Erik Thybony

Better than: Dining on pink slime.

There is always an air of uncertainty before an Ariel Pink concert. Throughout his career the enigmatic Beverly Hills native has been known to have meltdowns on stage, throw fits at sound men, or just plain refuse to sing his own songs. Last night was not one of those shows.

Born Ariel Marcus Rosenberg, the 35-year-old musician came into the public eye with a series of mysterious recordings seemingly made at home all by himself on four-track. A dark sensibility; drug-damaged, lo-fi recording quality; and an amazing ear for pop hooks quickly earned him a rabid cult following and led to a record deal with 4AD. His early records were groundbreaking, and early solo shows were usually sloppy and difficult as a lot of his music was considered "unplayable." That is, until he got himself a kick-ass backing band and recorded his breakthrough album Before Today and, following that, the group's second and best record as a cohesive unit, Mature Themes.

Photos courtesy Jeffrey Goodwin

Danny Brown at the New Parish last night.

Better than: Danny Brown's stained reputation might lead you to believe.

Attend a Danny Brown show on a Tuesday night in Oakland, and you'll quickly realize that there are a few certainties inherent in the experience.

You will doubtlessly witness a dizzying and impressive array of marijuana-related behaviors. Blunts will be rolled, offered, passed, dropped, hurled, and flicked. They will be smoked everywhere imaginable -- from the line that shivers and ripples 100 feet past the venue's entrance, to an ad hoc mosh pit, to the VIP section of the venue's balcony. Audience members will spark them dexterously while jumping up and down. They will puff them in the midst of aggressive makeout sessions. Security personnel will hand lighters to those whose ganja is scandalously, inexplicably unlit, and a man will spill his own doobie's ash onto his iPhone screen, then gently curse his clumsiness.

Better than: The vast majority of print glossies.

In the four years since its inception, Pop-Up Magazine has become the go-to literary event in San Francisco -- the one that draws so many glitterati to Davies Symphony Hall that it's hard to fathom how every one of them could be drinking the same $5 beer or wearing the same pair of affordable designer glasses (a joke not lost on the producers of Pop-Up, who used it in their homemade advertisement for an eyewear sponsor). Getting in is unnecessarily challenging; snagging a good seat is as much a status symbol as landing a second tier box at the opera. Tweeting about it afterward could raise your public profile, though it's also considered outré.

Moanalani Jeffrey

Janelle Monae with the San Francisco Symphony last night. All photos © Moanalani Jeffrey.

Better than: Monáe's last wonderful performance in SF at the 2012 Black and White Ball

Last night at Davies Hall, Janelle Monáe pretty much wore the same thing she always wears on stage. Fortunately, Monáe always wears a black or white suit and tie -- a uniform in tribute to her parents' jobs as janitor and garbage collector -- and this time she was resplendent in a black tux. (So were many of the men in the hall, in deference to the "creative black tie" dress code of the San Francisco Symphony's Spring Gala.) Her patented pompadour hairstyle was given an elegant, sideswept remix, and her eyes sparkled like the diamonds in her ears.

Ushered up by the San Francisco Symphony performing John Barry's "Black Hole Theme," she used her microphone stand as a baton and gun to emphasize the points in the song "Sincerely, Jane," topping off the track with a little moonwalk. She then started singing a languid version of Charlie Chaplin's "Smile." Since this melancholy tune is long known to have been Michael Jackson's favorite, there was a sense that she was building up a tribute to the Gloved One. But it still took everyone by surprise when she asked, "Now are you guys really ready to jam?" -- and began a huge rendition of the Jackson 5's "I Want You Back."

See Also:
* All Shook Down: Janelle Monáe

Kevin Brown

Secret Chiefs 3 at Cafe Du Nord. All photos courtesy of Kevin Brown

Better than: The day before mother's day has any right to be.

To say Secret Chiefs 3 have been lately absent from the musical landscape is to ascribe a regularity to their release and touring schedule that's never really existed in their 17 years as a band. Of course, this "band" moves exclusively to the watch of guitarist/composer/producer Trey Spruance, formerly of Mr. Bungle, whose conceptual ambition along with the high overhead of the band's lush records leads to sporadic output.

