometimes briefly, sometimes shinning (like an intruder?) in most of the band material: And play with me, daddy, I want a new game (Bad Time to Fall in Love Again) or the video of Best Buy where we have footage of the third Bateman brother with Daniel Bateman and Steve Bateman playing around whilst their mum drives the camera. One can ask, why add footage of their family in a song that seems unrelated to the footage we are seeing? Possibly a simple answer is that for Frog, live and art go together, hand (a four fingers one) by hand (a four fingers one).
I think I discovered Frog (there is something about that foundational first time that drives me to describe what I was feeling during that time of my life; at this point of my life, I am aware that the memory I will describe is already smudged with time. Here, something that may sound plausible about this origin. The song was “You Know I’m Down”, from Count Bateman (2019). It did not grasp me at first, but the silliness of the album cover made me raise two eyebrows internally: a first shot of Daniel Bateman and on the left top head of the cover the name of the band in lower case. The image stayed with me: his teeth, hair, white t-shirt; full juvenilia. Days passed and eventually I forgot about the song. Days later I received a notification saying that Frog released 1000 variations of the same song (2025). The first IV songs left something of a mark on my Wunderbluck : perhaps the sweetness of STILLWELL THEME followed with the drastic guitar accompanied by those drastic drums of TOP OF THE POPS VAR and then the falsetto of Daniel Bateman bringing some kind of balance and then continuing with DOOMSCROLLING VAR.III and relating and thinking and oh how many times followed by WHERE DO I SIGN VAR III. and labelling (with not much, or maybe too much evidence) that this is a song about a divorceñ a similar effect that some songs from Knock Knock (1999) had on me.
Places and people appear in Frog’s lyrics like a collage, there’s a constant, however: New York City. The city seems eternal, where characters appear full of life in the different points of the city: Chelsea Piers (Black Friday); Stillwell (as the cover of 1000 variations on the same song); Stephenson Park, Empire State Flea Market (RIP to the Empire State Flea Market). Listening to Frog’s discography one can jump from place to place inside the city, where characters, as muppets, drag around falling in love, smoking a spliff, or just visiting Stillwell for the new old arrivals.
The day has been quiet apart from the wind that sneaks and whistles through the window. A little bit of sunshine and rain, Wyatt starts without warming up. They don’t need it, it’s like they exist per se. Tonight is the first time I am experiencing their music and performance. They bounce between each other and the set list ends with the O’Toole brothers screaming. Wearing jeans: Emily Mason (trumpet) Evan O’Toole (bass) and Harvey O’Toole (singing and guitar) and Joe Ward (drums (not sure if he was wearing jeans)).
I see Daniel Bateman in the first floor of Yes, slim, rushed and tall, I focused on his outfit: a light blue shirt, white vest and Khaki trousers (In a meta moment hours later, Daniel Bateman will only be wearing a vest, like the cover of THE COUNT). Now on the stage and confirming that Frog tonight is going to be just the Bateman’s brothers (apparently Thomas White is on holidays), Daniel Bateman start effortless with his Stratocaster and then switching to Keyboards in the middle of the set. Joy. Sweat. Non solum sed etiam. That’s all I can hear and see in both Daniel and Steve facial expressions. There seems to be an attempt to play the songs without interruptions, doesn’t work, doesn’t matter.
Frog sweeps most of the songs tonight from their latest album however this does not mean that there is no space for songs from their previous catalogue. I fully feel Judy Garland and notice how much I was not prepared for the rest of the songs. I try to follow some of the lyrics unsuccessfully, I have heard the songs before but somehow they slip and appear in chunks. Daniel asks Steve at some point to catch up with him, I feel that I need to do the same due to the speed of the lyrics and the guitar playing.
Daniel Bateman touches the keys of the keyboard (sometimes aggressively, sometimes gently), falls at some point whilst playing them and comes back to the keyboard. From where I am standing, Daniel Bateman looks like a gargoyle, proud of his work against the purple lights of the room. Around us, limbs that move without self-awareness, and young mouths singing most of the lyrics, Steve Bateman catching up his brother’s note, Daniel Bateman catching up his brother’s jokes. After the encore, Steve goes back to the merch stand after handing one of the setlists (now drenched with fluids) to a fan.
At the end of the night: no rain, the wind has subdued and the 86 is on time.
Frog: Instagram | Facebook | Bandcamp
Wyatt: Instagram | Bandcamp | YouTube
Review by Alejandro Burbano
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