Alice Donut, Steel Pole Bathtub

February 14, 2026

Great American Music Hall

San Francisco, CA

Hey, if Will can write about Weird Al Yankovic on this heavy metal website, I can write about weird psychedelic punk rock – NYC’s Alice Donut. At least Alice Donut wrote a song about Metallica.

And weird is definitely the vibe with this band, kinda Frank Zappa meets the Butthole Surfers or the Melvins. I was a big fan in the early 90s, and saw them a few times over the years, but it had been quite a while. I’m not sure exactly how long, though I have a Fillmore poster from a 1994 show hanging in the office.

So when the Great American Music Hall, one of the best clubs in SF, announced a 2 night engagement with Steel Pole Bathtub and Alice Donut, Steel Pole Bathtub headlining Friday night playing the entirety of their album Tulip, and Alice Donut headline Saturday night playing the entirety of their 1992 album The Untidy Suicides of Your Degenerate Children I knew I wanted to see the Saturday show.

Alice Donut, Great American Music Hall, San Francisco, CA February 14, 2026

We arrived around 9:15, expecting to catch the last songs of Steel Pole Bathtub’s set, since I don’t really understand their appeal. But they played for another 45 minutes, including a cover of the Dead Kennedy’s Chemical Warfare with some guest vocalist who was not Jello (though Jello was of course in the audience). Plus one of the stranger things I’ve ever seen, the band temporarily stepping offstage while a different band of young women (their kids?) took the stage for a single Steel Pole Bathtub cover tune before handing it back to SPBT for their encore.

Alice Donut with Angus (?), Great American Music Hall, San Francisco, CA February 14, 2026

Alice Donut got started, and they played the entirety of their 1992 album The Untidy Suicides of your Degenerate Children. I’d say it is my favorite album by them, the usual weirdness punctuated by some rockin’ tunes like this:

And of course their Metallica-themed tune, the longest titled song for a band known for ridiculously long song and album titles – The Son of a Disgruntled X-Postal Worker Reflects on His Life While Getting Stoned in the Parking Lot of a Winn Dixie Listening to Metallica

It was pretty cool to hear that whole album, including at least one tune that had never been played live before. For their second set, an extra guitarist joined the band, and they played some of their better known songs off of a number of earlier records. They also had an Angus Young impersonator (?) guy who kept coming on stage to rally the crowd – I’m hoping he was a friend of the band. If not, he was certainly well tolerated by them.

I don’t know how often Alice Donut have been playing these days, but they were really on it, and sounded great.

–Hectic

Alice Donut's drummer plays a trombone tune