Category: Show Reviews

Show Review: Perfume Genius, Madame Gandhi at Stern Grove, 06/27/21

The Shy Reverence of Being Back Together Again…

Towering silver eucalyptus and cascading gold nasturtium cradled the colorful crowd on Pride Sunday. This was the first live music many of the Stern Grove goers had attended since the pandemic. The vibe was a mellow picnic; towels, shawls, and blankets quilted the ground, families and friends gathered carefully upon them. We aren’t quite back to normal yet, but it seems promising. Continue reading “Show Review: Perfume Genius, Madame Gandhi at Stern Grove, 06/27/21”

Show Review: Teenage Bottlerocket, Skatepark of Tampa, 6/26/2021

Photos and review by: Alan Ralph @ARPhotoSF

Over the past month or so, there has been a huge increase in the amount of indoor tours being announced nationwide.  Despite the grand reopening of America, COVID-19 policies still exist and are different for every venue and every city and every state.  Some are still intensely enforced, while others are not and were put in place just to comply with local statutes.

In early May, shortly after Laramie, Wyoming’s Teenage Bottlerocket announced a 12-date tour, their St. Petersburg (Florida) tour date garnered headlines when the local promoter Leadfoot Promotions announced, for the safety of everyone in attendance, that they will be charging $999.99 per ticket (up to four total) or a discounted price of $18 for those who could prove that they are fully-vaccinated.  By the end of the month, the venue in St. Petersburg got cold feet, the show was moved to Skatepark of Tampa, and this story hit the national news circuit on CNN, even as all 250 discounted tickets to the show had already sold-out.  

Although San Francisco, the international headquarters of Spinning Platters, is slowly reopening from its now 16-month COVID lockdown, our rock photographer is still in Florida.  Since the promoter relied on a crew of volunteers to make the show happen, fully-vaccinated Spinning Platters volunteered to help out, and in the process, was able to photograph and attend Teenage Bottlerocket!

Continue reading “Show Review: Teenage Bottlerocket, Skatepark of Tampa, 6/26/2021”

Show Review: Thao Nguyen at The Chapel, 06/24/21

I’ve seen Thao perform in a lot of non-traditional spaces and situations. I’ve probably seen her perform more non-traditional sets than traditional sets at this point… I’ve seen her do a high concept stand-up and music variety show, I’ve seen her as the special guest of a fake talk show where Moby taught her how to play “Purple Rain,” I’ve seen her absolutely kill “Push It” by Salt-n-Pepa while being backed by Fred Armisen & Carrie Brownstein, and I’ve even seen her create a live score to a series of classic film shorts! And that’s just what I’ve written about… So it seems appropriate that Thao is my first “COVID-Safe” show. 

Continue reading “Show Review: Thao Nguyen at The Chapel, 06/24/21”

“This Is Pop” Ranked: From Fascinating to Boring, The 8 Episodes of the Netflix Music Documentary Series

T-Pain and his wife Amber open up about how criticism of Auto-Tune affected them, in This Is Pop’s best episode.

Netflix is premiering the Banger Films documentary series This Is Pop for most of the world. It promises to go into detail on 8 different subjects surrounding the world of pop music. I was able to watch the entire series, and while it’s an uneven affair, there are some episodes that really stand out as being both well researched and well written with something valuable to say about the topic. Then there are others that stand out by not using quality archival footage and having interview subjects that won’t get in the weeds on things. Use my episode guide below to make a viewing order so that you know your time will be well spent:

Continue reading ““This Is Pop” Ranked: From Fascinating to Boring, The 8 Episodes of the Netflix Music Documentary Series”

Show Review: Styx at St. Augustine Amphitheatre, St. Augustine, FL, 6/16/2021

Photos and review by: Alan Ralph @ARPhotoSF

Spinning Platters’ home of San Francisco has officially reopened from its 15-month Covid-19 lockdown, yet many of its concert venues are taking a cautiously optimistic approach and waiting until August or September to resume operations. In recent months, we grew tired of the waiting and decided to look far and wide to other places in pursuit of a Real. Live. Show.  

Our rock & metal photographer has been riding out the latter part of this pandemic in Florida, and noticed that a small amount of shows never really stopped happening there.  Lately, as the rest of the country reopens and more nationwide tours are being announced, Spinning Platters got invited to photograph and review a couple of these shows, including rock legends Foreigner (in Clearwater) and Sammy Hagar (in Orlando).

