Author Archives: Alan Snodgrass

It wasn’t that long ago that Pixies passed through the San Francisco Bay Area with Weezer. But if the lack of intimacy of an arena show coupled with a setlist confined to a supporting slot left you wanting, look no further than the band’s brief North American winter run.

Those lucky enough to secure a ticket to the show at San Francisco’s August Hall, which maybe holds 1,000 people, were treated to Pixies in epic proportions. From the opening notes of “In the Arms of Mrs. Mark of Cain” as smoke filled the tiny stage to the set closer “Bone Machine,” Charles/Frank, Joey, Paz, and David did not once take the foot off of the gas.

For their part, the enthusiastic crowd settled in for the long haul and soaked it all in, not knowing whether such an opportunity would ever present itself again as the Pixies plowed through their catalog including a heavy dose of their September release, Beneath the Eyrie.

This was no doubt one for the record books.

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No one can throw a party like Snoop Dogg—just ask anyone who packed the way-sold-out Fillmore in San Francisco for the kick off of his “I Wanna Thank Me Tour.” By the time opener RJMrLA took the stage, the wait staff was already hitting a feverish stride as the drinks flowed and puffs of smoke rose above the crowd as folks pondered the stripper poles that flanked either side of the stage.

The great thing about rap shows is the minimal change-over between sets—swap out a DJ and a microphone and the next act is up, so the momentum was never lost as the legendary Warren G picked up the mic in front of a room that was well-versed in his material and happy to play along.

Local boy Berner kicked things up a notch, striding on stage with a fat joint which he was more than happy to share with the front row. Afterall, what better way to market your own brand of weed than sharing it with a captive audience—even going so far as tossing out bags of his signature strain while instructing the fans to “roll it and share it” which is indeed what they did.

By the time Snoop took the stage a tad before 10 PM, there was a cloud hanging over the now-baked crowd—there was simply no escaping the inevitable contact high. With a microphone in his right hand and a joint in his left, Snoop proceeded to wow the crowd which by then was clearly pushing the capacity limits of the venue where a squadron of firemen and body-cammed police could be seen in the back trying to look concerned but obviously enjoying the spectacle as a pair of pole dancers made impressive use of the aforementioned stripper poles.

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The Aquabats wrapped up their current tour this past Saturday at San Francisco’s Regency Ballroom. The fans turned out early for their superheros and the kiddos were running rampant on the general admission floor well-before the openers took the stage.

Supported by some backing tracks, Jacob Turnbloom kicked things off with a solo set of originals but while the music was approachable, the vampire shtick made no sense. Nevertheless, he had a good-sized crowd that was receptive to vamp rock as they geared up for the Aquabats. But first they had to suffer through PPL MVR.

Never heard of PPL MVR? Imagine an unholy alliance between a yeti, Chewbacca, and the Grinch delivering abominably auto-tuned drivel designed to torture mankind. Unfortunately there were many small children in the room that will be forever scarred.

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The Plain White T’s are currently crossing the United States on their “3 Dimensional Tour” along with tour mates The Mowgli’s and New Politics whose ample set times make the tour like a triple-headliner (possibly the reason for the “3D” tour name?).

New Politics kicked off their opening set in San Francisco with a trio of tunes from their brand new record, An Invitation to an Alternate Reality, to an enthusiastic crowd. After 10 years as a band, this three-piece came across as rejuvenated, effortlessly working a crowd which was largely not familiar with the new music. Of course there was time for the hits and New Politics wrapped up with the crowd favorites including their hit, “Harlem.”

After what seemed like a particularly long set change, The Mowgli’s took the stage. At this point it was pretty clear that anyone who was coming was already there. 20/20 hindsight points to a smaller venue with less open space as a wiser option, but both the bands and the attendees made the most of it and the Bay Area is not surprisingly a sucker for The Mowgli’s set closer, “San Francisco.”

The Plain White T’s finally took the stage at 10:20 in front of what appeared to be a mostly-intact crowd in spite of the late hour on a Tuesday night and proceeded to light up the room. A healthy dose of tunes from 2018’s Parallel Universe was augmented by a smattering of songs from their other releases and, of course, they couldn’t ignore “Hey There Delilah” which teed up the evening closer, “Our Time Now.”

