Category Archives: TVD San Francisco

A quiet Friday night on Telegraph Blvd. in Oakland belied the sonic assault that was about to go down inside the historic Fox Theater in Oakland as folks steadily made their way inside for the dynamic duo known as Royal Blood.

HotWax, a fitting choice for the opening act, wasted no time in revving up the crowd even as they worked around Royal Blood’s drum riser which occupied the middle third of the massive stage. Blending grunge and punk influences that reverberated through the historic theater, the band’s raw energy and tight musicianship set the stage perfectly for the sonic onslaught that was to come while no doubt winning over some new fans.

As the anticipation reached its peak, the lights dimmed, and Royal Blood emerged from the shadows to a thunderous roar from the crowd. The British duo, consisting of Mike Kerr and Ben Thatcher, immediately launched into “Hole” off their debut EP much to the crowd’s delight. In true form, the duo (with some help hidden in the shadows at the corner of the stage) delivered a relentless set that showcased their unique brand of heavy rock. The absence of a traditional guitarist was hardly noticeable as Kerr’s bass guitar, cleverly manipulated using a host of pedals and gizmos to emulate both bass and guitar tones simultaneously, filled the venue with a wall of sound.

The stage design was minimalistic, with the focus was undeniably on the music, and Royal Blood did not disappoint. With Back to the Water Below fresh out of the hopper, the setlist understandably included a handful of new tracks which seamlessly mixed with fan favorites from their earlier releases.

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The legendary DEVO kicked off their “50 Years of De-Evolution” Tour at Santa Cruz’s Civic Auditorium for a night of classics in front of a packed house of DEVOted fans that lined up well-before doors and quickly beelined it to one of two places: the merch table or the barricade.

In true fan fashion, many in the crowd dressed for the occasion with plenty of Energy Domes peeking above the crowd and many fully decked out in yellow jumpsuits. For those unwilling to pull out their wallets, stacked red solo cups served as a humorous poor man’s version of the classic hat.

With no opener, DEVO took the stage promptly at 8:15, and while the Auditorium was packed, the vibe was incredibly intimate, feeling like the band was playing in a high school gym despite the huge LED screen that synchronized video to the setlist.

The set kicked off with “Don’t Shoot (I’m a Man)” from the band’s excellent 2010 release Something for Everybody but quickly DEVOlved into a non-stop peppering of hit after hit, with all of the remaining songs dating back to 1982 or earlier. Focusing on the music, the band only stopped briefly for Gerald Casale to ask, “do you believe in devolution now?!?” to be met with a resounding “huzzah” from the Santa Cruz crowd.

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Melbourne Australia’s Amyl and The Sniffers continue their improbable rise as they kicked off their North American tour at the Fox Theater in Oakland. No stranger to the Bay Area, what’s new this time around for the Sniffers is that they’re now headlining venues five to six times the capacity of their previous visits, underscoring not only the band’s ambitions but the appeal of their latest release, Comfort to Me.

Die Spitz from Austin Texas kicked things off with a pummeling set that left the crowd stunned and wondering how the heck they’ve never heard of this band before. Admittedly having a blast just being able to catch Amyl every night for weeks straight, Die Spitz left it all on the stage as they tore through 30 minutes of rippers that harkened back to Bleach-era Nirvana. These ladies are not be missed.

The sold-out Fox was absolutely packed to the rafters as Shania Twain’s “Man! I Feel Like a Woman” blasted over the PA—Amyl and The Sniffers walk-on music clearly raising the hype level as front-woman Amy Taylor could be seen dancing side-stage before finally striding out with smiles from ear to ear.

Any doubt that the Sniffers could command this size of a room quickly evaporated as they tore into “Control” off of their self-titled debut and the general admission floor quickly went sideways. The other thing that became immediately clear is that the large theater was by no means full of curiosity seekers, with people raging along from the seats on the balcony.

