In an attempt to usher in some long-overdue warm weather and summer vibes to our dreary grey city, the live music gods send us the perfect summer soundtrack in the form of Tōth, the solo project of Rubblebucket’s Alex Toth, and, man alive, is it ever welcome! Alex is the absolute spitting image of Will Forte and carries a vocal style that you can’t quite put your finger on. On songs like Turnaround (Cocaine Song) and Easy, it’s very Kurt Vile, while on the much dancier I Might Be, it’s more Kings Of Convenience. Sounds great, in any case!
Tōth’s only other band member is multi-instrumentalist Allegra Heart, who lays down mellow harmonies on No Reason, which comes complete with a moody trumpet solo that fits the jazz club vibe of the smoky room (which has been slowly pumped full of dry ice since doors opened). Allegra switches from bass duty to simultaneous bass and drums for Copilot, and impressively remains on double duty for the rest of the set.
For a Bar Le Ritz support slot, the audience interaction and participation is impressive too. We’re encouraged to join in a pogo on the intro to Picture of You, we’re taught how to sing the doo-doo harmonies of Spiraling, and on Not Broken (which absolutely must be on your playlist for summer 2026), we take care of the acapella outro too. An awesome, uplifting 45 minutes from start to finish.
Setlist
- Song to Make You Fall in Love with Me
- No Reason
- Picture of You
- Turnaround (Cocaine Song)
- Spiraling
- Copilot
- Thoughts Are Like Clouds
- Easy
- I Might Be
- Not Broken
Pairing Tōth with The Antlers is one of the more contrasting lineups in recent history that I can remember; I can’t imagine tonight’s headliners ever orchestrating a pogo on the floor! They are a much more serious prospect, mellow to the core, and rarely address the crowd. On the rare occasion that they do, it’s for frontman Pete Silberman to explain how this tour has been an experience trying to thread new songs about how we as a species are draining the outer world with older songs, which are more focused on the inner self, and how, in the modern world, the two are unquestionably impacting each other. Something like that, anyway…
Eh, I’m making it sound like a miserable experience here; it’s uplifting, just in a different way. Sometimes, the beauty is in the minimalism, such as on Bear and Two, which see the most minimal of guitar strums from Pete to accompany his angelic vocal, while songs like Sylvia and Putting the Dog to Sleep are much more grandiose, verging on post-rock as the guitars get loud and swirling and percussion crashes, courtesy of drummer Michael Lerner. Sylvia and Ahimsa also feature trumpet solos from Alex Toth, which add to the variety nicely.
I first fell in love with The Antlers when I saw them in this same room back in 2010, back when it was called Il Motore, so it’s wonderful to be back in the same spot with them tonight. And beyond the sentimentality, it just fits the mood better too, being so much more intimate than Studio TD, which they played last time in 2022. Whilst there isn’t the real estate for the visual projections we got at that show, it’s more than made up for by the fact the room is full, instead of being 1/3 full, like last time. You can hear a pin drop on the delicate intro section of Carnage, zero bar chatter to pollute the silence (as is often the case in a bigger venue), and as the song explodes into a cacophony of sound midway through, it just makes the contrast even more pronounced. You wonder how the two guys on stage could make such a glorious noise! It’s not lost on Pete either, who remarks, “Thanks for coming, y’all turned up and packed this place out!”
All in all, it’s a special 85 minutes and a timely reminder of why I love this band so much!
Setlist
- Consider the Source
- Palace
- Sylvia (with Alex Toth)
- Intruders
- I Was Not There
- Carnage
- Bear
- Two
- A Great Flood
- Calamity
- Putting the Dog to Sleep
Encore
- Parade
- Corsicana
- Ahimsa (with Alex Toth)
Review & photos – Simon Williams
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