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It doesn’t have to be St. Patrick’s Day to get your party on when Flogging Molly comes to town. Their Thursday evening session at Berkeley, California’s Greek Theater with co-headliner Social Distortion proved that again to be the case.

The evening kicked off with a fiery set from Le Butcherettes that featured a mesmerizing performance by vocalist Teri Gender Bender which demanded the attention of the gathering crowd. A quick change-over later and The Devil Makes Three was on stage and the general admission floor was packed. Hailing from Santa Cruz, TDM3 is pretty much considered a local band in these parts and the crowd welcomed them as such, dancing and singing along with a fervor that’s rarely reserved for the opening acts.

As the sun set over the San Francisco Bay, the drinks were flowing and the eager crowd was sufficiently lubricated as Flogging Molly took the stage, Dave King toasting the crowd with a can of Guinness, before appropriately launching into “Drunken Lullabies.”

Even with a co-headliner in toe, playing Berkeley’s Greek Theater with a capacity just shy of 6,000 was an ambitious endeavor. And while certainly nowhere near sold out, at no point did the venue feel empty; in fact, the extra elbow room on the general admission floor made room for some pretty epic pit action … I mean, what else are you supposed to do when the band busts out “Devil’s Dance Floor?”

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Since San Francisco’s Chase Center opened a little over a month ago, it has packed the house with some of the biggest acts in the world including The Who’s “Moving On!” Tour which, for the third time since the Chase Center’s opening (Metallica’s two S&M shows being the others), featured a full orchestra.

Liam Gallagher’s brief 25 minute opening set was mostly met with apathy on and off the stage as the San Francisco crowd gathered (though it should be acknowledged that 7:30 on a Wednesday evening is not an ideal set time for anyone). Clearly the crowd was there for the evening’s headliners and every seat in the house seemed to fill quickly as the crew prepared the stage while the 48-strong orchestra and conductor Keith Levenson started to set up and settle in for what would prove to be an epic evening.

The band took the stage a smidge past 8:30 and launched into the instrumental “Overture” from Tommy as frontman Roger Daltry bashed away on a pair of tambourines. The band continued on with the Tommy material, the orchestra providing a nice but not necessary dimension to the material without overshadowing what was a truly inspiring performance by Pete Townshend. The crowd totally lost their shit when Pete broke out the windmills during “Pinball Wizard” as Roger spun his mic around.

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A stroll down University Avenue in Berkeley this past Saturday night may have left many confused. Four weeks ahead of Halloween, corpse paint was on full display in anticipation of what was about to transpire within the walls of the UC Theatre where Obituary was preparing to unleash the metal in celebration of the 30th anniversary of Slowly We Rot.

By the time Devil Master kicked things off with their opening set, the room was already filling up and the crowd was clearly ready to rumble in spite of the lack of familiar tunes. But things truly kicked into gear with local favorites Midnight, a Bay Area favorite who clearly appeal to those thrash metal roots.

Midnight were a tough act to follow but Abbath showed that they were worthy of the challenge, blasting through an hour long set that included a few Immortal songs which got the floor spinning out of control. With Obituary, however, the UC went full-on sideways with a steady stream of crowd surfers keeping security busy as they poured over the barricade. The particularly brutal set kicked off with instrumental “Redneck Stomp” and paid special attention to Slowly We Rot.

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Incubus is out on their “20 Years of Make Yourself and Beyond Tour” in celebration of their 1999 breakthrough album including two nights at The Masonic in San Francisco with openers Dub Trio who tore through their 30 minute instrumental set in front of an already packed house.

Incubus kicked things off with a 10 minute documentary that served to further pump up the already anxious crowd which clearly delighted in the interviews and home movies of the band from their Make Yourself era. When the band finally emerged—flanked by cages of super-VIPs on either end of the stage—and launched into “Privilege,” The Masonic went absolutely nuts.

As Incubus wound their way through each song from Make Yourself in no particular order, the crowd erupted in delight each time a new tune started. For his part, front man Brandon Boyd was genuinely overwhelmed by the response, pausing to tell the crowd to keep doing what they’re doing.

