Joseph Geha

Fall Out Boy at the Fox Oakland last night.

Fall Out Boy
New Politics
Sunday, June 16, 2013
Fox Theater

Better than: Doing your homework.

The Boys were back in town.

Clad in grey jean vests, fancy hats and tribal 'tats, Fall Out Boy hit Oakland's Fox Theater Sunday night with an exciting fervor, making young girls sob hysterically as the band returned to the Bay Area for the first time since 2009.

Blending old punk-pop favorites with singles off their newly released comeback album, Save Rock and Roll, the group delivered a simple, solid show that reminded the young crowd why not studying for their finals or doing their physics homework was totally worth it.

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Parquet Courts at Rickshaw Stop on Friday.

By RAYMOND ROBLES

Parquet Courts
Cocktails
Pang
Friday, June 7, 2013
Rickshaw Stop

Better than: Birthing pangs.

What's it like to witness the death of a band? Its swan song seppuku Silvia Plath shotgun bow-out?

Rad, actually, and the audience was inclined to agree. All four girls of Pang methodically marched their equipment off the stage after a rousing set on Friday, and the announcement that this was their last show. Most wouldn't have it.

"More! More!" demanded drunkard no. 1 (who had previously asked them to "Turn it up," to which rhythm guitarist/vocalist Danielle asked, "Turn what up?" with genuine puzzlement.)

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Rufus Wainwright at Davies Symphony Hall

Rufus Wainwright
Sunday, June 9, 2013
Davies Symphony Hall

Better than: Dwelling on the crumbling notion of privacy in American life.

Rufus Wainwright is wearing a really awful suit. Standing, greeting the audience, the first concert-related thought into my head was that this thing was capital-b Bad. It looked like some thoughtless hipster had tried to make an ironic statement by wearing his Sunday best to a job painting houses. The front half of it (and the front half only) was speckled with different blobs of color. Who lets someone leave the house like that?

I open on this wardrobe malfunction for two reasons, none of which involve trying to be a snob fashionista. The few seconds I spent adjusting to Mr. Wainwright's choice of outfit was the only thing approaching a negative thought I had for the close to two hours he played.
But also, this choice of clothes is kind of what makes Rufus Wainwright awesome right?

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The Field at the Independent last night.

The Field
Nikola Baytala
Thursday, June 6

Better than: Any 20-second clip of The Blair Witch Project played on repeat for 45 minutes.

For less than one hour last night at the Independent, Sweden-born, Berlin-based electronic artist Axel Willner, aka the Field, stood alone at a table onstage and produced sound. This sound shifted tectonically from airy synth textures to blaring, near-metallic noise, producing various pulses but never quite coalescing into a beat. Projected behind him was a jittery video of trees and sky, shot from the ground with the camera pointed vertical. At one point — the most exciting part of the hour-long film — the leaves on the trees went from a dull, monochrome grey... to a deep green.

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Juicy J at the Fillmore last night.

Juicy J
A$AP Ferg
Tuesday, June 5, 2013
The Fillmore

Better than: Missing any member of the A$AP Mob when they come to town.

Juicy J bent the Fillmore over and poked it like wet paint. Some artists can say no to playing the old hits right next to the new ones, but Juicy J can't.

Decades flew through the smoky air as Juicy J shared plenty of hits, and blunts, with the crowd. Things were already pretty well turned up when the rapper went into his 2012 hit, "Bandz A Make Her Dance" -- but the crowd was thrown into full-blown trippy-twerk-mode when he followed it up with Three 6 Mafia classics like "Poppin' My Collar" and "Slob On My Knob."


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Destroid at the Warfield. All photos by Christopher Victorio

Destroid
Friday, May 31, 2013
The Warfield

Destroid -- a new "live" "dubstep" "supergroup" whose members dress up in elaborate robot outfits and play bass music with devices that resemble guitars and basses -- came to the Warfield on Friday for its first-ever live show. All the kids were there, sporting colored beads and bare flesh. For a look at the robo-revelry, we sent photographer Christopher Victorio. He returned, eardrums tattered, with these images.

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T.I.T.S. performing at SFMOMA

Penelope Houston

Grass Widow
T.I.T.S.

Saturday, June 1, 2013

SFMOMA Countdown Celebration, San Francisco

Better than: Waiting four hours to see The Clock, but incomparable to viewing The Clock for four hours.

As SFMOMA prepared to undergo a three year long transformation, the institution offered four free days of admission and, on Saturday, a 24-hour spectacle of comedy, music, and discussion on its rooftop patio. Attendees waited several hours throughout the night to see Christian Marclay's The Clock, others perused the voluble exhibit of Garry Winogrand's post-war documentary photography, and more mingled upstairs for the performance series.

The allure of free admission, a rare 24-hour screening of Marclay's 24-hour video-montage, and local musicians T.I.T.S., Grass Widow, and Penelope Houston brought out an eclectic audience on Saturday night. Passing through the top floor courtyard, one found art-world denizens sipping coffee incognito amongst the crowd, young Oakland warehouse dwellers conspiring to stay up all night, and first-time visitors compelled to visit SFMOMA at their last chance -- at least until 2016. With everyone coming to enjoy the arts on a historic evening, there was no tension between incongruous parties.

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Christopher Victorio

Mumford and Sons in Berkeley last night.

Mumford & Sons
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
The Greek Theatre, Berkeley

We will largely abstain from comment here except to say: Mumford & Sons sold out three nights at Berkeley's Greek Theatre. Which is, depending on your perspective, an impressive, well-deserved feat, or yet another disappointing illustration of the power of tepid, facile popular music. Either way, photographer Christopher Victorio was on hand for the first Mumford show on Wednesday, and sent back this visual evidence of the phenomenon. Enjoy?

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Paige Parsons

Bjork in Richmond.

Björk
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
Craneway Pavilion, Richmond

Better than: Any other lesson in plate tectonics.

Here is Björk in her rainbow cotton-candy chinstrap wig and sparkling silver bubble dress, not so much clapping as slamming her tiny hands together with infantile glee. If it's possible to clap with an Icelandic accent -- adorable and naive and precocious -- that is what Björk is doing. This is the last night of her three-show residency at this cavernous waterfront warehouse in Richmond, and Björk is really feeling the climax of "Crystalline" -- the part where she stops singing and lets drummer Manu Delago go all Squarepusher on his drum pads, playing faster than you knew human arms could play.

Ostensibly this Biophilia concert is a lecture on the miraculousness of nature, technology, and music -- or at least that's what the announcer from Planet Earth told us through the P.A. before things got started. But for those (many) of us who were unaffected by the Icelandic singer's latest tech experiment-as-album, this is really a chance to hear those songs in a more human light.

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Erik Thybony

Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti
The Chapel
Tuesday, May 21, 2013

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.

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