Tom Morello – Spinning Platters

Sweet Relief presents A Night Honoring Joan Baez

I’ve gotta say… I get really jealous when I see these press releases for big events honoring an important songwriter, where that songwriter performs with a significant acts that were influenced by them. Patti Smith had one in NYC earlier this year, and they are always in New York or LA. NEVER in SF.

UNTIL NOW! Sweet Relief is paying tribute to local legend Joan Baez, the charity set up to ensure musicians have the money they need when medical issues arise (Y’know, an American issue). And the arena-level acts along for the ride? None other than Bonnie Raitt, Hozier, and Rage Against The Machine lead shredder Tom Morello! Other legends on stage include Emmylou Harris, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Roseanne Cash, Margo Price, Taj Mahal, Joe Henry, and others that aren’t yet announced.

The event happens on February 8th at The Masonic in SF. Tickets are on sale Friday, December 20th at 10 am here. GOOD LUCK!

Show Review: The. Best. Aftershock. Ever.

Review and All Photos by: Alan Ralph @ARPhotoSF

For decades, Europe has led the way in the heavy metal and loud rock music festival space. Monsters of Rock (the originator, which started in 1980!), Wacken Open Air, Dynamo Open Air, Hellfest, Graspop, Copenhell, Rock am Ring, Rock im Park, Summer Breeze, Sweden Rock Fest and Download have always dominated the landscape with their amazing lineups year after year.

United States was never close in offering an equivalent heavy metal experience. Sure, there was Ozzfest and Mayhem Festival, but those have been gone since 2017 and 2015 and Americans have always leaned more towards indie rock music festivals like Lollapalooza, Coachella, Bonaroo, and Outside Lands anyway.

For the last twelve or so years, Danny Wimmer Presents (DWP) has been chipping away at the supremacy of the European heavy metal festivals, with Welcome To Rockville, Louder Than Life, Sonic Temple, Inkcarceration, Rock on the Range, Rocklahoma, Carolina Rebellion, and Northern California’s very own Aftershock Festival. With the best lineup it has ever had, West Coast’s Biggest Rock Festival definitely lived up to its name in 2024!

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Outside Lands Diary, Sunday, August 12th, 2012: Jack in the Woods

My baby was stolen. Like the Lindbergh baby in the night* my beautiful 15 year old silver Honda CRV was removed from her place on the streets by some unnamed hooligan. We had many memories, me and that car. I learned to drive with her, I took up her up and down the coast of California, and I’m pretty sure I lost my virginity in that car (sorry Mom and Dad! Teenagers ya know?) (Also lets just gloss over the “pretty sure” portion of that sentence). So when I discovered on Sunday she was gone, it was with great sadness that I started my last day of Outside Lands. And then! If that wasn’t enough I was forced to take the N all the way from the Mission to Golden Gate Park! Yuck! (No seriously, yuck, I was so close to people that I almost lost my Muni virginity. Ya know what I’m saying!? Ok.) Silver beauty, it goes without saying, I miss you desperately.

I wandered around the park grumpy, glaring at every faux Ray-Ban, neon wearing fiend. “You don’t know my pain, neon wearing fiend!” I was secretly yelling. I was nobody’s friend.

Continue reading “Outside Lands Diary, Sunday, August 12th, 2012: Jack in the Woods”

Our Guide to the 2012 Outside Lands Music Festival

segwaypolo — Poor guys… Gonna have to find someplace else to play Polo next weekend.

Every year, every festival in America claims to have the “best line up ever!” Well, San Francisco’s Outside Lands Music Festival has made to its 5th year, and they really are going to have a seriously difficult time topping this year’s event. Of course, this means that there are conflicts galore! You’ve got six stages of entertainment to try to decide between at any time of day.

The schedule can be awfully intimidating. Which is why I’m here to help guide you through the complex maze that is the Outside Lands schedule. Without further ado, here is SpinningPlatters’ Official Guide to Outside Lands 2012.

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Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival Journal, 10/03/09

So, this is the kind of crowd you get to see a retired amusement park employee play banjo? San Franciscans are weird...

The Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival is different than most music festivals in several ways. The best thing about it is that it’s free. That might also be it’s biggest downfall, as well. It attracts a lot of people that normally don’t go to shows. The crowd veers a bit older, and they tend to prefer to bring lawn chairs and stay in one place. If you really want to get up close and personal with a big act, you essesntially have to get there at the crack of dawn, stake a place, and hang out. If you go to the show thinking that you can jump stages and get a good spot for everyone, you are really out of luck. The best way to enjoy this festival is to drop most expectations of actually seeing the performer, and jump between stages freely, taking an the smorgasboard of music in little sample sizes. You will end up with a much more eclectic palate, and you will have a much better time. Continue reading “Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival Journal, 10/03/09”

Outside Lands Festival Journal: Log 1, Day 2

Here’s my Outside Lands story. You may already be asking yourself why I am starting on Day 2. The answer is simple. I did not attend the first day. I went last year on Friday, and was so annoyed by the set up of the festival, that I did not attend again, and I was considering not doing it at all this year. I felt that security was far too sparse throughout the inside of the venue, and I also felt that they layout of the stages made it difficult to navigate through the venue. The biggest issue from 2008 was placing Radiohead on the main stage immediately after Beck played a side stage, which was about 15 minutes away by foot on a normal day, but they also made the walkway between the two stages about 2 people wide. To make matters worse, the audio kept cutting out during Radiohead’s set.

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