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”
Tag: Oakland
Punk Rock show reviews: Summer Circus of Discontent
Photos and review by: Alan Ralph @ConcertGoingPro
Back in the day, Warped Tour was the travelling festival of the summer. It’s back after a six-year absence, but as a destination festival, with one of its three locations being in Southern California.
Historically, the Bay Area always reaps the rewards of destination festivals like Coachella where bands will book other nearby shows or West Coast tours outside of the festival’s radius clause— so much so that Spinning Platters esteemed Editor even coined the phrase Fauxchella (and owns that domain name!) — and each year keeps track of Coachella bands that make their way up here.
So now, one of the advantages of Warped Tour bringing nearly 100 punk rock bands to Long Beach is that some of them will book in the Bay Area… and in the span of four nights following Warped Tour Long Beach, five of the travelling festival veterans and one LBC newbie made the journey up here.
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Show Review: IDLES at The Fox Theater, 5/10/24
Yes. I consider myself a fan of “punk rock.” But I will admit I’ve spent very little time with this decade’s reigning punk rock kings. It’s not to say that I’ve completely avoided them- I definitely adore their aesthetic and agree with their stance of what is essentially “aggressive positivity in the face of oppression.” It’s a group of five white guys with guitars that seem to be fully aware of their privilege and what to do with it. I like that. It’s just, well, there is so much quality music out there being created that I will often simply disregard anything by “five white guys” as something that I don’t need.
That being said, IDLES live proved that I’ve been missing something magnificent this entire time. Opening their set with the intensely atmospheric “IDEA 01,” I still wasn’t sure what to expect. This really wasn’t “punk,” as I have known it in the past. It was clearly something “new,” and I am here for it.
The band spent the next literal two hours going in and out of shadows onstage, with guitarist Lee Kiernan periodically flinging himself off stage. Singer Joe Talbot danced like the drunkest uncle at the wedding while dryly uttering the most profound lyrics I’ve heard in a long time. Despite being on tour to promote this year’s TANGK, they pulled equitably from their entire catalog, all while speaking about positivity and pushing for a Free Palestine (including donning a “Free Palestine!” hat thrown from the crowd, which Talbot said something along the lines of “this message is worth getting lice for”) Not long after this comment, we ended up with an a capella rendition of Mariah Carey’s classic “All I Want For Christmas (Is You),” always unexpected, but much less expected in May.
Anyway, that was a lovely, sweaty good time. I even tripped over Lars Ulrich, of all people, who was dancing and singing along and enjoying himself a great deal without any attention being brought to his presence. It was a lovely time, and I expect this band to share a lovely time with folks for many years.
Single of the Week: “Make It Up” by King Isis
My first thought, before I even took a chance with an artist called “King Isis,” was, “That’s an awfully brave name!” Digging deeper and learning that King Isis is named after the ancient Egyptian goddess and adding the gender play to that would definitely deeply offend that other organization that ruined the word. So, yeah, I’m already impressed. And the song? It’s a guitar-driven, slightly sludgy, yet incredibly catchy song that doesn’t remind me of anything, and it’s great. And the video is dark and weird and clearly filmed in Oakland, so it’s a bonafide win all around.
“Make It Up” is available in all the usual places. More to come, of course… And you can find all that out here!