Tommy Shaw, Chuck Panozzo, James ‘J.Y.’ Young, Ricky Phillips, Lawrence Gowan, and Todd Sucherman, otherwise known as rock icons Styx, returned to St. Augustine for the first show of their 2021 summer tour and for their first time performing since March 2020, and Spinning Platters was there! 

Continue reading “Show Review: Styx at St. Augustine Amphitheatre, St. Augustine, FL, 6/16/2021”

Webstream Review: Death Angel “The Bastard Tracks”, 5/29/2021

“The Bastard Tracks”. B-Sides. The meat of the record. Songs not usually on the live set. Deep cuts. Tracks the diehard fans know. 

Death Angel created this web stream to dig “deep into [their] catalog to perform older favorites, newer classics and songs that have never been performed live before” with multiple interview segments containing the stories behind the songs and “a glimpse into the collective minds and souls of Death Angel.”

Continue reading “Webstream Review: Death Angel “The Bastard Tracks”, 5/29/2021″

Show Review: Sammy Hagar & The Circle at Dr. Phillips Center, Orlando, FL, 5/26/2021

Photos and review by: Alan Ralph @ARPhotoSF

It must be Classic Rock Week at Spinning Platters! 

With all of the venues in San Francisco having been shuttered since March 2020, and without knowing just how much longer Covid-19 is going to keep them closed, Spinning Platters grew tired of the waiting and decided to look far and wide to other places in pursuit of a Real. Live. Show. 

Not only were we lucky enough to photograph rock and roll legends Foreigner mere days ago, now we can add 50% of Van Halen, the direct lineage of Led Zeppelin’s drummer, and even 25% of Mötley Crüe (more on that later) to the list.  Our rock/metal photographer, who has been riding out the latter part of this pandemic in Florida, got invited to photograph and review another show! 

Continue reading “Show Review: Sammy Hagar & The Circle at Dr. Phillips Center, Orlando, FL, 5/26/2021”

Show Review: Foreigner at Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater, FL, 5/22/2021

Photos and review by: Alan Ralph @ARPhotoSF

WAIT, WHAT… A SHOW REVIEW!!  Yes!

With all of the venues in San Francisco having been shuttered since March 2020, and without knowing just how much longer Covid-19 is going to keep them closed, Spinning Platters grew tired of the waiting and decided to look far and wide to other places in pursuit of a Real. Live. Show. 

Granted, many of these other places are less safe than the cautious San Francisco (recall that SF was the first city in America to institute a lockdown), but Spinning Platters is vaccinated and willing to risk it all for you! Where did we find such an amazing live event? Well, since our rock/metal photographer has been riding out the latter part of this pandemic in Florida, we found that shows actually happen there.

Continue reading “Show Review: Foreigner at Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater, FL, 5/22/2021”

Single Of The Week: “Helado” by Rudy de Anda

There were a lot of records in 2020 that got lost in the shuffle, mostly due to the fact that there weren’t any shows. And, without the ability to play shows, it’s hard to get people’s attention. Tender Epoch by Rudy de Anda was one of those. It’s a perfect party album, and the perfect live show record. But, in a year where partying just isn’t in the cards, it’s just a bummer for these. “Helado” is the latest single from Tender Epoch, and it’s perfect for dancing around your apartment. Since that’s all we can do these days, you might as well do it with abandon! 

Tender Epoch is out NOW on Goldmine Records. You can stream it in all the usual places, but you probably want to purchase it in Topo Chico Bottle colored vinyl, which you can do here for $20. 

 

SF Sketchfest 2021 *UPDATE*

I’m going to start with the bad news. SF Sketchfest, also known as the most insane three weeks of live comedy programming in San Francisco, was due to celebrate it’s 20th year next January in an epic fashion. Well, you may have heard that at little thing called COVID-19 has ravaged the live entertainment world, due to the fact that having fun in large groups is about the fastest way to get it, alongside side church, gyms, and working in an office. So, it looks like we are going to have to wait a bit longer to enjoy whatever the good folks at SF Sketchfest will bring us. And, whenever that happens, we will DEFINITELY need to get together and laugh.  Continue reading “SF Sketchfest 2021 *UPDATE*”