By all accounts, the band Smash Mouth gave an exciting performance during Brooklyn's 90s Fest on Saturday. But the 90s have to end sometime, and for Smash Mouth, it looks like they ended Sunday.
The band performed at the 38th Annual Oyster Festival in Norwalk, Conn., on Sunday in a performance the local newspaper, The Hour, has called "disjointed," "impressively detached" and "slurred and muttered."
Video of lead singer Steve Harwell performing the band's main hit "All Star" shows him leaning heavily on the microphone, trailing off on lyrics and dejectedly demanding the audience "put your hands in the air" before looking at something else.
There'a also a recording of Harwell performing a karaoke-quality rendition of "I'm a Believer," the band's "signature cover" according to The Hour.
I could see how Harwell might be bummed. On Saturday, he was the crown jewel of an event designed specifically to celebrate his band's legacy. Then, on Sunday, he's back to being the opening act for Dennis DeYoung of Styx, who cancelled (a "devastating hit" The Hour quotes festival chairman Mike Reilly as saying).
To be fair to Harwell and Smash Mouth, you would probably be detached, disjointed, and slurring, too, if you had to perform "All-Star" multiple times a week for the past 15 years.