I have only been familiar with the electronic jazz duo KNOWER for a couple of years. I stumbled upon the video for their May 2023 single “I’m the President” and, directly afterwards, listened to it on repeat for weeks before becoming obsessed with their entire catalog. Last year, when singer, KNOWER drummer, and multi-instrumentalist Louis Cole announced he would be playing a show at Seattle’s Neptune Theater with his band’s other vocalist & multi-instrumentalist, Genevieve Artadi, I bought two tickets without batting an eye. The chance that maybe I’d get to see them play a few KNOWER songs (which they did) was the primary purpose, despite the fact that in my quest to hear as much of them as possible, I also had spent lots of time with each member’s solo back catalogue. I’ve spent a lot of time proselytizing the scripture of KNOWER, and on Nov 11th, I finally got to attend my first sermon. Continue reading “Show Review: KNOWER with Sam Wilkes at The Neptune Theater, 11/11/25”
Category: Show Reviews
Show Review: Alex G at The Fox Theater – Oakland, 9/23 & 24
I was planning on taking my 15-year-old daughter to see Alex G. She’s the reason I got into him six years ago. She discovered him on YouTube, and over time she grew increasingly irritated by the hordes on TikTok who butchered his lyrics and turned his shows into screaming matches over mis heard refrains. Continue reading “Show Review: Alex G at The Fox Theater — Oakland, 9/23 & 24”
Show Review: Cannibal Corpse at The Majestic Ventura Theater, 10-03-2025
RESPECT THE NECK
I’ve never been to a concert in Ventura, CA. I’ve also never seen Cannibal Corpse live. So, when given the opportunity to head out to The Majestic Ventura Theatre, a theatre that has seen countless bands over its lifetime, to see one of the progenitors of goregrind death metal, I simply had to take it. Mind you, this was a 50-mile trek for me, but it was a Friday, so I hit that fuck it button, cranked the throttle on my motorcycle, and zoomed off straight from work.
Continue reading “Show Review: Cannibal Corpse at The Majestic Ventura Theater, 10-03-2025”
Single of the Week: “SYNESTHESIA” by Azam Ali
This song is such a lovely little jam. It’s big, it’s cinematic. It’s dark and bright at the same time. It’s ethereal and a dance floor burner. I don’t really know what to feel with this song, and that’s what makes it so bloody great. “SYNESTHESIA” by Azam Ali is our single of the week, and all you need to know is that you should listen to this track.
“SYNESTHESIA” is the second single off the album of the same name, and it’s coming your way on November 14th. Preorder here!
Show Review: Highlights of Aftershock 2025!
Review by:
Alan Ralph @ConcertGoingPro and Emily Anderson @emilyphotoadventure
Photos by:
Alan Ralph @ConcertGoingPro unless otherwise stated
Nearly one year ago, at the very end of Spinning Platters’ Aftershock 2024 review, this question was raised: “West Coast’s Biggest Rock Festival had such a stellar lineup this year, HOW are they possibly going to outdo themselves in 2025?!?!”
If one hundred people were asked if 2025 was better than 2024, there would undoubtedly be one hundred different answers and opinions. Aftershock 2024 was so exceptionally good and a heavy metal fan’s wet dream – Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Slayer, Pantera, Slipknot, Mastodon, Anthrax, Clutch, Ministry, Body Count and more! Fans of other genres of rock, punk, and loud music were still out in force, as Aftershock 2024 set an attendance record of 40,000 people per day, but may have felt neglected by the sheer amount of metal that closed every night of the festival.
For the 13th annual Aftershock in 2025, promoter Danny Wimmer Presents (DWP) altered the overall lineup to cater to the rest of those fans while still appealing to the heavy metal fans, by combining every Warped Tour, Ozzfest and Rockstar Mayhem Festival lineup, put it all in a blender, and poured it in a tall glass of Discovery Park for four days of the best rock, alt-rock, metal, 2000’s nu-metal, hardcore, and pop-punk bands, all in one place at one time in the outskirts of downtown Sacramento!
Continue reading “Show Review: Highlights of Aftershock 2025!”
Show Review: Grandaddy at The Regency Ballroom, 9/16/25
The Regency Ballroom has a way of holding ghosts and sound in equal measure. Once a Scottish Rite temple built in 1909, its grand neoclassical bones and domed ceilings still hum with ritual energy. Now the devotion comes from a different kind of congregation. On this late September night, that congregation gathered for Grandaddy, a band whose bittersweet blend of analog warmth and cosmic melancholy has been quietly shaping indie rock for nearly three decades.
Continue reading “Show Review: Grandaddy at The Regency Ballroom, 9/16/25”
Portola 2025: In Words and Pictures
Additional Reporting and Photos by Matthew Meyer and Dakin Hardwick
Portola has figured out how to live in the impossible: a perfect balance between a giant warehouse rave, an art-party fever dream, and a legacy showcase built around titans like The Chemical Brothers and LCD Soundsystem. The festival grounds themselves were half the trip, stages stretched across a working port, tucked between hulking cranes and an airplane-hangar-sized warehouse. One side of the grounds was dominated by a massive ship; the other opened out onto the Bay, where the breeze mercifully cut through the heat.
Scantily clad post-Burning Man pilgrims roamed like the playa had drifted into San Francisco, fur and neon armor still glowing. Unlike so many other festivals, Portola spared us the dreaded sound bleed; every stage claimed its own sonic territory without stepping on another’s toes. Continue reading “Portola 2025: In Words and Pictures”
Show Review: Baroness, Weedeater at The Lodge Room (Highland Park), 09-20-2025
“We’re having a great time up here!”
Upon pulling up to the Lodge Room and parking my motorcycle on the street for the second show I would be covering that week, I made a discovery that is every photographer’s nightmare. In my rush to pack up and leave my house, I forgot to pack my SD cards. This part of Highland Park is relatively small and while there was a camera shop nearby, it had closed an hour or two ago, which meant I would have to haul ass to the closest target, panic coursing through my veins, mixing with adrenaline, where I would find the only SD card they had in stock. A quick purchase and a semi-reckless speeding jaunt back to the Lodge Room later, I had luckily made it with time to spare and also discovered that a guard rail had been set up —a first for my experience with this venue, rendering my previous panic somewhat unnecessary. After a celebratory beer, I readied my camera for a night of heavy metal.
Continue reading “Show Review: Baroness, Weedeater at The Lodge Room (Highland Park), 09-20-2025”
Show Review: Swans, Little Annie and Paul Walfisch at The Lodge Room (Highland Park), 09-15-2025
“You guys brought earplugs, right?”
Although I gravitate towards, and certainly cover, a lot of heavy and angry music, my tastes are more eclectic than I let on. It’s a bit of a mood thing for me, as I’m sure it is for many, and believe it or not, but my moods fluctuate rather wildly. I may not be the picture of poly-jamorous, but I’m just as comfortable listening to avant-jazz as I am death metal. So, it might be surprising to learn that I have never seen Swans before. I’ve listened to them on and off for years and even been ridiculed by my more obsessive peers for never having made it to one of their performances, so when the opportunity finally lined up, I pressed that go button.
Show Review: The Flaming Lips & Modest Mouse at The Greek Theater, UC Berkeley, 9/7/25
On September 7, 2025, the Greek Theatre in Berkeley hosted a remarkable double bill featuring Modest Mouse and The Flaming Lips -each band delivering at least a 75-minute set, separated by over 20 years from their breakout records. The evening carried the last heat of Indian summer, light winds hinting at fall as music fans filled the amphitheater. It was a night that underscored not only the legacy of both acts but also the profound evolution of their sound over the decades.