Don Toliver Brings Houston’s high-OCTANE to Austin at SXSW

Review by Christian Hernandez | Read the full SXSW recap here

Friday, March 13, 2026 — Don Toliver opened up Billboard’s THE STAGE @ SXSW 2026, a stage meant to showcase the new stars of today’s music scene. Toliver is set to embark on his Octane Tour later this month, and stopped by SXSW to give us a little something to expect. 

The show was sold-out, but luckily for me, my Music pass got me entry into the beautiful Moody Amphitheater. As I walked up to the badge check in, passing by the incredibly long line of eager fans waiting to get in, you could feel the electricity that was in the air. Toliver, a Houston native, has meant so much for the music scene in Texas, so anytime he stops in the Lone Star State, his fans do anything to be there and show out. 

Getting inside, the crowd was already pretty deep, with hundreds gathering around the front of the stage. I imagine many of the fans there were already planning out their moshpits. I decided to plant myself up on the hills in the back of the amphitheater, as it provided an elevated look on the stage, and I could take in all of the performance. I sat through high energy performances from his crew, including Soscamo and Chase B, all which ramped up the hype for Toliver even more.

Photo by Chaunce Scott for Billboard’s THE STAGE @ SXSW

Shortly after 9:30 PM, Toliver took the stage, being met with more than 5,000 fans who had now packed out the Amphitheater. Joining him on stage was his touring guitarist, Spikes, who was shredding the entire set. Toliver opened with “E85”, the opening track to OCTANE, and from there, it was liftoff. 

Toliver has already made an established discography for himself, which made the performance feel like a greatest hits show, but it truly goes to show how talented he is in making music that connects with his fans. Songs from OCTANE like “Body”, “Gemstone”, and “Tiramisu”, had only been out for a few months and they had already made waves on the charts and on social media. Each song was meant with roars from the fierce audience. 

He even took it back, playing older hits like “CAN’T SAY”, “FWU”, “Too Many Nights”, and “After Party.” So many of these songs took me back to high school when he was first coming up on the scene, so it felt a bit surreal seeing his trajectory in such a short span of time. This new project was taking him to even higher highs, evident in the way the crowd reacted when he took it back to OCTANE with “ATM” and “Pleasure’s Mine.”

Photo by Dusana for Billboard’s THE STAGE @ SXSW

My phone ran out of storage halfway because I kept recording videos of the performance, as each song he played had me thinking “Wait this is my favorite song!” Even up on the grassy hills of the Moody Amphitheater, fans were dancing with each other, jumping up and down as if they were down in the mosh, or rapping along with Don, never missing a bar. It was the perfect way to kick off SXSW for many attendees, and an even better way to kick off Billboard’s THE STAGE.