Thursday spreads melancholia, compassion at UC Theatre Adil Siddiqee April 19, 2017 Concerts, Festivals, and Live Reviews, Reviews One foot on the monitor, surveying the crowd, Thursday’s Geoff Rickley gestured to the giant decorations covering the venue’s wall behind him. The seminal emo act’s logo — a stenciled dove in flight —...
Ethan Gruska, facing our fears for us Kavitha George April 17, 2017 Concerts, Festivals, and Live Reviews Ginger, bearded, and vaguely reminiscent of a white Aziz Ansari, Ethan Gruska is the kind of singer/songwriter you hope to see before they achieve mainstream success. His piano arrangements channel that pop-R&a...
Turnstile – bringing intimacy to the festival stage Sam Jameson April 17, 2017 Concerts, Festivals, and Live Reviews, Multimedia, Photos, Reviews Festivals are fantastic in the way that they expose attendees to a wide variety of bands spanning across many genres. In combination with warm weather, overpriced parking, massive crowds, overpriced vegetarian ...
Kaleo shreds Nob Hill Masonic to ribbons Kavitha George April 17, 2017 Concerts, Festivals, and Live Reviews Kaleo, or as the internet appears to regard them, "Jökull Júlíusson and some other guys," carved a permanent spot for themselves in the heart of San Francisco Thursday night. There were your usual declar...
Mitski at the Fillmore: experiencing puberty again never sounded so good Delaney Gomen April 17, 2017 Concerts, Festivals, and Live Reviews, Reviews To a sold out crowd at The Fillmore, Mitski recalls a time in her life when she was cut off ten minutes into a set in a New York City dive bar by the opposition of her audience: a lone sound tech. Throughout th...
Bonobo brings smooth and invigorating dreamscape to Fox Theater Dylan Medlock April 17, 2017 Concerts, Festivals, and Live Reviews, Reviews More packed than I had ever seen it, Oakland’s Fox Theater was clearly sold out -- and for good reason. Supporting their lush seventh album, Migration (2017), mastermind of Bonobo DJ Simon Green made sure the...
Women in Music takeover the Bay Area Eda Yu April 14, 2017 Blog, Concerts, Festivals, and Live Reviews, Reviews, women in music Last Thursday evening, the Pandora headquarters buzzed with a warm, excited energy despite the torrential downpour outside. A DJ in the back corner of the meeting room played chill, mellowed-out beats as people...
Sigur Rós illuminates the Greek Theatre Dylan Medlock April 12, 2017 Concerts, Festivals, and Live Reviews, Reviews Dimly backlit by currents of glowing fog, the three silhouetted members of Icelandic post-rock group Sigur Rós took their time to fade onto the stage, welcoming the packed Greek Theater softly and patiently. A...
SXSW photo gallery Ally Mason April 10, 2017 Concerts, Festivals, and Live Reviews, Reviews I would like to think I know my way around a music festival--how to navigate a crowd, a lineup, a schedule. Music festivals, not unlike music, require a keen sense of timing. Though I tried to map out the in...
Saharan soul sweeps UC Theatre Conner Smith April 4, 2017 Concerts, Festivals, and Live Reviews, Reviews Music moves. Mind-body binaries begin to melt away, hands form foreign structures in the air above heads, and blood begins to course through veins with a different weight. The Saharan sounds of African rock gro...
The price of pro: The Growlers at The Warfield John Lawson April 2, 2017 Columns and Opinions, Concerts, Festivals, and Live Previews, Concerts, Festivals, and Live Reviews, Reviews Brooks Nielsen is not a good dancer. The Growlers frontman shuffled around The Warfield stage for over two hours this Friday on their City Club tour, his back straight, arms gesticulating casually to the thu...
Punks in a palace: Social Distortion galvanizes the masses at Berkeley’s UC Theatre Natalie Silver March 26, 2017 Columns and Opinions, Concerts, Festivals, and Live Reviews In a sense, he and I were not so different. Sure … one of us had sagging gauges, a belligerently drunk wife, and the stale breath of 50 years of cigarettes on his lips. One of us stood out among the rest o...
With conviction, Xiu Xiu play it safe at church Joanna Jiang March 23, 2017 Concerts, Festivals, and Live Reviews “Drum machine way up,” local favourite Xiu Xiu requested of The Chapel’s sound technician last Sunday, two songs into their set. With or without cranked monitors, they were predictably noisy. But the s...
Shing02 & The Chee-Hoos pay tribute to Nujabes at the Social Hall Edfil Dulay March 21, 2017 Concerts, Festivals, and Live Previews, Concerts, Festivals, and Live Reviews, Photos, Reviews In an emotion-packed, rhyme-flying concert, Japanese rapper Shing02 with help from the The Chee-Hoos paid tribute to fellow artist and principle collaborator, Nujabes (Jun Seba), who tragically passed away...
Tchami brings the house, tears it down Jordan Aronson March 19, 2017 Concerts, Festivals, and Live Reviews, Reviews French techno/future house producer Tchami rolled through the Bay Area for a Tuesday night stop at the Fox Theater. Fending off the midweek blues and the seemingly ever-present burden of midterms, the packed th...