Discover New Music // Show Reviews + Photos // Experience California's Music Scene and Beyond
By Norm de Veyra //
Wafia with Jaira Burns //
Rickshaw Stop – San Francisco
January 26th, 2018 //
Australian singer-songwriter Wafia marked her Bay Area debut last Friday with an engaging performance at Rickshaw Stop. The buzzworthy 24-year-old vocalist signed to Future Classic performed standout tracks “83 Days” and “Bodies” from her recently released EP XIII.
Los Angeles-based pop singer Jaira Burns opened the evening with a fun and energetic set.
By Benjamin Wallen //
Josh Ritter & The Royal City Band with The Dustbowl Revival //
The Fillmore – San Francisco
January 20th, 2018 //
SF welcomed Josh Ritter for a two-night run at The Fillmore last week. While Friday’s show featured Bay Area singer-songwriter Nicki Bluhm as opening support, the next evening saw one of Los Angeles’ finest, The Dustbowl Revival, showcase their vintage Americana sound.
Ritter & The Royal City Band subsequently hit the stage and flashed numerous smiles as they emanated a positive energy across the room. With this gig marking my first time seeing Ritter perform with his backing band, it proved to be a fun-filled night with a range of genres being blended together onstage. If you missed Ritter and his cohorts on this occasion, make sure to catch them the next time they come to town.
Written by Chandler Kirkman //
Paul Oakenfold //
1015 Folsom – San Francisco
January 27th, 2018 //
Paul Oakenfold can easily be seen as an electronic music legend. For the past three decades, the English record producer and DJ has elevated and shaped an entire genre while remaining one of its leading forces.
Growing up as the son of a musician, Oakenfold became a young DJ in the late 70’s who was influenced by funk music before taking a couple of life-changing trips in the 80’s that helped skyrocket his career. The first came in 1984, when he returned to his hometown of London to work in the A&R department at Champion Records and became the promoter for the Beastie Boys and Run-DMC. The second was in 1987, when he visited Ibiza and was inspired by the local Balearic sound.
Oakenfold began his career after the latter of the two trips, bringing the sounds of Ibiza back to his home country, but it wasn’t until he earned a residency at UK superclub Cream that he became a globally respected master of electronic music following the release of the Grammy-nominated Creamfields compilation in 2004.
Oakenfold’s role as a DJ and entertainer has taken him to the edges of the world beyond just nightclubs and festivals, including three world tours supporting Madonna and U2, a live gig on the Great Wall of China and two sold-out shows at the one and only Hollywood Bowl. His music more recently has taken him from the DJ booth to several movie studios, where he has produced the soundtracks for a number of blockbuster hits.
This Saturday, Oakenfold will visit pay visit to 1015 Folsom and hit the stage to perform an extended set for his Bay Area fans. Tickets are available for $25, or you could win a pair of tickets by submitting your full name and email below.
Contest ends this Friday at 3 p.m.
Follow Showbams on Twitter for more contest giveaways throughout the week. Be the first to respond to our contest tweets to GO4FREE to these shows:
• The Mynabirds: January 25th (THUR) @ Café du Nord
• Whiskerman: January 26th (FRI) @ The Independent
• Peter Murphy: January 27th (SAT) @ The Chapel
• GusGus: January 27th (SAT) @ Mezzanine
Enter your name (First and Last) along with your email below. If you win a contest, you’ll be notified on the day the contest ends (details above). Must be 21+
CONTEST CLOSED.
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Lightning in a Bottle //
San Antonio Recreation Area – Bradley, CA
May 23rd-28th, 2018 //
Lightning in a Bottle has been considered one of the country’s premier boutique festivals for quite a while now, although in more recent years it has arguably started to outgrow that label with rising attendance numbers and capacity crowds becoming the norm.
But after last year’s edition saw Bassnectar, Bonobo, RÜFÜS DU SOL and Kaytranada lead the way, the 15th year of The Do LaB’s signature event will be headlined by Anderson .Paak & The Free Nationals, ZHU, GRiZ and Fever Ray this Memorial Day weekend. The news, which comes more than four months in advance of the festival, marks the first scheduled show on U.S. soil since 2010 for Fever Ray (aka Karin Dreijer), the former lead singer of The Knife who released her sophomore solo LP Plunge back in October.
Other names listed on what LIB is calling Phase 1 of its 2018 lineup include The Glitch Mob, SOFI TUKKER, tUnE-yArDs, NAO, Beats Antique, Tokimonsta, The Funk Hunters, Monolink, Dirtwire, Tipper, Modeselektor (DJ set), Emancipator, Sango, Giraffage, Bleep Bloop, CloZee, Random Rab, Alix Perez, Nu:Logic, Nicole Moudaber, The Black Madonna, MK and more.
