Haight and Ashbury streets are closed Thursday afternoon (today) for a block party celebrating Grammy-award winning band Train’s latest release, Mad Dog in the Fog, outside the pub that inspired the album’s name.

Train will perform Thursday, August 27, in Upper Haight, with the band taking the stage at 5 pm, as the Chronicle reports. Thursday’s event is limited to fans who RSVP and receive confirmation, with "doors" opening at 3:30 pm.

Train’s connection to Mad Dog in the Fog goes back to the band’s early days in San Francisco, when the pub became one of the first places to give the group a paying gig. Frontman Pat Monahan has credited the bar and its owner, Cyril, with supporting Train as it was getting started, making the pub’s name a natural choice for the band’s 12th studio album.

The original Mad Dog in the Fog operated in the Lower Haight for decades before closing in March 2020 during the pandemic. It reopened in August 2022 in the Upper Haight at 1568 Haight Street, near Clayton Street, where Train later returned to film the music video for the album’s title track, per the Chronicle.

“Mad Dog in the Fog is one of the first places in San Francisco where Train came together as a band,” Monahan said when announcing the album. “It was the first venue to pay us to play, and its owner, Cyril, has been one of our biggest champions from the beginning.”

The new album is Train’s first studio release since 2022’s AM Gold. It features 12 songs, including the previously released tracks “The Weekend” and “Pennsylvania Turnpike,” with Columbia Records set to release the album Friday, August 28.

The Haight Street party follows Train’s Wednesday night concert at Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, part of the band’s Drops of Jupiter: 25 Years in the Atmosphere Tour. 

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