Show Review ★ Danny Pedraza★ @jaydpedraza ★3 Minutes
Active since 2013, Frog is a trio based out of New Rochelle, New York and they are as enigmatic as it gets in the current internet age of music. Consisting of the solidified members that include brothers Daniel and Steve Bateman, along with bassist and Daniel’s best friend Thomas White.
Frog never performing in a city tailored made for their style of off-kilter and, frankly, weird music like Austin was at first a shock to me but then grew into a grand interest at what this collision of an audible meteor crashing into a city that champions their weirdos would look like.
Especially since last April when the trio released their eighth studio album “Frog For Sale”, many fans praised it for serving as a return to the band’s classic lo-fi sound they became popular for.
Thursday night had come upon Austin and a packed room of fans filled into the medium sized 29th Street Ballroom to the point that whenever openers Important Group took the stage, the venue resembled more of a homecoming.
Important Group walked onto stage familiar to them, being local legends in the Austin scene, the trio consists of members from multiple Austin-based musical projects but most notably Being Dead.
Important Group showcased a masterclass in looking loose but playing tightly as over the course of about 45 minutes the trio balanced surf-rock inspired grooves all the while delivering a call and response vocal.
An early highlight in the night came when after guitarist Cody Dosier finished beautifully ripping into his guitar with a barrage of power chords and dissonant note bends, he requested for the disco ball to be turned on and it remained on for the rest of the night.
Under the ever-rotating disco ball hung above the center of the small venue, Frog quietly walked onto stage, setting up their own gear. An electric piano suddenly decorated the center of the small stage and the crowd packed closer together.
Lead singer, Daniel Bateman armed with a Fender Strat in his hands began to chug songs from their 2019 beloved release, “Count Bateman” like “RIP to the Empire State Flea Market” and “It’s Something I Do”, which acted as a dog whistle to the dedicated Austin crowd, sending them into a full-on singalong.
During a lull in the set, drummer Steve Bateman would begin his night-long enchanting of the Austin crowd by sharing his impressions of music artists from Lady Gaga to Charli XCX; this bit, like the light emitted from the disco ball, would spread to the rest of the room as bassist Thomas White would, admittingly, nail a Kermit The Frog impression himself.
Frog would turn the wall to wall-packed venue into a nightclub as the track “Black on Black on Black” began and during this performance Thomas White would notably hold down the bass groove for the crowd to dance to.
The white dress shirt Daniel Bateman came on stage with would soon be shed from his body, revealing the white tank top he’s associated with in live shows; “Take the tank off,” would be shouted by a crowd member before Daniel would respond jestfully with “No, the tank is a statement!”
The Texas crowd embraced the band as a crowd member made their way to the stage with three beers for each member of Frog, causing the drummer to begin a “TEXAS” chant with the crowd.
Towards the end of the nearly hour and a half set, the band would request the crowd to begin an “encore” chat because due to the venue’s layout, there wasn’t much of a back area for the band to retreat to. Instead Frog would lay on the stage, slowly rising back to their feet as the crowd pleaded for an encore to end the night with an emotional performance.
The song “Bones” would end the night, Daniel Bateman would take the lead for the intimate closer, supported by sparse instrumentation from the rest of the band. The song felt appropriate as an end to their 2026 tour; among the genre-morphing set full of disco, alternative rock and pop songs, “Bones” gave the crowd a large audible mirror for the crowd to reflect in.
As the deeply-human song ended, so did the night full of wonderful musical absurdity. The disco ball stopped spinning and the lights of The 29th Street Ballroom lit up, sending the crowd out into the night carrying with them a special memory of witnessing the long overdue debut of Frog in a city that is already eager for them to come back.