Show Review: alt-j at The Fox Theater, 3/23/23
Ten years got behind alt-j’s seminal record, An Awesome Wave. The still-fresh sound, now topped with nostalgia and ten years of collecting new listeners, filled the Fox in Oakland to the rails. The record flummoxed reviewers when it dropped. Did they love Joe Newman’s creaky tessellating shrill, yet palatable scree? They were confused and transfixed. The romance and journey of each song alt-j spins are solidly complicated layers. It could easily be written off as a neo/hippy/gen x-z Dj tricks. It’s simply an unexpected sound and a labor to hear all the detail packed into such a small scape of one song. The lyrics are not the first thing a listener will hear. A world music or drum and bass mask is removed upon several listens, then the intimacy of Joe’s lyrics are more decipherable. Sigur Ros comes on like a drug in a similar way. An opium lull takes over the body before making sense of what’s being said. The assumed keyboard or effects are often woven tapestries of one note sung over and over by Newman, Unger-Hamilton, and Sonny. It’s incredibly well thought out. Syncopated laser lights beat along to bass lines and drums. Chris Koruda style. Props to the lighting guy they have with them on this limited run. Continue reading “Show Review: alt-j at The Fox Theater, 3/23/23”
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…
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Film Feature: Best of the 2021 Sundance Film Festival
True story: my friend met her husband on a Sundance shuttle bus. They struck up a conversation, kept in touch after the Festival ended, and, 15 years and three kids later, the rest is history. Maybe lightning struck again for some lucky couple this year, but I’m guessing probably not. As much as Sundance staff strived to make the 2021 virtual Fest feel like those of past years, Zoom “waiting rooms” and video Q and A’s just couldn’t replicate the feeling of being bundled up at 7:30am in a waitlist line, passing the time and distracting yourself from the cold by idly asking your neighbor, “What have you seen so far that you’ve liked?” The cheery, disembodied “Hi from Boston!” chats that flashed on screen in this year’s pre-screening digital lobbies just couldn’t offer the same sort of in-person connection that can only be found by bonding over waitlist numbers 99 and 100 and mushy theater concession tuna wraps. That said, however, the quality of the films shown at this year’s Festival, which concluded last week, still measured up to Sundance’s best. Below we take a look at four documentaries and four features that are worth seeing.
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Theater Review: J Jha shines in Geetha Reddy’s retelling of Mahabharata at Ubuntu Theater in Oakland
The Mahabharata is an ancient Indian epic written in Sanskrit, the longest piece of prose ever written, which would take 12 days to perform if spoken non-stop. Playwright Geetha Reddy took on the challenge of dismantling this story into an hour and a half solo performance. And J Jha, with direction from Ubuntu Theater company founder Michael Socrates Moran, took on the task of recreating this piece. Continue reading “Theater Review: J Jha shines in Geetha Reddy’s retelling of Mahabharata at Ubuntu Theater in Oakland”
Show Review: Dermot Kennedy with Luca Fogale at Fox Theatre Oakland, 4/10/19
You know how sometimes all it takes is the first listen to a great new song by an artist you’ve never heard before, and you’re in? That’s how it was for me the first time I heard Dermot Kennedy’s “Power Over Me.” Not long ago, I was in my kitchen cooking dinner, with a music station playing on my TV. Before the lyrics of the song could even register in my brain, Kennedy’s haunting voice had drawn me in. I remember literally stopping what I was doing and turning around to gape at the screen so I could make a note of the artist. And then the lyrics hit me: “you’ve got that power over me… my, my… everything I hold dear resides in those eyes… you’ve got that power over me…” I’ve been obsessed with the song ever since. As soon as I could, I took a deep dive through Kennedy’s music, and accordingly made a note to catch him live as soon as possible. Last night, my chance came as Kennedy graced the stage at Fox Theatre in Oakland for the very first time. To say it was mildly earth-shattering is: an oxymoron, a little hyperbole, and also still somehow true.
Continue reading “Show Review: Dermot Kennedy with Luca Fogale at Fox Theatre Oakland, 4/10/19”
Theater Review: An Ode to Love and the Human Condition: A.C.T. Presents Edward Albee’s Seascape
In Call of the Wild by Jack London, there’s a line that repeats several times, said to be a universal law, the law of life, that is, “Eat or Be Eaten.” In the subsequent passages, London sets up a horrific narrative that is often true: what separates “man” from other species that are deemed eatable, and, of these species, many will eat man; then is man truly of any value? Because of this need for survival, there’s so much fear that permeates our condition. What’s actually real, and what isn’t? In Edward Albee’s Seascape, two couples face these demons head on. One is of the human form and the other alien, but ultimately, we wonder, whose world is it? Continue reading “Theater Review: An Ode to Love and the Human Condition: A.C.T. Presents Edward Albee’s Seascape“