But while Secret Chiefs 3 haven't played locally in a while, they have been busy, alternately performing before enthusiastic festival crowds in Europe and the Middle East, and working on the long-awaited follow-up to their 2004 LP, Book of Horizons. So it came as a welcome surprise when, a little under two months ago, fans of their Facebook page were treated to news of recording progress and a US mini-tour to make up for the absence. As the Bay Area has been Spruance's lifelong locale, Saturday's homecoming gig at Cafe Du Nord promised to be a barnburner.

Kurt Vile at the Independent last night.

Better than: Listening to high quality Kurt Vile audio files

The Fresh and Onlys were in the middle of a solo section, one more about maintaining the song's relaxed atmosphere than impressive technical skill. Their ongoing set was perfectly enjoyable, but at that moment, a little panic struck. This evening could be extremely boring.

Bonobo at the Warfield on Friday.

Better than: Watching a DJ fiddle with Serato or Ableton.

Electronic dance music, when paired with live instrumentation, can have disastrous results: a tenor sax player, wearing Tevas, soloing endlessly over a pre-programmed keyboard pattern; a live drummer struggling to stay in sync with looped beats; a confused audience. But joined onstage at the Warfield on Friday by brass, woodwinds, string players, and vocalists Szjerdene and Erykah Badu, the musician, DJ, and producer Bonobo (aka Simon Green) carefully avoided these pitfalls.

Gil Riego, Jr.

Armin van Buuren at the Fox Oakland Sunday night.

Better than: Fumbling for your keys

The Bay Area raised a glass to famed Dutch trance producer and DJ Armin van Buuren last night night at the Fox. Cinco de Mayo came on a Sunday this year, but that didn't stop this crowd from going hard for every second of the show. Of course, van Buuren is pretty inspiring alone: He's won DJ Mag's Top 100 DJs fan poll five times, four of them in a row.

Killing Joke at the Fillmore on Friday

Better than: Seeing New Order, the Cure, or any other British post-punk contemporaries of Killing Joke still in operation.

In terms of sheer breadth of influence, few bands from the post-punk era can approach the reach of Killing Joke. The brooding, apocalyptic death disco conjured by the quartet since they first came together in London In the late '70s has resonated with a host of punk, metal, dance, and industrial outfits. Killing Joke has been covered by Metallica, plagiarized by Nirvana (Kurt Cobain famously nicked the guitar riff from "Eighties" for "Come As You Are"), and hailed as an inspiration by artists like Trent Reznor, LCD Soundsystem, and Jane's Addiction.

Despite having reunited the original line-up after the 2008 passing of longtime bassist Paul Raven and issuing two solid albums -- 2010's searing Absolute Dissent and last year's equally potent MMXII -- Killing Joke remains something of a cult band in the States. A healthy but far from packed crowd gathered at the Fillmore on Friday night to hear a career-spanning set from singer Jaz Coleman and company.

Christopher Victorio

The Rolling Stones at Oracle Arena last night.

Better than: Bands that don't bother building an aura in the first place.

The World's Greatest Rock 'n' Roll Band is fallible.

In theory, the Rolling Stones may be perfect. But onstage in Oakland last night, they were not. On the second stop of their 50 and Counting Tour, the Stones played 23 songs, most them hits, like "Gimme Shelter" and "Brown Sugar." They brought out Tom Waits to duet on an old Willie Dixon tune with Mick Jagger, and let former member Mick Taylor show off his superior guitar skills on "Midnight Rambler."

In many ways it was excellent. The Stones supplied another night of reliable classics, Jagger moved like Jagger, and the crowd got a couple of semi-surprises. But the show also made it clear that the Rolling Stones' most valuable product right now is the idea of the Rolling Stones -- and that's what fans paid stratospheric sums to consume last night. The idea of the Stones is certainly more important and special than the band members' actual performances, which were loose bordering on sloppy, sometimes irretrievable, and often swamped over by Oracle's boomy acoustics.