san francisco

Beck @ The Masonic in San Francisco, 9.19.14

Greg ChowLeave a comment

beck02

Beck opened up the newly-renovated Masonic Temple in San Francisco on September 19th. With the seats removed from the floor and turned into a standing room GA section, the venue looks and sounds great. If nothing else, it was easily the cleanest venue floor I’ve ever seen.

With no opener (which was a major relief) Beck told the audience they’d be their own openers, and started the show with an acoustic, “Pensive Beck” set. He kicked off the show with “The Golden Age” from 2002’s Sea Change (along with the standout from the record, “Lost Cause”), and continued with a good helping of songs from the most recent Pensive Beck album, Morning Phase. After the acoustic set, he broke into some career-spanning greatest hits, including “Loser,” “Devil’s Haircut,” “Black Tambourine,” and “Where It’s At.”

The Zombies / Vetiver @ Stern Grove Festival, 08.24.14

Greg ChowLeave a comment

zombies18

60’s rock icons The Zombies closed out the Stern Grove Festival summer concert series in San Francisco, with a set that spanned the group’s 50-year history. San Francisco folk-rock band Vetiver warmed up the crowd, which was an interesting mix of aging hippies, young parents and a surprising amount of attendees under 30. Under a clear sky and hot sun, The Zombies played 20 songs, ranging from hits like “Time of the Season,” “Care of Cell 44,” and “A Rose For Emily,” as well as early b-sides and late-career singles.

 

 

Minipop @ Bottom of the Hill, 07.18.20

Greg Chow1 Comment

minipop09

Bay Area dream-poppers Minipop celebrated the release of their EP Chances, as well as their 10th anniversary, at Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco on July 18th. After generating some great buzz with their debut LP A New Hope in 2007, Minipop had been fairly silent since, save for the Automatic Love EP in 2010. So it was quite a pleasant surprise when I did my semi-regular “I wonder what happened to Minipop?” check just a couple days before this show. Particularly as a displaced New Yorker who just moved to SF, it was a nice little bonus. The live music scene is one of the things I miss most about New York, and while SF certainly has a vibrant scene, there aren’t a whole lot of out-of-leftfield surprise shows like there are in New York. So this was definitely one in the “couldn’t have seen this in NYC” column. This was even more confirmed when the band mentioned their next shows were supposed to be in China (though those fell through, apparently).

After a long hiatus, and sporting two guest members on guitar and bass, the band still sounded super tight, with the new songs sounding as good as old favorites like “Generator” and “Like I Do.” Minipop always sounded like a long-lost 90s dream-pop/shoegaze band (that’s a compliment), and this was even more evident on an outstanding cover of Smashing Pumpkins’ “Rhinoceros.” Though I recognized the song immediately, it was still tough to tell if I was actually hearing it correctly, because it blended seamlessly with the rest of the set. Bottom line:  great band, played a great set, and hopefully more shows and music to follow.

Oh, also, they handed out mini cupcakes. Bonus!

Check out 1 minute of “Rhinoceros” and photos below.

 

Dean Wareham / HOTT MT at the Chapel, San Francisco, 06.20.14

Greg Chow2 Comments

DeanWareham07

Having spent the last 25 years in a trio, a quartet, and a duo, Dean Wareham (Galaxie 500/Luna/Dean and Britta) finally released his first solo album earlier this year. The self-titled record doesn’t veer too far from the sound of later Luna records, though it’s a bit more on the rock side than the Dean and Britta records. At this point in his career, I can’t imagine many attendees of a Dean Wareham show are looking for many surprises, and that’s just fine. As a recent New York-to-California transplant myself (Wareham and wife/bassist Britta Phillips recently relocated from Manhattan to LA) and having been to at least half a dozen Luna/Dean and Britta shows in New York, hearing Wareham’s warbly voice and warm guitar sounds went a long way to making me feel a little more at home/homesick.

After a fun set of jagged rock from LA outift HOTT MT, Wareham, flanked by a band including Phillips, ran through a 16-song set of songs from the solo record, as well as a healthy serving of songs from the catalogues of Luna (“Tiger Lily,” “Moon Palace,” “Lost in Space,” and Luna’s cover of Beat Happening’s “Indian Summer) and Galaxie 500 (“When Will You Come Home,” “Tugboat,” “4th of July”).

And whatever incarnation Wareham presents his music in, I’ll probably never get tired of watching him play “Indian Summer.”

The Both @ Great American Music Hall, 06.12.14

Greg ChowLeave a comment

TheBoth06

Aimee Mann and Ted Leo brought their new collaboration project The Both back to San Francisco, where they’d played their first shows as a band last year, on June 12. Mann and Leo clearly have a pretty solid friendship and working relationship, as evidenced by the breadth and frequency of their stage banter, which took up more time than the actual songs. They played about 4 songs in the first 40 minutes of the show, between stories about backstage graffiti, talking out hypotheticals of Gallagher-brotheresque meltdowns, and Mann’s uncomfortableness at Charmin’s new marketing slogan, “Enjoy the Go.”

As far as the songs, the collaboration seems to be working quite well, and was mostly evident when The Both played Aimee Mann and Ted Leo songs. Leo provided decidedly un-Ted Leo-esque backing harmonies and solos to Mann’s “Save Me,” while Mann’s presence took some of the rougher edges off of Leo’s “Bottled in Cork.”

Nick Diamonds of Islands opened up the show, to a fairly enthusiastic and filled-out crowd.

 

Guided By Voices w/ Bobby Bare, Jr. @ The Regency Ballroom, 06.11.14

Greg Chow2 Comments

GBV15

The indestructible Guided By Voices hit San Francisco on June 11th, in support of Cool Planet, the sixth GBV album since the “classic lineup” reformed in 2010, and the 432nd Robert Pollard-related record (give or take). A small mid-week crowd didn’t seem to faze Pollard and Co., who live like they’re on a perpetual weekend anyway. Guitarist Mitch Mitchell had perhaps the most impressive display of the evening, managing to chain smoke hands free for the entire 2-hour set. Pollard displayed his usual mix of jumps, kicks, and beer swigging , claiming “We get better, drunker, and younger as we go along.” No one in the crowd raised any arguments.