Regular Everywhere: August 2026 Concerts in Review
August featured some big shows, both in and out of town. It has also been a great summer of getting my 12-year-old daughter to shows (she's now at 62 total)!
I've enjoyed traveling for shows this year—already to Nashville, Columbia (MO), New Orleans, Chicago, and Minneapolis, with Atlanta and Columbia (MD) on the horizon.
August was good to me. Let's see…
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Noah Kahan w/ Gigi Perez & Annabelle Dinda
@ Busch Stadium — St. Louis, MO — August 2nd, 2026
While I'm not a huge fan of stadium concerts, my third Noah Kahan show did not disappoint.
Gigi Perez and Annabelle Dinda were solid openers; Gigi more so. They both brought their own take on Americana to the stadium stage, which is an accomplishment in its own right. Poor Annabelle was mostly playing to people waiting in the extensive merch lines. The crowd was not there for them, but were very attentive and supportive.
The first time we saw Noah, it was a muddy festival set at the point in his rise where he still had something to prove. It was exceptional. The second time we saw him, he had risen and was navigating that. It was fine, but not exceptional. It had lost some of what made his thing special.
This third time was the charm because it was the perfect blend of both. He had the artistry and energy of his early career with the pomp and circumstance of his newfound fame—it translated perfectly to the stadium. What a great night!
Young The Giant w/ Cold War Kids & Little Image
@ St. Louis Music Park — St. Louis, MO — August 8th, 2026
We absolutely love seeing shows at The Music Park and we grabbed discounted tickets for this show so that Claire could bring a friend. I'd seen Young The Giant and Cold War Kids multiple times in the past, so it was an easy sell for me.
Little Image got things started. I was not previously familiar with them, but we liked their grimy rock befitting their all-caps song titles.
Cold War Kids played an expert-level set, featuring songs from their entire catalog. "We Used To Vacation" and "Hang Me Out To Dry" had the same urgency they did 20 years ago but played by a band who is 20 times more road-tested at this point. Stunning.
This was the biggest production that I have seen from Young The Giant and it was great to see them outside of the festival setting. I haven't been as enamored with their later material, but it sold itself well from the stage.
Great show!
Tame Impala w/ Dominic Fike
@ Target Center — Minneapolis, MN — August 28th, 2026
Concert 62 for Claire was a big one. We pulled her out of a day on the first week of school to drive up to Minneapolis for Tame Impala and Dominic Fike—this is what our family does.
Dominic Fike is a budding interest for Claire, and was the main driver of the trip for her. I love watching "firsts" through her eyes and this show had a few of them for her. It was her first time seeing an artist that she felt was famous but was not necessarily super-seasoned at playing a show this big. It was also the first time she recalls seeing an artist playing her favorite song of theirs live and taking some liberties with the tune. In this case, Dominic stretched his vocals a bit thin on "White Keys," almost screaming her favorite parts. It can be tough to love your favorite artists and also admit that they are human. Overall his set was solid and it fight right in with Tame Impala's massive young audience.
This was my fourth time seeing Tame Impala and the stage production just keeps getting more insane and psychedelic. Kevin's music has definitely risen to arena-level, but my one gripe was that his different album generations of music didn't transition as nicely as I would have hoped on a mixed-setlist. The older, guitar-heavy tunes did not have the deep bass as the newer, house-leaning tracks. Everything sounded great, but there were some noticeable sonic transitions as the setlist was written for popularity and not necessarily smoothness.
The b-stage part of the set was interesting, almost taking a page from the Boys Noize playbook and featuring just Kevin rocking out cross-legged on a rug on a bunch of groove boxes.
All in all, we had a transcendent experience. My favorite crowd-watching experience was the girlies with their point-and-shoot digital cameras doing 30+ minute photo shoots in the arena portals. A great time was had by all!
Pond w/ Products Band
@ Fine Line — Minneapolis, MO — August 29th, 2026
Two Perth bands in as many days in Minneapolis. This touring adjacency has seemed almost purposeful as there have been reports of Kevin Parker joining Pond on stage in other cities. We were not as lucky. That said, Pond absolutely ripped!
Local opener, Products Band, were tight and fit in well on the bill. They had that kind of chameleon-like art rock/no-wave feel that fits well on a lot of weird indie shows. There were definitely a local contingency out for them!
Pond blew me away. Fine Line is a classic, shotgun-style venue and it had perfect site lines and sound for everyone in the room. This matters for a band like Pond, because they just absolutely go for it live.
With some of my favorite Pond songs being synth-forward tracks like "Sweep Me Off My Feet," I was somewhat caught off guard by how muscular their live show is. They also would jam out certain songs well-beyond the album versions, which was delightful. Closer "Don't Look at the Sun or You'll Go Blind" went all of the way to the moon and back. Just an absolute ripper of a show and a great way to end both our trip and the August concert month!