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The San Francisco Bay Area let their freaks flag fly this past Friday night when co-headliners Rob Zombie and Alice Cooper brought their “Freaks on Parade 2023 Tour” to the Toyota Pavilion at Concord for a sold out (or close to sold out) show that clogged the streets of Concord as the fans clearly bailed on work early to catch Filter’s opening set.

Ministry absolutely crushed it, running through a set of classics including “Stigmata” from The Land of Rape and Honey as Jello Biafra sang along in the wings. While his appearance was surprisingly toned down without the face piercings, Al Jourgensen remained a commanding presence on stage as the band absolutely dominated the set, spinning up what was probably the only band of the night to muster a circle pit. Ironically, with Monte Pittman crushing it on guitar, the fans were probably much closer to seeing Madonna than anyone probably realized.

Alice Cooper and his band took the stage a few minutes early with Alice slashing through a curtain with a sword … “Trial Set: For Deeds Against Humanity” as the band tore into “Lock Me Up.” From there, “No More Mr. Nice Guy” and “I’m Eighteen” whipped the Concord crowd onto their feet. As expected, Alice was in fine form as, not missing a beat through the numerous costume changes and on stage antics which featured a giant-sized Alice Cooper Frankenstein during “Feed My Frankenstein” and a giant boa constrictor for “Snakebite.”

Cooper always does a great job of featuring the stellar musicianship in his band and this night was no exception, letting them shine on several instrumentals as his wife Sheryl eventually dispatched him with a guillotine. Throw in sword play, giant balloons, and a confetti cannon and you’ve got yourself a tough act to follow.

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Weezer made their triumphant return to the San Francisco Bay Area with an absolutely packed Thursday night show at Berkeley’s Greek Theatre.

The aptly dubbed “Indie Rock Road Trip” brought along Spoon and White Reaper for the party, the latter of which kicked things off at the all-to-early hour of 6PM while the crowd was still navigating its way through the Piedmont Avenue traffic which was particularly crowded with revelers participating in the university fraternity and sorority rush week. The party atmosphere carried over into the Greek as Spoon tore through a nearly 60-minute set.

Weezer finally took the stage at a quarter past 8 with the crew yanking down the curtain that hid the back half of the stage revealing the drum riser set atop a massive car dashboard with LED screens as its windshield and gauges. Over-the-top stage, even by Weezer standards! From there the band weaved their way between the classics and rarities for what would prove to be a perfect evening of nerd rock.

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My Morning Jacket and Fleet Foxes teamed up for a mini co-headlining run of three shows including two nights at Berkeley’s historic Greek Theatre. With the bands swapping out opening slots for the epic double-header, the first night at the Greek found My Morning Jacket with the opening honors, taking the stage at 7PM in front of a packed house.

While some might argue that playing so early with the sun far from setting felt a bit weird (especially for a co-headlining show), but those lounging on the lawn way in the back likely had a different perspective as Karl the Fog rolled over San Francisco to the left of the stage, the sun set over Marin to the right and a sliver of waxing red moon hung between.

Of course, none of that seemed to matter for My Morning Jacket which quickly slipped into a groove with merely a wave and a smile to greet the crowd. It wasn’t until several songs in that James finally addressed the crowd, “magic is in the air tonight,” before bringing Robin Pecknold from Fleet Foxes on stage for some epic harmonies on “Wonderful (The Way I Feel)” and Gillian Welch’s “I Want To Sing That Rock and Roll.” And as the sun finally set, the stage lights built in intensity as the 1 hour and 36-minute performance crescendoed with the giant mirrored disco ball suspended above the stage finally being put to its intended use.

With a 45-minute set change and a significant rejiggering of positions in the crowd, Fleet Foxes finally took the Greek stage. Clearly in it for the long haul—Fleet Foxes had seating and hydration within arms reach as Uwade Akhere kicked the set off with “Sun Giant.”

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After a short postponement due to Hayley Williams’ lung infection, Paramore took to the Chase Center stage in San Francisco this past Monday night in front of a packed house filled front to back and top to bottom with rabid fans.

