Wednesday night’s Louise Post Sleepwalker tour concert in St. Louis at The Red Flag was personal to so many and for varied reasons. From long-time friends and acquaintances made in high school or before (Post is originally from St. Louis and — for that burning St. Louis question — graduated from Clayton High School in 1985) to a former tour manager of Veruca Salt (of which Post was a founding member) to relatives, and then, of course, avid fans of Veruca Salt and now Post’s newer solo career.
2014 at The Firebird
For me, it marked a bit of an anniversary in that Veruca Salt with opener Battleme was one of the first concerts I photographed in a professional capacity nearly 10 years ago on July 14, 2014, at the now-shuttered The Firebird for the now-defunct Eleven Music Magazine.
No matter the reason, the fans spanning pre-teen to age 70+ who attended were treated to a rousing, sublime night of heavy hooks and powerful alt-rock to a bit more exploration with arrangements on some of Post’s new material.
The 90-plus minute set kicked off with Post, clad in a satin white long pajama set and jewels, walking onto stage with her hands raised, beaming at the crowd before launching into three heavy-hitters of Veruca Salt: “Closer,” “Straight,” and “Don’t Make Me Prove It.” Post and the backing band “The Smokeshow” which consists of Roberto Sanchez on drums, guitarist/backing vocals Randal Blaschke, bassist Nicole Fiorentino, and Matt Drenik on 
guitar/backing vocals then launched into the perky, noise-ladened “Guilty” from Post’s Sleepwalker solo album.
You can take the girl out of St. Louis but you can’t take St. Louis out of the girl
Post connected with the crowd by sharing anecdotes including, “I love my life in L.A. but I miss St. Louis every day. I look at Zillow every day and think about moving back.” She then launched into the catchy ditty, “Hollywood Hills.” She also dedicated the new, breathy, “Don’t Give Up,” to her “best friend who passed away last year. She got to hear this song and said to me, I think this song is about you. God bless, Jo.”
After a short break, Post returned on stage with a bouquet of fresh roses and began tossing them to friends in the audience. She then sang a solo version of Veruca Salt’s “Disconnected.” The rest of the band joined her for the final three encore songs that ended with Veruca Salt’s “Hellraiser.”
A large majority of the crowd waited around after the lights came on for an opportunity to spend a few minutes reminiscing with Post or perhaps to snag a hug or an autograph. This would have continued into the wee hours had the venue not shooed everyone away into the cool spring night.
This St. Louis-born and raised girl’s done good and hasn’t forgotten what’s important or where she came from and that made the night more connected and killer all these years later.
St. Louis-based Slazinik opened the night at 8 p.m. to a growing crowd with 40 minutes of a noisy, early grunge/heavy garage rock sound that, depending on the song, veered into punk rock. Songs included “Chance Meeting” and “Vices.” If some of the band members looked or sounded familiar that’s because, according to Wikipedia, they were members of the late 90s early 00s St. Louis band Sullen.
Find more photos from the night here: https://bit.ly/LPost24cz.
Louise Post setlist https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/louise-post/2024/red-flag-st-louis-mo-53a813f1.html
___________________
In my work life, I help nonprofits and small businesses with media and public relations. In my what I love to do life, you can typically find me photographing either wild horses or concerts.
