NIAGARA FALLS — There was no shortage of hit songs, sing-alongs, or callbacks to the 1990s.
As a pair of ’90s hitmakers each took to the stage at Seneca Niagara Resort & Casino Event Center on Saturday, concert-goers handily expressed their yearning for the decade and its music.
In some ways, the pairing of Sugar Ray and Tonic proved to be an interesting juxtaposition of ’90s pop rock.
Sugar Ray, led by energetic and witty frontman Mark McGrath, had undoubtedly engaged the audience throughout their 70-minute, 10-song set with their pop-rock, sing-along friendly hits such as “Every Morning” and “Fly.”
Still donning frosted tips with a light pink button-down shirt and white pants, McGrath moved up and down the stage almost constantly throughout the night to keep the equally energetic crowd engaged.
Throughout the night, he was not at all at a loss for words with several references to ‘90s culture.
“Welcome back to the ’90s bros and sisters,” McGrath exclaimed to the audience. “Some of us never left. Where’s our frosted tips gang at? Is it just me? Give it three years and your kids will be doing it.”
During their set, Sugar Ray also interspersed snippets of ‘90s pop hits by other prominent artists of the day including TLC’s “No Scrubs,” Backstreet Boys’ “I Want It That Way,” and OMC’s “How Bizarre.”
McGrath was also not short on praise for Tonic, who delivered a hit-filled set of their own to kick off the show, whom the band and its members have toured with on several occasions.
Most recently, McGrath and Hart joined forces for their last visit to the area with singer Kevin Griffin of the band Better Than Ezra as the supergroup Ezra Ray Hart, which visited the area for a similarly hit-filled performance at Artpark in 2019.
Tonic, led by original frontman Emerson Hart and longtime bassist Dan Lavery, did more than just warm up the audience on the strength of their musicianship and songwriting prowess, which has always pushed in a more hard rock direction than Sugar Ray’s material.
The band encompassed a wealthy cross-section of their catalog over the course of 70 minutes, culling from their initial run in the mid-1990s to the early 2000s that spanned three studio albums.
They opened the show with a strong one-two punch performing the fan-favorite and go-to show-opener “Open Up Your Eyes” followed by the equally rocking and reflective “Take Me As I Am,” which earned them a Grammy nomination in 2002.
As Tonic was winding down their set with their hit song, “If You Could Only See,” Hart looked down at the crowd for a moment before strumming the chords of the song’s final chorus.
“Now you know I’m gonna make you sing this last chorus. Can you do it?” he told the crowd.
Accompanied by Hart’s acoustic guitar, the crowd took over in the moment and sang the final chorus in unison to the song he described as “going back to the summer of 1996.”