Toadies Charmed Fans During Their Tour Stop in St. Louis
— by Carrie Zukoski
On the fourth night of the fall leg of their The Charmer tour, Toadies charged through St. Louis, stopping at The Pageant on a Monday night and bringing along Local H and Olive Vox as support.
The Texan alt/post grunge, heavy rock band Toadies has been performing and producing their mix of music since 1989. The band continues to tour to support their newest album, The Charmer, that came out in May to much acclaim and is being touted as some of their best Southern-tinged grunge to date.
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With “Gonna Fly Now,” the theme to Rocky, piped in overhead, the lights dimmed to black as Toadies members Vaden Todd Lewis, Mark Reznicek, Clark Vogeler, and Doni Blair appeared on stage. The next 85 minutes brought several songs from The Charmer as well as Rubberneck, with a handful from other albums and a solid cover of Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’ “I Put a Spell on You” during the three-song encore. Less boisterous on stage than they once were, although Vogeler keeps things mischievous, the band still brings the distorted guitar riffs and raw energy to the stage, especially on tracks such as “I Come From the Water,” “I Walk a Line,” fan-favorite “Possum Kingdom,” and the heavy “I Burn,” which they closed the night with.
Bathed in red lights, Local H, the alt-rock, grunge/post-grunge, heavy rock band formed in 1990 in Zion, IL, gave a powerful, heavy 45-minute set, enthralling the crowd throughout. Scott Lucas worked his guitar into a frenzy while Ryan Harding pounded the drums into submission on songs that included “Fine and Good,” “Eddie Vedder,” “Buffalo Trace,” and “Bound for the Floor,” with each track growing noisier than the one before it. They ended the night with Toadies’ bassist Doni Blair joining them on their most jangly, heavy, and noisy song, “Manifest Density, Part 2,” that included a long instrumental jam.
I’m not saying newcomers Olive Vox out-staged Local H or Toadies, but they held their own and blew away the early crowd with their boisterous 30-minute set. The young Texan alt-rock/post-punk rock band, comprised of Ben Reid (bass), Dayton Phillips (drums, and who turned 20 the night before this show), and brothers Parker James (vocals) and Caden Shea (guitar), all wear their passion on their sleeves and put their all into their high-energy, charged performance. They opened the night with mostly songs from their just-released EP, Trace it Back, which included “Hear Me Out,” “Babydoll,” and “Black & White.” They also included two unreleased songs, “I Feel Cold” and “Hamfist.” It just goes to prove it’s important to try your best to see the opener because you never know. This was their second time through St. Louis this year, and they’ll be back yet again on October 15 at Old Rock House opening for Beauty School Dropout.
With a few weeks left on this tour that’s traipsing across the US, you owe it to yourself to step out and see Toadies and whoever is supporting them on the night you go.
See so many more photos here: https://bit.ly/Toadies26cz
Toadies setlist https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/toadies/2026/the-pageant-st-louis-mo-737726a1.html
Local H setlist https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/local-h/2026/the-pageant-st-louis-mo-737726a5.html
Olive Vox setlist https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/olive-vox/2026/the-pageant-st-louis-mo-237f943b.html