While the “transformational festival” has become a great hangover cure for West Coast music fans suffering from a bad case of post-Coachella blues, it also marks the second straight year that LIB mainstays Lucent Dossier Experience and William Close & The Earth Harp Collective are missing from this year’s bill.
UPDATE (February 8th): The Do LaB has dropped its Phase 2 lineup for LIB 2018, featuring performances by Beats Antique Lightning Orchestra, Too Many Zooz, Lyrics Born, Con Brio, Jamie N Commons, The California Honeydrops and more. Check out the poster above for the rest of the roster that will be dispersed across four stages.
Weekend passes to LIB can be purchased here for $305 starting this Thursday, January 18th at 10 a.m. PT. As attendees have come to expect over the years, The Do LaB will also continue to promote the ideals of sustainability, social cohesion, personal health and creative expression through its unique collection of art, yoga, workshops and speakers.
Yet, over the past few years, the festival has regularly sold out as the calendar turns to May, and 2018 will likely follow that trend with the lineup shaping up to be one of LIB’s best. So, don’t sleep on getting your tickets for what’s sure to be another memorable weekend at San Antonio Recreation Area.
Can’t wait for LIB? Look back at our past coverage here.
BottleRock Napa Valley //
Napa Valley Expo – Napa, CA
May 25th-27th, 2018 //
We’re one week into the New Year, and festival organizers across the country are just starting to unveil their 2018 lineups.
If last week’s Coachella lineup announcement didn’t do much for you, BottleRock Napa Valley has made its case this Memorial Day weekend with a bill that once again features not one, but two rock headliners, much like the 2017 installment saw with Foo Fighters, Maroon 5 and Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, which proved to be one of Petty’s before his sudden death. Yet this time, it will be Bruno Mars, The Killers and Muse leading the way in late May.
Including the three aforementioned headliners, more than 80 artists and bands will descend upon downtown Napa for the three-day festival’s sixth edition. Other noteworthy acts listed on the poster are The Chainsmokers, Halsey, Snoop Dogg, Incubus, Earth, Wind & Fire, The Head and the Heart, Billy Idol, Thievery Corporation, Phantogram, The Revivalists, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Bleachers, Mike D (DJ set), E-40 and St. Paul and The Broken Bones to name a few. BottleRock’s signature Williams-Sonoma Culinary Stage, meanwhile, will also return to the Napa Valley Expo as various celebrity chefs team up with different Hollywood stars, musicians, bands, athletes and more for some cool live cooking demonstrations.
Tickets go on sale this Tuesday, January 9th at 10 a.m. PT here and start at $349 before going up to $359 for a three-day GA pass. VIP passes will be sold for as low as $749 (and as high as $799), and a three-day platinum pass is now a whopping $3,900.
Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival //
Empire Polo Club – Indio, CA
April 13th-15th & April 20th-22nd, 2018 //
Well, that didn’t take long.
Just one day into the New Year, and Coachella has already revealed its 2018 lineup, signaling to music fans worldwide that festival season isn’t far off.
After it was reported almost two weeks ago that this year’s headliners would be The Weeknd, Beyoncé and Eminem, that indeed will be the scenario, marking the first time in all 19 years that the three-day, two-weekend event won’t have a rock act topping its bill (a real sign of the times as some might say). Coachella’s 2018 edition will also serve as Beyoncé’s official debut after being forced to cancel last year due to pregnancy, as well as Eminem’s (the only time he has appeared was as a guest back in 2012 during Snoop Dogg’s and Dr. Dre’s headlining set). The Weeknd will be back on the polo fields for the first time since 2015, when the R&B singer closed the main stage on Saturday night as a sub-headliner after Jack White’s headlining slot.
Other notable names listed on the festival’s famed poster this year include HAIM, ODESZA, Kygo, Jamiroquai, Portugal. The Man, David Byrne, St. Vincent, The War on Drugs, alt-J, A Perfect Circle, Fleet Foxes, Chromeo, MØ, Chic feat. Nile Rodgers, Kamasi Washington and Jungle. The undercard, meanwhile, does feature some buzzworthy indie-rock acts such as Perfume Genius, BØRNS and King Krule, but as was the case in 2017, there continues to be more of a focus on hip-hop and R&B, as evidenced by this year’s headliner selections along with the second-line poster placement of SZA, Tyler, the Creator, Migos, Vince Staples, Post Malone, Cardi B and Miguel.
Coachella’s first weekend is scheduled for April 13th-15th, with its second weekend slated for April 20th-22nd. All tickets will go on sale for both weekends this Friday, January 5th at Noon PT here.
Got your sights set on the California desert this April? Relive our five favorite moments, from Radiohead to Kendrick Lamar, after last year’s festival.
