Sugar Ray ~ July 11, Niagara Falls at the Hard Rock

Words and Photos by Joe Koch

The ‘90s band Sugar Ray has been on a five-year hiatus but is back like members never missed a beat. Mark McGrath is one of the most charismatic front men I’ve seen in a long time. He commanded the stage, refusing to let the party die. By the third song the band had everyone on their feet, singing and dancing to their 1999 radio hit “Every Morning.”

McGrath worked the crowd, which was mostly made up of people from Buffalo and Niagara Falls and a few tourists that walked up to see what was going on, like he was trying to sell a car. What started to sound like a line of shit — “We’ve been everywhere around the world and we haven’t been back to western New York since 1999, and it feels good to be back. Everybody has been so great to us — the mayor has been cool, the police have been cool and you the people have been awesome and we thank you for coming out tonight” — ended up sounding sincere.

When McGrath said that they decided to record another album and hit the road because they love to play music, I believed it. Later in the evening he would get the crowd screaming by asking for fans of the Sabres, Bills and Buffalo’s own Goo Goo Dolls. Once again I thought that he was wisely using local faves as a tool to keep the crowd eating out of his hands. But, then came the sincerity: “Many people don’t know it but we have Robby Takac from the Goo Goo Dolls to thank for getting us one of our first big-break. They took us out on the road with them early in our career and because of that we are thankful,” said McGrath.

Sugar Ray also teased the crowd by sprinkling in cover songs from the‘70s,‘80s and ‘90s, ranging from Guns n Roses’ “Sweet Child of Mine,” Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and Kool and the Gang’s “Celebration.”

Two young kids had their moment to shine as well, in a contest of who could entertain the crowd the most. McGrath gave the first kid his mic. The kid stood at the front of the stage and choked, looking out and going blank. Kid number two paraded around the stage singing House of Pain’s “Jump.” McGrath pretended to be frustrated with the first kid and called him back to try again. He said, “You had three weeks to practice this!” Was this a rehearsed bit? Who cares. The crowd ate it up. He whispered something into the kid’s ear, and the kid still gave a weak performance. McGrath thanked them and invited them backstage to hang out after the show.

They ended the night with their smash hit, “Fly,” which left the crowd dancing in the streets as they exited the stage. Early in their career critics said they would never make it past their 15 minutes of fame. It has been 21 years and they’re still rocking it harder than ever.

For more info go to: www.sugarray.com