Since that day, Rothbart has remained an avid fan of the band, and because this will be The Man's first "big show," he said there is no band he would rather open for than Townhall.
George Stanford, lead singer and guitarist for Townhall, is grateful for The Lion's and Rothbart's support and is excited to return to State College. "The State College crowd is always tight," he said. "It's always a good time, and when everyone's not too drunk it's good, clean fun."
Townhall will not only play its tried and true hits but will incorporate new songs it has been working on into the set as well. Stanford describes the music as "song-driven rock 'n' roll."
"It has a lot of sensibilities of music from a different era," he said. "But it still has a new edge to it. It has an original rock kind of sound."
Rothbart encourages students to take the opportunity to see these bands while they're still accessible. "Townhall is a great up-and-coming band, and Pepper's Ghost has a really good Philly following," he said. "If you don't catch them now, it might be your only chance to see them in a small venue."
Rob Bennett, the lead guitarist and keyboardist for Pepper's Ghost, emphasized this point as well. "At this level, when you're not selling out stadiums, it's nice because you can make a lot of one-on-one contact with the other bands and fans," he said. "It's always cool to play with a band like Townhall who has a good fan base. We get to play for their fans, and they get to play for ours."
Pepper's Ghost has appeared with Townhall on numerous occasions, and Bennett said it has always been a memorable experience. He said he doesn't expect any less from this show. "They're good friends of ours," Bennett said. "It's cool because the bands we really like we become friends with. We're fans of their music, too. In fact, we covered one of their songs once when we were opening for them."
In the end, Bennett's aspirations for the show are simple.
"We just hope everyone likes each other," he said. "We want everyone to be friends."
