TVD Live Shots: Ty Segall, Shannon and the Clams, White Fence, and Axis: Sova at the Fox Theater, 2/27

Now in its 25th year, San Francisco’s Noise Pop Festival shows no signs of letting up. Its ten days of live music from dozens of bands across numerous Bay Area venues finally culminated at Oakland’s Fox Theater with a headlining set by Ty Segall.

The crowd at the Fox was sparse for the 7pm start of Axis: Sova’s set but the room filled quickly and by the time White Fence took the stage, the floor was packed and the house was clearly ready to party.

With the atmosphere properly teed up, hometown heroes Shannon and the Clams stepped on stage and knocked it out of the park. If you live in the Bay Area you’ve no doubt seen this band play all shapes and sizes of stages, so it was inspirational to see them truly shine on the big stage where their garage-punk doo-wop had the floor noticeably bouncing beneath the capacity crowd.

Last up … headliner Ty Segall who took the stage a few minutes before 10 pm to a fully warmed up and entirely stoked crowd. Launching right into “Break a Guitar,” Ty and the bailed wailed away as the general admission orchestra pit went off the rails. Complete and utter chaos on stage and off as the band tore through standards such as “Alta,” “Fanny and Finger” as well as a number of tunes off of Ty’s 2017 self-titled release (“Freedom” and “The Only One”). By the end of the evening, the crowd was spent but surely looking forward to next year’s festivities.