Photos and review by: Alan Ralph @ARPhotoSF
Tag: San Francisco
Show Review: 50 Years of The Residents, Castro Theatre, 09/17/2021
Photos and review by: Alan Ralph @ARPhotoSF
Show Review: Megadeth + Lamb of God + Trivium + Hatebreed, Concord Pavilion, 09/02/2021
Photos and review by: Alan Ralph @ARPhotoSF
Show Review: Green Day + Fall Out Boy + Weezer = Hella Mega @ Oracle Park, San Francisco, 8/27/2021
Photos and review by: Alan Ralph @ARPhotoSF
Oracle Park, home to the San Francisco Giants, historically does not host many concerts outside of the regular baseball season (and certainly not the post-season lately either!). Since 2013, there has been an average of six concerts per year, and a few of them are usually tied to corporations like the annual Genentech Gives Back or convention attendee parties for Salesforce.com’s DreamForce and Oracle’s OpenWorld. In fact, the last concert to be held here was 21 months ago for DreamForce (UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital benefit). Leave it to East Bay’s own Green Day to stage the first Hella Mega sized concert at Oracle Park since the world shut down early last year!
Show Review: Rise Against + Descendents, Masonic Auditorium, San Francisco, 8/22/2021
Photos and review by: Alan Ralph @ARPhotoSF
The first show of the final week of Rise Against‘s Nowhere Generation tour was also the first show at the Masonic Auditorium in 543 days (since February 27, 2020)! Many precautions were taken, both by the band and by the venue, to ensure that this day would happen. Proof of vaccination or vaccine cards were required and checked upon entry, band crew and local stagehands were masked, an audience mask policy was also in effect (although at least half were unmasked, even as they entered the building), the bar and merchandise appeared to be mostly cashless with contactless point-of-sale card readers, and even the ticketing happened through a mobile phone app (although we scored a real one!).
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.”
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Podcast Review: City in Exile
Podcast fiends, here’s your new addiction.
Brendan O’Loughlin recently launched the inaugural episode of his podcast titled, City in Exile. It’s a document of the ever-evolving cultural capital of California, San Francisco, and more specifically, it’s O’Loughlin’s love letter to the city he grew up with. San Francisco is also my favorite city in the country and watching it evolve, and seemingly devolve, from the place I used to escape to in my youth has been both mystifying and depressing, but those of us who pay close attention recognize that all things change and we find ways to recapture those ephemeral bits that made us fall in love with the city as it continues to change.
Show Review: Dermot Kennedy with SYML at the Masonic, 1/30/2020
I don’t know what it is about Dermot Kennedy. I first discovered his music when I heard “Power Over Me” on a music channel on my TV. It was literally love at first listen. Kennedy’s voice is unlike any other I’ve ever heard: haunting, soulful, and incredibly powerful. Add to that his ability to write lyrically and musically beautiful works of art, and I’m a fan for life. For now, Kennedy is still relatively unknown in the US, but those who know his music flock to his shows, resulting in regularly sold-out shows. Such was the case at last night’s show with SYML at the Masonic.
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Show Review: Video Game Metal with DragonForce at August Hall, 10/10/2019
Photos and review by: Alan Ralph @ARPhotoSF
Since 2007, when their song “Through the Fire and Flames” appeared on Guitar Hero III, DragonForce has appealed to the video game masses, and it showed at August Hall tonight. They had two giant video game consoles on stage that were playing a loop of late 80’s / early 90’s era video games. They also have their own channel on Twitch.tv, a live streaming video website primarily focused on video gaming, and guitarist Herman Li was wearing a backpack with a mini video camera attached to it, to live stream the entire show.
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Theater Review: From Ubuntu Theater Project, a Powerful Message About Humanity in Lisa Ramirez’s Down Here Below
As the socioeconomic gap continues to grow in the Bay Area, the percentage of people struggling to survive rises. Food, shelter, safety… those on the margins become a statistic: A pity, a charity case, a series of photographs, a nuisance — their humanity stripped. We’re often told there’s one way to live, and that one way provides us with the material possessions needed to bring stability into our lives. Our identities are closely tied to societal milestones and to our relationships: mother, father, sister, brother, wife, husband. Look under any social media bio and you’ll often see these monikers proudly displayed along with one’s location and chosen profession. So what happens when just the struggle to sleep or eat becomes a privilege, let alone the factors that bring stability to someone’s life? And, at the core of it all, what truly differentiates those who have, and those who have not? If we don’t meet certain milestones, are we no longer deemed acceptable to have basic human rights? Furthermore, what happens to the child whose mother can not afford daycare? Or the artist who cannot make art because they can no longer afford the space? How many of our rights will be stripped until the majority of us live on the margins? Continue reading “Theater Review: From Ubuntu Theater Project, a Powerful Message About Humanity in Lisa Ramirez’s Down Here Below“