I have to admit something: after nearly six years in the Bay Area, this past weekend was my first time at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley. I promise, I love music. I just have never been drawn to a specific show there. That all changed when I saw that one of my all-time favorite musical acts was coming to town this year. Continue reading “Show Review: A Night at the Greek with Empire of the Sun, 5/3/2025”
Tag: Greek Theater
Show Review: Sylvan Esso, Kamasi Washington at The Greek Theater – UC Berkeley, 7/12/18
At first glance, the pairing of jazz experimentalist Kamasi Washington and electro-pop hitmakers Sylvan Esso seemed like a really odd mix. However, when Washington and his band took the stage, it didn’t take long for the audience to warm up to his impressive brand of hard, heavy, funk and hip hop infused jazz. Before the first song was over, a significant percentage of the audience was up and dancing. Hard. Continue reading “Show Review: Sylvan Esso, Kamasi Washington at The Greek Theater — UC Berkeley, 7/12/18”
Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts: 4/10/15-4/15/15
Here’s what’s coming up this week: monsters, bears, and Bruce Hornsby. Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts: 4/10/15-4/15/15”
Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 9/26/13-10/2/13
October is nearly here. Match pre-Halloween candy sales with some concert-going and that’s a recipe for general happiness.
Here’s what’s coming up this week.
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 9/26/13-10/2/13”
Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 4/11/13-4/17/13
Concerts! Shows! Performances! And this week in the Bay Area, they’re extra-beardy!
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 4/11/13-4/17/13”
Show Review: Amon Tobin’s ISAM Live 2.0 with Kronos Quartet at the Greek Theatre, 10/5/2012
It is impossible to go and see an electronic music concert without being exposed to a phenomenal light shot and staggeringly complex visual performance, with dancing projections and rapidly-pulsing animations taking center stage for its entire span. As a result, electronic musicians are in a constant race to push the envelope of their live productions further than they have ever been pushed before, in an effort to bring a continuously relevant and engaging visual accompaniment to their own ever-evolving musical set. When Brazilian virtuoso Amon Tobin began work on the live version of his 2011 opus ISAM, the focus on organic sounds paired with pummeling synthesizers led to the creation of a new type of visual spectacle. Developed by production company V Squared Labs, ISAM Live takes the form of a gigantic white sculpture, comprised of several stacks of cubes at differing angles, onto which a set of sequences are projected, and mapped to compensate for the 3-dimensionality of the sculpture. The unorthodox screen comes to life in a dizzying display of pulsing lights, zigzagging lasers, ever-shifting patterns and creeping shadows; with the magic of surface-mapping, the structure appears to break apart, reform, and undulate like a living creature. After a worldwide club tour that experienced a ton of sold-out shows and highly-favorable reviews, Tobin and V Squared have reworked their performance and rebuilt the ISAM surface for an even larger and more dazzling show, which found its way to the Greek Theatre in Berkeley on a chilly autumn night.