Toronto's annual Halloween covers party is back on 31 October, and this year it fills both rooms at Lee's Palace and the Dance Cave upstairs. Death to T.O. puts local acts on two stages and has them play somebody else's songs for a night, which is the whole format and has been for years.
The bill runs to twelve names. Glimmerjean & Goode, Essie Watts and Miserable Weekend, Secret Sign, Kurt Marble Band, Paste, J3M, OLGA, Praises, Wild Black, Life in Vacuum, Danny Sheahan and company, and Altered by Mom are all booked, which is a fair cross-section of what is playing Toronto clubs this year.
The catalogues being raided are deliberately scattered. Exclaim lists Dolly Parton, the Bee Gees, Misfits, the Tragically Hip, the Cure, Frank Ocean, Deftones, Sheryl Crow, Blondie, the Offspring, LCD Soundsystem and the Presidents of the United States of America, a spread that runs from Nashville country through hardcore punk to a 1990s novelty single.
What the organisers have not published is who is covering whom. The pairings are held back, which is the part of the night that draws a crowd: a band's choice of catalogue says more about them than a support slot ever does, and the surprise is worth more unspent.
The practical details are modest by festival standards. Doors are at 7:30pm, tickets are $21.50 including tax before fees, and the show is restricted to those over 19. That price for a dozen acts across two stages is roughly the cost of a single club ticket in the same city.
The run has history behind it. Exclaim's coverage of the 2025 edition lists Black Sabbath, David Bowie and the Strokes among the acts covered that year, so this is an established annual event rather than a one-off, and several of the bands on the 2026 bill have played it before.
Two stages in one building keeps the night moving. Lee's Palace holds a few hundred people downstairs while the Dance Cave runs above it, which lets twelve acts play in an evening without the changeover times that kill a single-stage bill.
The date is now on the festival tracker. Our other indie coverage of Toronto bookings includes Wavelength's St Anne's show with Volur and Charles Spearin, and the Halloween calendar elsewhere includes Widespread Panic's New Orleans run.
The facts
- Death to T.O. returns on 31 October 2026 in Toronto.
- The covers party runs across Lee's Palace and the Dance Cave.
- Twelve acts are billed, among them Kurt Marble Band, Paste, J3M and OLGA.
- The songs covered include Dolly Parton, the Bee Gees, Misfits and Deftones.
- The Cure, Frank Ocean, Blondie and LCD Soundsystem are also on the list.
- Doors are at 7:30pm and tickets cost $21.50 including tax, plus fees.
- The show is restricted to those aged 19 and over.
- Exclaim does not say which act is covering which catalogue.
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