An Appreciation of Phish at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, April 22 & 23, 2025

Photos by Tiffany Michelle Black

One doesn’t simply review a Phish concert. First, you have to show your bona fides. With that in mind, I’ll simply state that my first time hearing Phish was Jeffrey Quinlan’s Junta cassette that he brought back from Bowdoin College, where his brother had seen them. My first show was in 1992; I left early. My 20th show was in 1995, and somewhere after then, I just stopped counting. I didn’t think I’d ever need that number again until I started writing this. I’d hazard a guess at around 40.

One can’t simply review a Phish concert anyway. Either you love them or you don’t, and I’m not going to convince anyone in the cult to like or dislike something; same for those outside the cult. Everyone is convinced; there is no middle ground. Continue reading “An Appreciation of Phish at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, April 22 & 23, 2025”

BUMBERSHOOT 2025 LOOKS AMAZING!

Once again, Bumbershoot has released a lineup that is as close to “Spinning Platters” energy as possible. It’s bonkers in the most Gen-X meets Elder Millennial kinda “OMG! They got both Pretty Girls Make Graves AND Murder City Devils?!?! DEREK IS GONNA BE SO TIRED!” kinda way. And, seriously, the top line has Weezer, Sylvan Esso, Janelle Monae, and Bright Eyes?!?! We also have Digable Planets doing Blowout Comb, one of the most underrated albums of the ’90s. And the great Quasi (seriously- everyone needs to go to a Quasi concert before they die. Cathartic joy!)? And The Linda Lindas? And SPELLLING???? And HOLY SHIT LOOK AT THE POSTER: 

2-Day tickets start at $199, which makes it the best deal for a festival of this size. 

OUTSIDE LANDS 2025: SINGLE DAY TICKETS! BECK WITH SYMPHONY ADDED!!!

Outside Lands has graced us with their single-day lineups today, for those who can’t do the whole thing and need to pick and choose their days! And, on top of that, they added Beck performing with a symphony to Friday night! We also learned what the whole deal with Vampire Weekend appearing twice means—Vampire Weekend will open and close on Saturday. Single-day tickets are on sale NOW to Chase cardholders here. For those who use *other* banks (you know who you are), you’re gonna have to wait until tomorrow at 10 am to grab your single-day tickets here. Or you can also still grab some 3-day passes, because, trust me, one day isn’t enough. 

Outside Lands 2025 Daily Lineup

*artists subject to change* 

Friday, August 8 

Doja Cat

John Summit

Beck with Symphony

Doechii

Still Woozy

Thundercat

MARINA

ROLE MODEL

ARMNHMR

Floating Points

Nico Moreno

Fujii Kaze

BUNT.

DJ Koze

Mark Ambor

Jessica Pratt

Mannequin Pussy

NOTION

Fcukers

Vansire

Destroy Boys

INJI

nimino

ATRIP

Midrift

Alexandra Savior

NewDad

Baalti

Alemeda

Avatari

Saturday, August 9 

Tyler, the Creator

Vampire Weekend

Gracie Abrams

Gesaffelstein

Ludacris

Wallows

Royel Otis

Claude VonStroke

Artemas

Bakar

flipturn

2hollis

Walker & Royce

Dombresky

LaRussell

Girl Math (VNSSA b2b NALA)

DJ Pee. Wee

Wasia Project

Klangphonics

Kate Bollinger

Sarah Kinsley

Matt Champion

Wunderhorse

Amelia Moore

Paco Versailles

Good Neighbours

The Army, The Navy

Bay Ledges

DJ Mandy

almost monday

Vincent Lima

Infinite Jess

Vampire Weekend

Sunday, August 10

Hozier

Anderson. Paak & the Free Nationals

Glass Animals

Jamie xx

Bleachers

Jorja Smith

Black Coffee

Sammy Virji

FINNEAS

BigXthaPlug

Levity

BLOND:ISH

Claptone

Rebecca Black

CA7RIEL & Paco Amoroso

julie

Mayer Hawthorne

Big Freedia with the SF Gay Men’s Chorus 

Hope Tala

Luna Li

&friends

Naomi Sharon

Neal Francis

Lexa Gates

TxC

Orla Gartland

Arcy Drive

Nourished by Time

bLAck pARty

Midnight Generation

Alex Amen

Cassandra Coleman

BANKSIA

Show Review: Kraftwerk at The Greek Theater, 4/18/25

When Kraftwerk played the Greek Theatre in Berkeley on April 18, 2025, it was a crystalline reminder of why they remain the architects of electronic music’s DNA. Under the open sky of one of California’s most storied venues, the night was a precise microchip and as alive as the humming bodies on the floor. Continue reading “Show Review: Kraftwerk at The Greek Theater, 4/18/25”

Single of the Week: “Escape” by Ginger Winn

I’m a sucker for a good anxiety anthem. Maybe because I experience it to a nearly debilitating amount sometimes, and struggle with getting it under control properly. And, also, have you spent any time with the news lately? Dear God… A lot to be afraid of, and it doesn’t feel like we have a path out. That being said, this song feels right. And using a wolf to represent your anxiety? No animal has felt more right there. This song is gorgeous and feels like the warm hug that says, “I don’t know if we are gonna make it out of this, but we are in this together.”

