When I left the Silk Sonic show at the Dolby Theater at Park MGM on Tuesday night, I made my way over to the official afterparty. There was a very short line to get in which they immediately steered us away from. All of us concertgoers were “guest list” which was a slow-moving, Disneyland-style mess of velvet ropes that I immediately noped out on. Why did I care about an official afterparty anyway? So I headed to the exit, only to run into the same Bay Area friend I had seen before the show. He introduced me to a friend of his who had come down from Portland for the event. He asked me what I was going to write about the show and I explained that I wasn’t going to write about it all, but then I spent the night not at the afterparty but thinking about what I should write about it. Continue reading “Without a Phone in Las Vegas: A Silk Sonic Diary”
Category: Show Reviews
Show Review: Thao with Black Belt Eagle Scout and Quinn Christopherson at The Fillmore, 5/7/22
QUINN CHRISTOPHERSON
“Welcome to the Fillmore,” the top-hatted greeter with gentle eyes said as their generous gloved hand-stretched an apple towards me. “Thank You.” Continue reading “Show Review: Thao with Black Belt Eagle Scout and Quinn Christopherson at The Fillmore, 5/7/22”
Show Review: Parquet Courts, Automatic at The Fox Theater – Oakland, 4/27/22
Well, that was refreshing, and thank the gods of mix-boards and acoustics the sound was on point…
Continue reading “Show Review: Parquet Courts, Automatic at The Fox Theater — Oakland, 4/27/22”
Show Review: Interpol, Tycho, and Matthew Dear at The Greek Theatre – UC Berkeley, 4/30/22
Show Review: John 5 & The Creatures, DNA Lounge, 04/20/2022
Photos and review by: Alan Ralph @ARPhotoSF
It’s interesting when successful musicians branch out on their own solo projects. Maybe they have too much creative energy that doesn’t flow with their band and need to expand on it, or maybe they just have free time between recording and tour cycles to do their own thing. Whatever the case may be, the best moment to see these performers live is not with their marquee name bands, one hundred yards away in some stadium… no, the best time is when they are on their solo tours! Paul Stanley of KISS once performed at The Fillmore to 800 people. Joe Perry of Aerosmith also performed at The Fillmore in front of only 400 people. When John 5 is not performing to thousands of people with Rob Zombie, he very often makes solo records, tours with his own solo project called John 5 & The Creatures, and when in San Francisco, always comes back to the intimate DNA Lounge.
Show Review: Boy Harsher and Troller at The Belasco Theatre (Los Angeles) 04/19/2022
“Take me down to LA, I wanna go down”
It’s wild to think that the last time I wrote a show review was in 2019. Here we are in the waxing and waning throes of a two-year-long global pandemic and while still testing regularly and waiting for information on the next COVID variant it seems like we’re beginning to move toward a new normal. There’s something surreal and strangely dystopian about going to a concert, let alone to a MinSynth one, but that didn’t stop the many, if any, from attending Boy Harsher’s return to Los Angeles.
Show Review: Spiritualized at The Fillmore, 4.12.22
Spiritualized, enters its third decade doing the one thing it has done and doing it well: building manifold soundscapes over rock and pop fundamentals, repetition unto transcendence.
Each track is reducible to some early Rock Rhythm and Blues motif. Continue reading “Show Review: Spiritualized at The Fillmore, 4.12.22”
Show Review: alt-j, Portugal. The Man, Cherry Glazerr at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, 4.1.22
As an alt-j fan celebrating The Dream release and larger venue openings in the bay area the joke was on me when it came to the night of the show and what happened vs what I expected from this sold-out venue and bill.
The Bill Grahm Civic Auditorium might as well be the venue that “Band Aid” Penny Lane spins around to Cat Steven’s (Yusuf Islam’s) “The Wind” in Almost Famous. An iconic movie scene where a super fan relishes the empty room after an incendiary performance of their fav band. If this venue could talk. Continue reading “Show Review: alt-j, Portugal. The Man, Cherry Glazerr at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, 4.1.22”
A Love Letter to Nightlife, and Plans for an Oral History
Nightlife is a sacred pursuit, especially when the world is bleak. Lately, the clubs and the bars feel emptier, and it’s harder to find our people there. In the 80’s and early 90s, we had a similarly dark moment, but it felt like it was easier to be with other people. They matter, for so many reasons. A dark bar or club can be the heart of a community. I’m on a journey to collect and share stories of what happened in these venues. Continue reading “A Love Letter to Nightlife, and Plans for an Oral History”
Show Review: Wet Leg at Bimbo’s 365 Club, 3/29/22
If you’re reading this on Spinning Platters, chances are this isn’t the first time you’re heard of Wet Leg. I’ll spare you the lengthy gushing and simply say that Rhian Teasdale speaks in plain terms about modern life with idiosyncratic idioms with a deceptively blasé elocution. Continue reading “Show Review: Wet Leg at Bimbo’s 365 Club, 3/29/22”