Alabama Shakes in St. Louis

About Alabama Shakes

Alabama Shakes are a four-piece from Athens, Alabama that somehow managed to make soul music feel urgent and unfinished in the best way possible. Brittany Howard's voice is the thing that stops you mid-conversation—it's got this raw, searching quality that sounds like it's being pulled from somewhere deep. The band broke through around 2012 with Boys & Girls, an album that felt genuinely different in a landscape of carefully calibrated indie rock. Hold On became their crossover moment, a song so fundamentally right that it still sounds fresh. Their follow-up Sound & Color showed real growth, with Howard's voice getting stranger and more confident at once. What makes them matter is that they never sound like they're performing soul music so much as living in it. There's always something slightly off-balance about their arrangements, a willingness to let songs breathe unevenly. They've never chased trends or tried to be cooler than they are. Just four people from Alabama making music that feels true.

They command a room with zero showmanship. Howard stands still mostly, lets her voice do the talking while the band locks into grooves that get tighter as the set goes on. Crowds quiet down to listen. When they hit the big ones, people lose it quietly—no screaming, just this palpable relief.

Known for Hold On, Don't Wanna Fight, Sound & Color, Girls in Alabama, Be Mine

Alabama Shakes + St. Louis

Alabama Shakes brought their soul-drenched sound to the Fabulous Fox in May 2015, working through a setlist that balanced their bigger moments with deeper cuts. They opened with the atmospheric "Dunes" and let things build from there, hitting "Always Alright" and "Don't Wanna Fight" alongside the grittier "Gimme All Your Love" and "Be Mine." The show found them closing on "Over My Head," which felt like the right place to leave it after eighteen songs that proved they were more than just a breakout act riding a wave—they were a band with real command of their material.

Alabama Shakes in St. Louis News

• Watch Brittany Howard Honor Tina Turner With St. Louis Symphony Orchestra JamBase · Feb 17, 2026
• Brittany Howard to Take the Stage at St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and St. Louis CITY SC’s Eternal: A Tribute to Tina Turner presented by Purina St. Louis CITY SC · Feb 6, 2026
• Alabama Shakes Plot Shows with Tedeschi Trucks Band and Nathaniel Rateliff Jambands · Jan 26, 2026
• Zach Bryan announces tour with MJ Lenderman, Dijon, Alabama Shakes & more BrooklynVegan · Nov 24, 2025
• Zach Bryan Will Play Stadiums Around the World in 2026 Rolling Stone · Nov 24, 2025

Live Music in St. Louis

St. Louis has always been generous to guitar-driven soul and rock acts. The city's musical DNA runs deep—blues heritage, soul traditions, and a working-class sensibility that Alabama Shakes tapped into naturally. The Fabulous Fox, despite its ornate 1920s setting, regularly hosts artists working in that vein, and the crowd there tends to appreciate bands that earn their swagger through feel rather than flash.

St. Louis road trip to see Alabama Shakes?

Base yourself in the Central West End, where the tree-lined streets and converted lofts give the neighborhood a genuinely livable vibe. Hit Broadway Oyster Bar for something with actual character, or Park Avenue Coffee if you need to ease in. Spend an afternoon at the City Museum—it's genuinely weird and worth your time, not a tourist trap. The Pulitzer Arts Foundation is also worth an hour if contemporary art is your thing. St. Louis takes itself less seriously than most cities, which makes it easy to move around and find decent food without overthinking it.