Toadies at FIVE, Jacksonville (October 14, 2026)

Texas’ Toadies is on the last leg of their tour, in support of their new album The Charmer. They just headlined FIVE, in Jacksonville, Florida, last night. I’ve previously mentioned that parking around the FIVE venue is tough, because it’s almost always impossible to find (legal) parking. It’s always packed. Normally, I would park at this business nearby that closed after 6 (so you can park there without any issues). Except last night, the parking lot was full! Word must have gotten out. So, after just slowly cruising in the area, by accident, I did discover a small area of free parking after 6pm. It was great, I’ll have to remember to return to that parking spot next time I’m in the FIVE area.

The last Toadies show I personally saw was the anniversary of Rubberneck (the band’s best-known album) tour in 2022… but we cover their current tour, all the way back in June 2026: “Toadies took the stage over with the instrumental “Ash’s Theme” (from the new record), but Toadies leader Vaden Todd Lewis promised “lots of songs you can sing along to for the rest of the night” — starting with Rubberneck’s “I Come from the Water”. And while 1994’s alt-rock classics ran shoulder-to-shoulder with new stuff (2026’s Charmer) and fan-service deep cuts (a song from that abandoned 2000 album Feeler, plus three from the actual 2001 followup Hell Below/Stars Above), the eras blurred together, as they frequently do. Lewis is 60 now, and the deranged edge he lent to “Possum Kingdom”’s haunting refrain (“do you want to die?”) is a little lower and more craggy, but Toadies’ vision of hard-rock-with-dark-themes shines through. We got 10 songs from the new album, and they sound just as urgent and compelling live as they do on the record. (That’s no coincidence: it was one of the last projects that audio vérité legend Steve Albini recorded before his 2024 death.) The new stuff is plenty weird — there are just as many crooked corners and 7/8 surprises, but the sophisticated progressions and maturity of the songwriting hide tricks. And there’s old fashioned amplification: “Get Out of Your Head” hit 109 decibels where I was standing, and caused my hearing protection to glitch on me. “Normal” got a short but earnest introduction, framing the new album as Lewis’s statement about depression, self-harm, and suicide, urging people to get help. He also assured folks to be less afraid of what treatment and recovery really look like: “I’m here today because I got help, and I’m still weird as fuck. It’s just that the ‘fuck you’ voice in my head got a little quieter.” They left the stage after “Tyler”, but you know what it means when, as the band leaves, the lights dim, and the roadies come on stage, crack open fresh beers, leaving them by newly tuned guitars. There would be more.”

Similar with the June 2026 show, the band walked on stage to the sound of the Rocky Theme Song. The band also did sprinkle in new tracks from The Charmer, but they know their audience were there to hear “the old stuff”, as singer and band leader Vaden Todd Lewis pointed out. The old stuff, as it is, still sounds great, after all these years. As you can tell, their audience leaned towards a much older crowd. I did see some young fans/teenagers, but they were probably dragged to the show by their parents.

Lewis and drummer Mark Reznicek, I believe are the only original member of the classic Toadies lineup (guitarist Clark Vogeler joined the band in 1996, replacing original guitarist Charles Mooney III and replacement guitarist Darrel Herbert).

Also new, at least to me, was their stage setup. They got some great back-lighting, decorated with crows.

They’ve got about three more Florida dates to close out their 2026 tour, so they seemed almost relieved to finally get some much-needed rest in a few days. Thankfully, they’ve been selling out some merch (see photo long line for the merchandise table) so there’s less to bring back to their home storage.

Illinois’ Local H had been touring with Toadies for a while. They worked it out that Toadies’ guitarist Clark Vogeler would show up for their finale, “Manifest Density, Pt. 2” and close out their energetic set. Lucas would return the favor by showing up on the Toadies final song to close out the show with a bang.

I love Local H, having recently caught them in person at Ponte Vedra Beach, in last year: “Singer/guitarist Scott Lucas asked us, “Have you seen us before?” and briefly hearing ‘Yes’ from the audience, he continues, “Then you know what to expect” as he launches into very repetitive guitar chords and really simple, but very catchy lyrics like “what’s wrong with you?” (from “Nothing Special”) and my personal favorite, “That’s What They All Say”. If you like drone, high energy performance, you’ll really love Local H.”

Like their previous appearance, merchandise guy Gabe Rodriguez would occasionally show up to sing backup vocals – and would leave the stage when he’s not required to sing. Normally it’s just Scott Lucas and sweaty drummer Ryan Harding.

Austin’s Emily Wolfe was the only musician we haven’t seen live, although we previously mentioned her show in 2021.

I thought she was great, you can tell that she’s been playing live and performing on stage for a long time. She started her 30-min set with a double-neck guitar, demonstrating her ability to switch back and forth in her high adrenaline songs. Highlight of her set was drinking from her water bottle and then doing a giant geyser in the air.

There was a funny bit where the audience was doing their “duuuval” chant and just confused Wolfe (who had absolutely had no idea what they were on about). Her drummer had to fill her in. Like Wolfe, I don’t understand why everyone thinks it’s so funny.

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