LA’s The Linda Lindas kicked things off early with a ripping set that highlighted how the band has considerably evolved in the last few years since they were founded. If you are unfamiliar with The Linda Lindas it’s time for that to change—4 teenagers (actually the drummer Mila isn’t even a teenager yet) picking up the Riot grrrl mantle with the viral hit “Racist, Sexist Boy” and never looking back as they shared some of the biggest stages on the planet while proudly displaying their influences.

Paramore took the stage right on time and launched right into “You First” as a blast of confetti fluttered down over the arena’s general admission floor. Next up was “The News” making it clear to the audience that this night would be about celebrating their February 2023 release, This Is Why.

Hayley was as fiery and energetic as ever, tearing across the stage from end-to-end as she belted out hit after hit, nearly eclipsing the audience which was more than happy to join along. The only indication of that pesky lung infection was a few between-song coughs that Hayley discreetly did off-mic. As Hayley said herself, “we’re a fucking great band.”

After “Big Man, Little Dignity” Hayley abruptly sprinted off the stage to later be seen rising out of the back of the stage on a platform along with “best friends since 6th and 7th grade” Zac Farro (drums) and Taylor York (guitar) for intimate performances of “Liar” and “Crystal Clear.”

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After a massive European festival run, Ghost has returned stateside as the momentum continues to build behind their 2022 release of blockbuster, Impera. The second United States leg aptly dubbed the “Re-Imperatour” brought along fellow Swedes and Viking metalers, Amon Amarth, for what would prove to be the heavy metal event of the summer.

Amon Amarth kicked things off early to an already full house, having braved the unavoidable Concord traffic to join the “Great Heathen Army.” Having also been quite active in the US of late as they promote their latest release, Amon Amarth was clearly firing on all cylinders as they took the stage and blasted right into their set. True to Viking form, the drummer sat atop a horned helmet drum riser and the theatrics extended to sword fights, a berserker, and the drop of Thor’s mighty hammer. And rest assured, the crowd was not spared, being ordered to sit down and row during “Put Your Back Into the Oar.” All-in-all a perfect start to what would prove to be an epic night.

In true ghostly fashion, the crew draped the massive Concord stage with a curtain as they set about transforming the stage as monastic chants were piped through the amphitheater, creating some sort of strange hold over the audience which was on its feet staring at the white curtain waiting for it to drop at least 15 minutes before the band was scheduled to take the stage. When “Imperium” started to be played and the lights finally dimmed, the crowd instinctively roared as they raised their phones in an attempt to memorialize what was about to unfold.

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In what is indisputably one of the most anticipated tours of the summer, Fall Out Boy brought “So Much For (Tour) Dust” to Mountain View’s Shoreline Amphitheater in support of their latest release So Much (for) Stardust along with Daisy Grenade, Royal & the Serpent, and the might Bring Me The Horizon.

In spite of the mid-week show and any lingering Fourth of July hangovers, the Bay Area crowd turned out in force, providing openers Daisy Grenade and Royal & the Serpent with warm welcomes before the blazing sun had even set behind the general admission lawn.

Bring Me the Horizon took the stage in front of a now-packed house and proceeded to deliver a blistering set that unexpectedly skewed heavily towards the band’s more recent POST HUMAN releases. Whether or not they were familiar with the new tunes, the crowd went ballistic. Anyone that’s seen this band knows that frontman Oliver Sykes knows how to command a stage so it was understandable that the band left him plenty of room to move. In fact, the Shoreline stage wasn’t big enough to contain Ollie as he proceeded to work his way into the crowd.

With the sun finally set it was time for Fall Out Boy and while Independence Day was in the rearview mirror, the fireworks were far from being over. In an interesting move, FOB chose to pump up the crowd pre-set with a few of their own tunes—“The Middle” as well as their rendition of Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire”—pretty much ensuring that neither of those songs would make it onto the evening’s expansive setlist.

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Garbage and Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds have set off on an ambitious co-headlining tour that hit the Bay Area’s Concord Pavilion on a Tuesday night along with openers Metric.