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Breaking Benjamin brought their ambitious five band tour to Concord, California’s Concord Pavilion for a Wednesday evening of rock and roll. Those lucky enough to brave the evening’s particularly horrendous traffic to the burbs to catch the 5:20 start, were rewarded with two fantastic sets by openers Diamante and Dorothy before the sun started to set.

Three Days Grace kicked up the energy with a 50 minute set that got the crowd, which had finally reached critical mass, singing and moshing along before Chevelle balanced things out with a little groove.

Breaking Benjamin finally took the stage at 9:20 in front of a packed house as they continue to tour in support of 2018’s “Ember.” With enough air conditioning to cool the general admission floor, frontman Benjamin Burnley proceeded to belt it out much to Concord’s delight. And when “Breath” came up early in the set, the entire amphitheater was more than happy to help out on vocals.

The ninety minute set flew by way too fast as the band covered highlights from their entire catalog while still saving time for the most unlikely cover song mashups of Pantera, Nirvana, Queen, Metallica, and Rage Against The Machine … which all culminated in a drum solo by their resident master of the skins, Shaun Foist.

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Anchored by founding members Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook, Squeeze has been making music for going on forty-five years and, to cut straight to the chase, sound fan-freaking-tastic today. “The Difford and Tilbrook Songbook” Tour hit Oakland, California’s Fox Theater with Los Angeles punk veterans X for what would prove to be a stellar evening of music.

Having sallied past their own fortieth anniversary, X proceeded to show why they’ve maintained relevance over the years, all while maintaining the original lineup of John Doe (bass/vocals), Exene Cervenka (vocals), Billy Zoom (guitar/sax), and DJ Bonebrake (drums/vibraphone). Kicking off with “The New World,” X stuck to their roots with a setlist that didn’t stretch beyond 1983’s More Fun in the New World yet was sure to please both the casual and hardcore fan.

Squeeze kicked off their set with each member being introduced as they strode on stage, Tilbrook and Difford posting up in the center as they were surrounded by the rest of the band members. Straight into “Footprints,” the band immediately awed, their high and low vocals perfectly complementing one another in a manner that defied their years.

What did not defy time was the deep catalog of music that the band made their way through. The 23 song set spanned the catalog and covered the hits (of which there are many) and got the crowd singing and dancing along with little encouragement from the band, and in some cases what appeared to be a couple of cocktails (this era of band seems to attract folks that are not used to getting out much and have a tendency to have too much fun). But what else can you expect when classics like “Another Nail in my Heart” and “Goodbye Girl” are delivered so flawlessly.

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With a new album fresh from the hopper, pop artist K.Flay brought her “Solutions Tour” to Oakland’s Fox Theatre for her largest hometown headliner to date.

Your Smith kicked off the evening with some guitar and electronic wizardry to back up her solo vocal performance followed by Houses from Chicago, who delivered a mellow set that lulled the Oakland crowd into a temporary state of calm.

But that calm was short-lived because promptly at 10PM, K.Flay and her band consisting of a drummer and a bassist, climbed on top of their Q*bert inspired stage and prepared to unleash. The band tore straight into “Not in California” from the new album as K.Flay stomped atop the massive riser which changed color from white to blue.

Clearly already fans of the new material, the crowd went nuts as they sang along. Good thing too, because they were going to get a lot of Solutions as the night progressed—the whole album, in fact.

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The unlikely mashup of Korn and Alice In Chains wrapped up their North America co-headlining tour at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View California.

The Wednesday night show kicked off early with a 6:30 set by Fever 333. Those who were able to maneuver the Bay Area rush hour traffic in time were rewarded with a spectacle that had front man Jason Butler (who you may recognize from Letlive) ignoring the empty seats up front and making his way into the audience to entertain the folks in the box seats thanks to the longest mic cord ever.

Next up were Floridians Underoath who tore through their set as the crowd still filtered in. Not a bad set, but four bands were clearly overkill for a Wednesday night, and the tour probably would have been better served by starting an hour later.

The sun had finally set and the seats were full by the time Alice in Chains finally took the stage and launched right into “Angry Chair.” The weeks on the road clearly have resulted in an incredible tightness (and no sign of road wear) as they blasted through a setlist of primarily early material from Dirt, Facelift, and Jar of Flies which was augmented with a smattering of the new stuff including a pair of tunes from last year’s Rainier Fog. No complaints at all about this set which showcased AIC at its best.

