St. Louis tribute band Mississippi Moon takes the stage at Herald Square in Collinsville this Saturday for the grand finale of a summer-long outdoor concert series, closing things out with a full set devoted to the Doobie Brothers and their longtime frontman Michael McDonald. Admission is free, but organizers are asking for a suggested $10 donation per person at the gate, with proceeds benefiting SIUE public radio station WSIE 88.7 The Sound.
The show marks the last installment of the 2026 WSIE Music Series at Herald Square, a run that has brought regional acts to the fourth Saturday of every month from May through September, according to the Great Rivers & Routes Tourism Bureau. This year's lineup also included the Jeremiah Johnson Band, The Yacht Rockers, The Hard Bop Messengers, and Dawn Weber before Mississippi Moon closes the books on the season. As reported by St. Louis Magazine, the WSIE Music Series is built to celebrate regional musicians while bringing live music experiences to the Metro East and greater St. Louis region.
Herald Square is an outdoor venue at 115 East Clay Street in Collinsville. Guests attending Saturday's show are encouraged to bring their own lawn chairs, and food and beverages will be available for purchase on site, per St. Louis Magazine's event listing.
Two Eras, One Songbook
Mississippi Moon's set draws from a catalog spanning two distinct chapters of Doobie Brothers history. The band formed in San Jose, California, in 1970 and built its early reputation on driving acoustic guitars, dual-lead electric guitars, and a double-drummer rhythm section during the Tom Johnston era of the early 1970s, according to St. Louis Magazine. That period produced staples like “Listen to the Music,” “Long Train Runnin',” “China Grove,” and “Black Water.”
Everything shifted when Michael McDonald joined the band and, per the same account, pushed the group toward West Coast soft rock, blue-eyed soul, and R&B. The Michael McDonald era, running from the late 1970s into the early 1980s, produced “Takin' It to the Streets” and “What a Fool Believes,” the latter of which won a Grammy. That track, co-written by McDonald and Kenny Loggins, topped the Billboard Hot 100 in 1979, took home the 1980 Grammy Awards for Song of the Year and Record of the Year, and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2024, according to Wikipedia.
A Frontman With St. Louis Roots
McDonald's connection to the region runs deeper than a single tour stop. He was born in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson, Missouri, in 1952, attended McCluer High School, and played in local St. Louis bands before moving to Los Angeles in 1970, according to the St. Louis Walk of Fame. He joined the Doobie Brothers in 1975, fundamentally shifting the band's sound toward R&B and soft rock, per the same organization.
Mississippi Moon itself is a St. Louis-based act built to recreate that catalog, according to St. Louis Magazine.
This isn't the band's first charity run through the region this summer. Mississippi Moon headlined the annual Backstoppalooza benefit concert at the Chesterfield Amphitheater in Missouri on August 22, raising money for The BackStoppers, Inc., a charity that provides financial assistance to families of first responders killed or injured in the line of duty.
Why the $10 Ask Matters
WSIE 88.7 FM is a non-profit public station associated with Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and a hands-on training ground for SIUE mass communications students, according to Wikipedia. The station runs at 50,000 watts of effective radiated power out of studios in Dunham Hall.
The station is known as The Sound and accepts listener donations, according to VoyageSTL Magazine.
General Manager Jason Church described WSIE as a stress-free musical outlet.