“Escape” is off of Ginger Winn’s upcoming record, Freeze Frame, coming your way June 13th. You can find all things Ginger Winn here!

Film Review: “The Surfer”

Toxic masculinity gets menacingly vibrant and sun-soaked in The Surfer

Nicolas Cage just wants to surf in ‘The Surfer’

“You can’t stop a wave. It’s pure energy.” What a great line to start a film, especially when the line is delivered with philosophical sincerity by Nicolas Cage to kickstart a gonzo psychedelic thriller. The Surfer is the new film from Lorcan Finnegan (Vivarium) and it takes its opening line to heart, stylistically and performatively. Finnegan submerges The Surfer in 1970s era orange and turquoise and utilizes Cage’s unique talent for capturing a character’s descent into madness. The result is a blistering portrayal of toxic masculinity. Continue reading “Film Review: “The Surfer””

Label 51 Recording Presents: A Showcase at Great American Music Hall

I got wind of the most magical and random mini festival happening at Great American Music Hall on Sunday, May 4th! For the low price of $25, you get a set of hits from David J’s extensive catalog, including his work with Night Crickets, Love & Rockets, and Bauhaus headlining, with support from Jefferson Starship’s Prairie Prince, Industrial pioneers Snake River Conspiracy side project Mojave Phone Booth, Paisley Underground legends Rain Parade, Bay Area Riot Grrl groundbreakers Frightwig, and Bay Area punk forefathers Screaming Bloody Marys! 

Tickets are, once again, only $25. Don’t miss this gig!  

April \m/etal show photos + reviews: Obituary, Exodus, Death Angel, and more!

Photo Galleries and Show Reviews by: Alan Ralph @ConcertGoingPro

Spinning Platters attended, photographed, and reviewed (not all) a dozen \m/etal shows in April! Beginning the last weekend of March and throughout April, San Francisco (and Spinning Platters!) had become very \m/etal!  Just look at the list of 60+ band names on the left column (on mobile, look near the bottom of the page), which does not happen very often around here anymore…

Continue reading “April \m/etal show photos + reviews: Obituary, Exodus, Death Angel, and more!”

Single of the Week: “Gunslinger” by Natalie Bergman

Remember Wild Belle? The brother/sister duo that played a blissful blend of psych, ’60s girl groups, and reggae that released three outstanding records in the 2010s and just disappeared? Well, the group’s sister, Natalie Bergman, went solo, signed to Third Man Records, and is pushing the sonic envelope that her old band was already making with the blissful new track, “Gunslinger.”

“Gunslinger” is the first track off My Home Is Not In This World, in stores and on servers July 18th. You can prepare for this by preordering or presaving here!

Spinning Platters Interview: Martha Wainwright

Martha Wainwright is the kid-sister scion of a Canadian-American folk music dynasty, a fact not so notable for what is to American Popular music, a particular provincial renown, but for multi-generational musical avouchment; the inescapable gravity of a family that sings its sins to the public. She grew up at the knees of Leonard Cohen, Emmilou Harris, Richard and Linda Thompson, etc. It is an inescapable and fascinating bramble of musical history.
 
I want you to watch the YouTube video of ‘Proserpina‘ from Not So Silent Night, McGarrigle & Wainwright Christmas Celebration at the Royal Albert Hall, December 9th, 2009. This is the last song written by her mother, Kate McGarrigle, and performed here by her, a month before she died of cancer far too young at 63. The recommendation menu will likely offer Martha’s haunting rendition in a sparse head-on video of the track that anchored her 2012 Album, Come Home to Mama. The song stands on its own, but the context dares you to tears. A mother twice over, Martha Wainwright is well grown up now.
 
Of her father, louche folk singer, Loudon Wainwright III, she has said, “For most of my childhood Loudon talked to me in song, which is a bit of a shitty thing to do, especially as he always makes himself come across as funny and charming while the rest of us seem like whining victims, and we can’t tell our side of the story. As a result he has a daughter who smokes and drinks too much and writes songs with titles like ‘Bloody Mother Fucking Asshole’.” That song was the hand grenade she smuggled into her eponymous first album twenty years ago. The current tour is built on this anniversary. But it is also a tour of her recent memoir, ‘Stories I Might Regret Telling You,‘ from which she reads some of that bramble at each show.
 
Martha was kind enough to grant me some of her time between the tour’s first and second leg.
 

Continue reading “Spinning Platters Interview: Martha Wainwright”