The Toadies brought their grungy, sometimes eerie and almost always loud sound to Nevermore Hall in Baltimore’s Power Plant Live! district on Saturday, August 8. Fans craving a dose of ’90s alternative rock were in for a good one, with Dallas-based Olive Vox opening the evening, Local H turning up the volume and the Toadies closing it down.
Nevermore Hall provided a fitting backdrop for the show. The venue’s dark, Edgar Allan Poe-inspired décor — including plenty of imagery drawn from “The Raven” — matched the Toadies’ ominous sound remarkably well. Take a look at the cover of the band’s latest record, The Charmer, and it almost seems as though the album and venue were designed with each other in mind.
Olive Vox was up first. Lead singer Parker James commanded the room immediately with vocals that were loud but controlled. The band cites Nirvana, Cage the Elephant and Baltimore’s own Turnstile among its influences, and those inspirations rang true throughout the set.
James was joined by his brother Caden Shea on guitar, with Ben Reid on bass and Dayton Phillips on drums. Their performance lasted only about 30 minutes, but the band packed a punch, running through a solid handful of tracks, including “Hear Me Out,” one of my personal favorites.
Watch the official music video for “Hear Me Out” by Olive Vox on YouTube:
After just a 15-minute break, Local H was up next. Bands playing rooms this size often need considerably more time for a changeover, but Local H has an advantage: There are only two guys onstage.
Ronnie DiCola, filling in for Ryan Harding, was behind the drums, while founding member Scott Lucas handled vocals and guitar. Lucas’ guitar is rigged with a bass pickup, allowing him to essentially play both instruments at once. Once you get past the fact that there are only two musicians onstage, the next thing that hits you is the absolute mountain of sound they produce.
From the opening seconds of “Nothing Special,” DiCola was an absolute freight train, steamrolling through each song and beating the drums like they owed him money. Lucas brought plenty of stage presence of his own, interacting with the crowd while delivering Local H favorites including “The Misanthrope” and “Bound for the Floor,” the latter incorporating a detour into the Stooges’ “T.V. Eye.”
By this point, the crowd was fully into it, with a circle opening in the middle of the all-general-admission venue for much of the set. Doni Blair of the Toadies also came out to play bass on Local H’s final song, “Manifest Density,” providing a fun surprise before the headliners arrived.
Just before 9 pm, the Toadies took the stage. Much like a good portion of their catalog, the concert began as a slow burn. The band’s bread and butter is tense, dark songwriting paired with hard-hitting riffs, and the Toadies rode that wave all night, closely watched by the giant Pumpkin King looming at stage left.
“Ash’s Theme,” an instrumental from The Charmer, kicked things off. Released in May, the new record would receive plenty of attention throughout the night.
Go behind the scenes on the making of “Ash’s Theme” with Toadies on YouTube:
Up next came the first song from the Toadies’ best-known album, the 1994 classic Rubberneck. “I Come From the Water” immediately ramped up the energy and gave the audience its first chance to sing along with one of Vaden Todd Lewis’ classic hooks.
The title track from 2008’s No Deliverance followed before the band returned to Rubberneck with “Away.” “ATF,” another swagger-filled instrumental, came next. Lead guitarist Clark Vogeler and Lewis on rhythm guitar then drove “Long Time,” with Vogeler delivering a warbling guitar line reminiscent of “Away.”
“Song I Hate,” another cut from No Deliverance, came next, followed by “Happyface” and “Jigsaw Girl,” the latter offering the night’s first taste of 2001’s Hell Below/Stars Above.
“The Charmer” provided a pivotal moment near the halfway point of the main set. At the song’s dramatic climax, a curtain featuring the new album’s artwork dropped from the rafters, covering the traditional Toadies triangle-T logo that had served as the stage backdrop.
The band returned to Rubberneck with “Mexican Hairless,” another instrumental that found drummer Mark Reznicek steadily chugging along as the tension built toward the song’s explosive final seconds.
The Toadies revisited Hell Below/Stars Above with “Little Sin,” then served up two consecutive tracks from The Charmer: “Closer to You” and “I Call Your Name.”
Then came the song everyone knew was coming: “Possum Kingdom.”
About 30 seconds into the Toadies’ biggest hit, Vogeler stopped the song after apparently spotting someone in distress in the increasingly lively crowd. Medics were initially waved off, the band cracked a quick joke and the song restarted. About halfway through, Vogeler again directed medics toward the same area, though the band continued playing. A few sly smiles exchanged onstage soon suggested that all was well.
Watch the official music video for “Possum Kingdom” by Toadies on YouTube:
From there, it was a sprint toward the finish. “Damage” and “Normal,” both from The Charmer, came next. Lewis reflected on the creative freedom the band enjoyed while making the new album and spoke about working with producer Steve Albini on material the band was especially proud of. “Normal,” in particular, revealed a more vulnerable side of Lewis.
“Tyler” wrapped up the main set in a big way, with Blair anchoring the song with its memorable bass line as the crowd managed to send a surfer all the way over the barrier. Whew!
After a brief encore break, the Toadies returned with “I Put a Spell on You,” which opens their 2017 album The Lower Side of Uptown. Two more songs from The Charmer followed — “I Wanted to Be Everywhere” and “Get Out of Your Head” — completing another back-to-back run of new material.
Almost poetically, the band ended with “I Burn,” perhaps the song that best embodies the Toadies’ dark, slow-burning sound. After opening the night with “Ash’s Theme,” they finished in a blaze, effectively burning the house down and sending the crowd home with little else to desire.
Throughout the night, the Toadies struck a strong balance between showcasing The Charmer — an excellent record, by the way — and revisiting the songs that have kept fans coming back for decades. They played all but four songs from the new album while still making plenty of room for Rubberneck and other favorites.
Nevermore Hall was hot with excitement and energy Saturday night, and all three bands gave fans plenty of reason to catch them again the next time they come through town.
Local H set
1. “Nothing Special”
2. “Fritz’s Corner”
3. “The Misanthrope”
4. “Hands on the Bible”
5. “Bound for the Floor” / “TV Eye” / “Bound for the Floor”
6. “That’s What They All Say”
7. “High-Fiving MF”
8. “Manifest Density (Parts 1 and 2)” — with Doni Blair of the Toadies on bass
Toadies set
1. “Ash’s Theme”
2. “I Come From the Water”
3. “No Deliverance”
4. “Away”
5. “ATF”
6. “Long Time”
7. “Song I Hate”
8. “Happyface”
9. “Jigsaw Girl”
10. “The Charmer”
11. “Mexican Hairless”
12. “Little Sin”
13. “Closer to You”
14. “I Call Your Name”
15. “Possum Kingdom”
16. “Damage”
17. “Normal”
18. “Tyler”
Encore
19. “I Put a Spell on You”
20. “I Wanted to Be Everywhere”
21. “Get Out of Your Head”
22. “I Burn”
Here are some photos of Toadies and openers Olive Vox and Local H performing live at Nevermore Hall on August 8, 2026. All pictures copyright and courtesy of Luke Waldner.