Short on talk, long on rock, Noel Gallagher and his High Flying Birds tore through a 60 minute set that started by drawing heavily from his latest release Council Skies which had the crowd on their feet before diving into more familiar territory for his long time fans. “AKA… What a Life!” poignantly wrapped up the High Flying Birds material back where it started back in 2011 before Noel and the band dove into historic territory for the back-half of the set with a bombardment of Oasis classics that ended with the entire amphitheater on its feet for “Don’t Look Back in Anger” and clearly craving more.

Relative to the High Flying Birds, Garbage took a deliberately stripped down approach to their set with only what was required—the band and instruments—leaving Shirley Manson with plenty of room to work the stage and the crowd. Right out of the gates, Garbage took the stage and launched right into “Supervixen” from their self-titled debut.

No stranger to the Concord Pavilion, Shirley paused to acknowledge their return to the familiar venue and effusively thanked the bands as well as the crowd for coming out year after year. While Garbage is no stranger to the Concord crowd, having recently supported both Tears for Fears and Alanis Morissette, the fact that they were headlining on this particular evening seemed like a particularly profound moment for Manson and the band.

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Postponed twice from 2020, They Might Be Giants have finally made it to Oakland’s historic Fox Theater for an “evening with” (i.e. no openers) celebrating the 30th anniversary (a few years late) of their major label breakthrough album Flood. In spite of having played across the bay at the Fillmore only the night before, TMBG seemed to have no problem selling out the larger Fox, and what would normally be a sleepy Sunday evening, Telegraph Ave. was absolutely buzzing in anticipation.

Taking the stage at 8:15 PM, guitarist/vocalist John Flansburgh kindly reminded the crowd (most of whom probably bought their tickets 3 years ago) that they would be performing Flood in its entirety (although a few songs were prerecorded). As important, he let the crowd know that the band would actually be playing two sets and to not leave during the intermission.

Regarding Flood, the band chose to eschew the cliché of playing an album front to back and rather smattered the tunes throughout their career spanning set. With the setlist predictability out the window, the enthusiastic crowd (many wearing “They” paper hats from the merch table) was kept on edge, hanging on every word of the stage banter, and losing their minds when literally every song was introduced. There are not many bands that can hold a room’s attention like this.

Halfway through the first set, Flansburgh announced that they would be playing “Sapphire Bullets of Pure Love” backwards as the pinnacle of the show and then playing back the video of the performance in reverse at the start of the second set. What came next—“Stellub” (Bullets spelled backwards)—was an unintelligible cacophony which ended on a 4-count by drummer Marty Beller.

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While the streets of Oakland were quiet on this particular Thanksgiving eve, the 1800 block of Telegraph Avenue was abuzz as AFI brought their “Bodies” tour to the Fox Theater in support of their 2021 release. Hailing from Ukiah California but having cut their teeth in San Francisco, Berkeley, and Petaluma, the Bay Area is close enough to consider this a hometown show for the boys, and the fans turned up in force in spite of the holiday, selling the venue out.

Drag Majesty kicked things off with a lengthy 45+ minute set of synth pop and clearly had some fans in the room, but most of the crowd was getting antsy in anticipation of AFI’s set. And when the band finally took the stage, the room was more than happy to assist front man Davey Havok with the lyrics to “Strength Through Wounding.” There’s something about the mind-meld of “through our bleeding, we are one,” that sets the perfect tone—this night was no exception.

AFI has been doing a pretty good job of keeping their fans guessing by mixing up the setlist for each night of the tour. With “Girl’s Not Grey” and “Love Like Winter” up next, they moved into unexpected territory. The old school fans were treated to “Perfect Fit” off of their 1996 release Very Proud of Ya during which Havok hopped onto the barricade for an audience sing-along that found a crowd surfer perfectly timing his arrival at the mic for the song’s refrain.

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Måneskin recently blew up on the world stage in no small part due to their victory in the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest and are finally getting some well-deserved attention from the USA fans on their “Loud Kids Tour” which included two sold-out nights at San Francisco’s Masonic.

