Reviews of albums, films, concerts, and more from the Bay Area Music and Movie Nerds
Post-Election Day we have a panoply of excellent concerts coming to The Bay Area this week. Shows of all kinds. We have shows that are avenging! And dance-y! Secretive! And lemony! Metal! And even including the magic of public transportation.
It’s wonderful that there are so many kinds of shows ’round here and so many buses to take you to them.
Here’s what’s coming up this week. Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts: 11/6/14-11/12/14”
The thirteenth annual SF Sketchfest is upon us, littering San Francisco with night after night of too many good things at once.
To help with these sorts of problems, please consult “A Nerd’s Guide To Sketchfest 2014.” Yes, Dakin’s full-on once-over of this year’s fest is just the right guide to help you make those wrenching nerd decisions about which one-of-a-kind Sketchfest show to choose from on each jam-packed night. Too much good stuff is a good/ANNOYING problem to have. You are fortunate. We are fortunate.
This week! We have Canadiens! Sleepwalkers! Metal! Tim! Punk rock benefit shows! And science! O you lucky person, you — to have all of these awesome things to choose from.
Here’s what’s coming up this week.
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 1/23/14-1/29/14”
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”
They Might Be Giants have been playing together, in some shape, since 1982. Please, take a moment to let that sink in; this Brooklyn-based nerd-pop outfit has been churning out music for more than thirty years. This is a band that’s spanned five different presidents. A band that has witnessed countless similar acts form and breakup, reform and rebreakup. A band that has been making music for twice as long as Jaden Smith has been alive. A band with a legacy this long has two choices: They can become their own cover band, playing the hits that their audience crave, never growing, never changing. Or they can keep producing new music, evolving their sound, keeping their live-show fresh.
Fortunately for both the band and the fans, They Might Be Giants opted to take option B, and their set at the Warfield last Friday was all the better for it.
Continue reading “Show Review: They Might Be Giants with Moon Hooch at the Warfield, 6/14/2013”
It’s extremely unusual, in the modern live music scene, to see long-time-famous rock acts who are NOT following the popular gimmick of playing one of their classic albums from start to finish. It’s a strange phenomenon to think about, because for many of these bands, such a concept would have seemed bizarre back in their original heyday; part of the intrigue of a live show comes from wondering whether the band onstage will play your favorite song, resurrect an unusual B-side from another time, follow the rhythm of playing popular pieces only, or even take requests from the audience. The unpredictability of the set adds excitement, especially when the show itself is also highly theatrical in nature, with custom-made stages and an ensemble of backing performers who dance, leap, and move in an acrobatic fashion, rather than simply add sonic accompaniment to the musicians before them. The Los Angeles alternative rock masters known as Jane’s Addiction carry these factors into their concerts in spades, bringing a brightly-lit and ever-shifting spectacle to their performance, and with a set that spans all 25 years of the band’s work.
Continue reading “Show Review: Jane’s Addiction with thenewno2 at The Warfield, 10/18/2012”
The late 90s and early 2000s were an interesting time for popular metal music, when an often-bemoaned genre known as “nü-metal” clawed its way into existence, its rap-infused tendrils hot on the heels of bands like Rage Against The Machine and Faith No More, with its core still deeply rooted in groove-filled pop sensibilities that made it edgily acceptable to throw onto the radio. As the scene began dying out with the advent of metalcore and the New Wave of American Heavy Metal, groups that were still passionate about performing fought desperately to stay relevant, deigning their sound by bringing new elements into it that clashed with the original tunes that made them famous. It can be argued forever, of course, which bands did this as an attempt at creativity, and which bands did it as an attempt to appeal to more fans and listeners. The Sacramento quintet known as Deftones, however, have stood the test of time through this transition, and despite the definite traces of nü-metal within their sound, their desire to experiment and push boundaries has always remained constant.
Continue reading “Show Review: Deftones with Scars On Broadway at The Warfield, 10/10/2012”
One of the most difficult challenges that can face a band is the task of replacing their lead singer, since they are often one of the most important elements of the band’s sound, as well as one of the most recognizable faces in the group. When said band performs a genre of music as complex as symphonic heavy metal, that task becomes even more Herculean, especially when said vocalist possesses an incredible range, classical training, and a truly operatic quality to their voice — and such was the case in 2005, when Finnish band Nightwish were searching for someone to fill the shoes of signature siren Tarja Turunen. Two years later, soubrette soprano Anette Olzon took up the reigns, and remained with the quartet for half a decade. Halfway through their fall 2012 tour, however, a sudden hospitalization was the straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back for Olzon’s position with Nightwish, and former After Forever vocalist Floor Jansen was summoned with barely a moment’s notice to spare. What the band may have planned after their Imaginaerum tour is still unknown, but Jansen has risen magnificently to the challenge before her, and if the band’s performance at the Warfield was any indication, she may remain with the group for a long time yet.
Continue reading “Show Review: Nightwish with Kamelot at The Warfield, 10/3/2012”
The biggest rock band in Japan played in San Francisco last night, and you may have missed it. While the band is a household name in the Japanese community, the jingoistic American music fans are likely to be at a loss about them. And that’s too bad, because you missed a killer show by a tight live band, with a surprise in store that made it even more special.
Continue reading “Show Review: The B’z at The Warfield, 9/17/2012”
At the end of the day, what truly compels someone to come to a concert is their love of the music that their favorite band plays — and the sheer energy with which they present it to their fans. Take away the light shows, the falling props, the dancing backdrops, and the larger-than-life haircuts, and what brings people to a concert, what REALLY sells out a club and packs its patrons in tighter than sardines in a tin can, is the overwhelming desire to watch an artist deliver their heart and soul onstage, in the form of bellowing voices, howling guitars, and an onstage presence that drains the viewer just by beholding it. Irrespective of genre, of geographical location, and even of time period, it is truly the mindbendingly ecstatic bands that pulls in all comers — even well-known and loved artists of other musical worlds. Thus, it was little surprise that members of bands such as Rise Against, Metallica, Faith No More, AFI, As I Lay Dying, Death Angel, and Sevendust were on hand to experience one of the most incredible performances of 2012, when newly-reunited Swedish hardcore juggernauts Refused took the stage at the Warfield Theatre in San Francisco and delivered a set that was paralyzing and stunning in its intensity.
Continue reading “Show Review: Refused with The Hives and The Bronx at The Warfield, 4/18/2012”
With a musical movement like metal, being significant, staying relevant, and still having room to experiment while perfecting your craft is always a difficult combination of skills to possess. The genre calls for solid commitment to unyielding volume, viciously downtuned notes and hellish distortion, with vocals that span from the powerful to the deranged, and lyrics that cross a general spectrum of darkness, mayhem, and more-than-mild discontent. To introduce any additional elements into this equation makes a solution extremely difficult to arrive at, but for the Atlanta metal masterminds of Mastodon, experimentation is simply the bolt of lightning that breathes life into their compositions, which have not at all dwindled in their ferocity from album to album.