Dates June 11, 2016 | Years active 2008–present | |
Location(s) New Braunfels, Texas (2010-12, 2016)
Fort Worth, Texas (2013-15)
Glen Rose, Texas (2009)
Possum Kingdom Lake (2008) | ||
Dia De Los Toadies is an annual music festival organized by perennial headlining act Toadies. First held in August 2008 at Possum Kingdom Lake, the festival has subsequently been held in Glen Rose, New Braunfels, and at Panther Island Pavilion in Fort Worth. The ninth annual festival will be held on June 11, 2016 in New Braunfels. The annual festival has been described as "the Willie's Picnic of a new generation."
History
The Toadies, a Texas-based alternative rock band, saw nationwide exposure in 1994 with the release of their platinum-selling debut album, Rubberneck and multiple singles including the Billboard-charting Possum Kingdom, a reference to Possum Kingdom Lake near Fort Worth, Texas. However, sales of the band's subsequent album were lackluster, and the band broke up in 2001.
After a seven-year hiatus, the band reunited in 2008 to release a new album, No Deliverance, and play a new tour in support of the album. While organizing the new album and tour, the band learned that there was high demand for them to play at Texas music festivals. Citing Willie Nelson's Fourth of July Picnic as their inspiration, the Toadies chose instead to organize their own festival, staging the "first annual" Dia De Los Toadies on the shore of Possum Kingdom Lake on August 31, 2008. The Toadies chose the name Dia De Los Toadies because it was not location-specific, permitting the band to move the festival to other locations in subsequent years.
The festival annually features a number of Texas-based musical acts, and exclusively featured bands from Texas in its first four years. Toadies frontman Vaden Todd Lewis has commented that "the idea has been to highlight Texas bands." Texas performers featured at Dia De Los Toadies have included Bowling for Soup, The Old 97's, Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears, The Sword, Secret Machines, Gary Clark, Jr., and Sixteen Deluxe.
Dia De Los Toadies had a reported attendance of over 5,000 people in its first year. In its second year, Dia De Los Toadies moved to Rough Creek Lodge in Glen Rose for another one-day event on August 29, 2009. In 2010 the festival grew to a two-day event, and from 2010 to 2012 was held at the WhiteWater Amphiteater, a 5,500-person waterfront venue in New Braunfels. In 2013, the festival moved to Panther Island Pavilion in Fort Worth.
On January 27, 2016, the Toadies announced that the ninth annual Dia De Los Toadies would be held on June 11, 2016 in New Braunfels, Texas. The Toadies and The Reverend Horton Heat were initially announced as headlining acts for the 2016 event. The complete lineup will also include Texas artists Purple, Emily Wolfe, and the Golden Meanies, plus Colorado-based In The Whale, who opened for the Toadies during most stops on the Toadies' 2015 Heretics tour.