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Rockers Bush and Live are out on their ALTimate tour to celebrate the 25th anniversaries of their respective breakout albums Sixteen Stone and Throwing Copper along with openers Our Lady Peace. The 33-date run hit Concord, California’s Concord Pavilion on a warm but breezy evening for what would prove to be an epic celebration of two of the biggest albums of the ’90s.

The evening kicked off about 30 minutes late as the venue and crew wrestled with some technical issues, but the silver lining was that it gave the fans some additional time to fight their way through the Thursday night rush hour traffic in time for Our Lady Peace’s opening set.

Live wasted no time pulling out material from Throwing Copper, launching right into “All Over You” which got the Concord crowd on their feet. In an unexpected twist, Live chose to use part of their 60+ minute set to plow through covers of R.E.M.’s “Losing My Religion” and The Rolling Stones’ “Paint It Black” to complement the band’s classic material.

Bush took a similar approach to Live, launching right into the one-two punch of “Machinehead” and “The Chemicals Between Us.” In spite of the co-headlining status, the tour seemed to have saved the electricity for Bush … the lighting over-the-top as frontman Gavin Rossdale bounded around the stage. In a bit of a bizarre move, Rossdale pulled out a pair of chefs knives before introducing “This is War,” but otherwise the set was flawless and those in the back greatly appreciated Gavin’s adventure into the crowd during “Little Things.”

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The Alarm are on the road for their “Sigma LXXXV” Tour along with Modern English and Gene Loves Jezebel (the Jay Aston incarnation) in support of their June, 2019 release, Sigma. The ’80s throwback lineup brought the expected middle-agers for a Friday night set at San Francisco’s Regency Ballroom for what would prove to be much more than an evening of nostalgia.

Gene Loves Jezebel kicked off the evening with a 40 minute set of their classics that got the San Francisco crowd moving to their hits such as “Heartache,” “Break the Chain,” and “Desire” as a surprisingly youthful Jay Aston bounced around the stage.

Next up, the legendary Modern English, best known for their 1982 album, After the Snow, but certainly active in the years since with several original members. As a band that’s at risk of being labeled a one-hit-wonder, Modern English’s setlist covered their entire catalog before finally pulling out “that song” … you know the one that everyone’s waiting to hear … at which point frontman Robbie Grey implored the crowd to “put down your fucking phone,” with little impact as the crowd sang along.

The Alarm’s first US show ever was opening for U2 at the Bill Graham Civic and they have been back many times since. It was not surprising, then, when Mike Peters and the band took the stage, they were met with a warm welcome from the San Francisco fans.

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SAN JOSE, CA | Paul McCartney has been making music for sixty years and, now pushing into his late ’70s, shows no sign of slowing down. Currently out on his “Freshen Up Tour,” Sir Paul brought his legendary talents and extensive catalog to San Jose’s SAP Arena where the lines to get through the doors were only dwarfed by the bag check (apparently the SAP Arena’s new clear bag policy came as a surprise to many).

With no opener, McCartney took the stage with his band and wasted no time diving right into “A Hard Day’s Night,” plucking that classic left-handed Hofner “violin” bass as the crowd took to their feet and sang along. With a talented backing band which was later joined by a horn section, McCartney was not rushing to get through what amounted to practically a three-hour set, no small feat for men half his age, but reflective of the ground that had to be covered.

Early on Paul paused to shed his jacket, resulting in a whoop from the crowd, to which he responded, “that was the only wardrobe change of the entire evening.” Picking up an electric guitar, McCartney took an opportunity to show off his licks to Jimi Hendrix’s “Foxy Lady” but not before sharing any early story about Hendrix.

Proving that his instrumentalism is as prolific as his catalog, Paul hopped effortlessly between instruments … bass, electric, acoustic, grand piano, stand-up piano, and mandolin. And when he teased the crowd with “going way way back,” the crowd erupted but likely wasn’t expecting how far back he would really go until he busted out the pre-Beatles Quarryman’s “In Spite of All the Danger,” as he encouraged the crowd to help out with some “whoa-oh-ohs.”

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