Fans started lining up not long after noon in order to secure a coveted spot up front along the barricade, some apparently having followed the band to multiple cities because once (or twice) was apparently not enough. With no opener, the band must have figured that a little more wait time wasn’t going to hurt anyone and their scheduled 8:30PM set time came a went without any indication that show was about to start. Finally storming the stage just past 9:15, the crowd erupted and there were clearly no hard feelings.

Let’s be real for a second—it is not easy for international bands to crack the US market in a meaningful way without lyrics in English. So, the fact that the crowd jumped right into singing along to “Cool Kids” was unsurprising. What was surprising is that the San Francisco fans didn’t miss a beat when the band kicked into their native Italian language for “Zitti e Buoni” and “In Nome Del Padre.”

To say that Måneskin’s music is catchy would be an incredible understatement. Ethan Torchio (drums) and Victoria De Angelis (bass) set a tight thumping groove that gets the crowd moving and provides plenty of space for Thomas Raggi to bring a healthy dose of sizzle on the guitar. And aside from Torchio who’s stuck behind the drum kit, the whole band barely stops moving during the entire set.

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Infamous for how the original 2020 European run ended with the bands returning to California in the midst of the rapidly accelerating pandemic which hit some of the band members hard, “The Bay Strikes Back” Tour finally came to an end with a truly epic hometown show that had hardcore fans lining up for two blocks along San Carlos Street waiting for the doors to finally open.

Death Angel kicked things off with “The Ultra-Violence” which unsurprisingly opened the pit up quickly and set the tone for what would prove to be a memorable evening that showcased all that is great about the Bay Area metal scene. Exodus kicked things up a notch with their “lesson in violence” that kept the pit roiling and undoubtedly raised the temperature inside the civic by a few degrees.

“The Toxic Waltz” is always a favorite of the local fans and Holt delivered an absolutely blistering version but only after first teasing the crowd with riffs by Metallica and Slayer. Exodus ended their set with a wall of death that had some dude doing pushups in the middle of the floor as each side of the pit waited for the breakdown from “Strike of the Beast” to kick in. By the looks of the ensuing chaos, that may have been the last pushup that guy ever did.

With the stage set up for Testament complete, the crew pumped low lying fog onto the stage as Jim Croce’s “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown” blasted over the PA and Dave Lombardo (who rejoined the band earlier this year to replace the departing Gene Hoglan) casually stepped behind the drums.

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Co-headliners Pet Shop Boys and New Order took over San Francisco’s Chase Center in front of a packed house to celebrate their “Unity Tour” on a balmy Tuesday night that must have had most of the crowd cutting off work early to make the show because by the time Paul Oakenfold kicked off his 6:30PM DJ set, the arena was packed and the Bay Area crowd was ready to dance.

New Order kicked things off on the massive stage with the ’90s and “Regret,” but quickly turned the way-back machine a little further into the past with “Age of Consent” as lasers blasted over the heads on the seated floor. Vocalist Bernard Sumner worked both the stage and the crowd, occasionally picking up a guitar and a melodica while the rest of the band tore through the synth-heavy tunes. Not surprisingly the Joy Division covers drew the largest crowd reaction with “Love Will Tear Us Apart” as the perfect mic-drop encore.

Paul Oakenfold took another turn in the DJ booth as the crew made quick work of the stage. With a LED screen lowered, Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe took the stage dressed all in white, wearing masks that looked like oversized tuning forks and launched into “Suburbia” off their 1986 debut Please. Flanked by what looked like a pair of streetlights, the pair’s stoic demeanor stood in stark contrast to the crowd which was clearly pumped and ready to sing and dance.

That LED screen occasionally teased a glimpse of the backing band and was finally raised a few songs into he set to once again reveal the size of the stage while Tennant and Lowe made a quick wardrobe change before appearing again on a riser at the back of the stage. While Lowe remained expressionless behind his synths and various gizmos, Tennant paced the front of the stage while absolutely nailing his vocals.

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