From the last tour of an iconic American band to aerial ballet and dazzling dahlias, there are a lot of cool shows and events to catch this weekend and beyond.
Here is a partial rundown.
Catch these Punk icons while you can
X is calling it quits to life on the road.
The legendary Los Angeles punk rock act has announced plans for one last big tour, which is set to touch down at the Guild Theatre in Menlo Park for two nights, Aug. 19-20.
Will this really be your last chance to see one of the most iconic punk bands of all time perform in the Bay Area? It’s hard to say, given that this trek is set to last into 2025 and it’s certainly conceivable that more local dates could be added. Plus, the band is only saying goodbye to the touring life — not to performing in general — and reportedly will be open to doing one-offs and gigs down the road.
Yet, really, why take the chance that you could miss the final X dates in the Bay Area? Having just seen the band in late 2023, we can say that X still sounds great in concert. Plus, the group still features all of original members — vocalist Exene Cervenka, guitarist Billy Zoom, vocalist-bassist John Doe and drummer DJ Bonebrake — which is a real rarity for an act that has been around as long as X.
The group is supporting the newly released “Smoke & Fiction,” which is said to be the final X studio album.
Details: Showtime is 7 p.m. both night; tickets are $43; guildtheatre.com.
— Jim Harrington, Staff
Living the Daydream
Whether you want to relive one of the Bay Area’s most iconic musical eras or just listen to some awfully talented artists, McNears Beach Park in San Rafael is a good place to be on Sunday. The site is hosting Sunday Daydream Volume 4, a daylong family-friendly concert and celebration organized and curated by former Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh, who brings his band Phil Lesh & Friends band in as headliner. The “& Friends” quotient of this iteration of the band includes Taylor Goldsmith, Stu Allen, Holly Bowling, Griffin Goldsmith, Natalie Cressman, and Grahame Lesh (Phil’s son). The event will no doubt feature some Dead-era tunes and serve as something of a consolation for those who were fans of Phil Lesh’s Terrapin Crossroads, a popular concert joint and restaurant that closed in 2021. The event runs 11 a.m.-6 p.m. at the park, 201 Cantera Way, San Rafael, and also features sets by Sam Grisman Project, a group featuring the son of bluegrass icon David Grisman and working of the deep and delightful catalog favored by David Grisman and Jerry Garcia in their legendary partnership; the popular Americana band Wolf Jett, Marin singer-songwriter Jon Chi and his band the Pacific Syndicate. There will also be food and drink and plenty of kids activities available.
Details: $99 ($29 for kids ages 2-12); www.sundaydaydream.com.
— Bay City News Foundation
Aerial dancing in SF
Combining the thrill of a circus act and the artistry of ballet, aerial arts is a compelling dance form that has a sizable following in the Bay Area. There are several companies that teach and perform aerial arts, in which one or more performers creates a movement routine while suspended via a rope or other means. You can get a taste for what it’s all about this weekend when the San Francisco Aerial Arts Festival unfolds at Fort Mason Center. The every-other-year event is hosted by one of the art form’s most acclaimed performance troupes – Zaccho Dance Theatre. The festival will highlight not just the stunning athleticism of the art form but also the wide variety of performances it entails, from circus-like thrill rides to thematic productions and site-specific art works. This year’s festival includes performances from youth and adult aerialists, and, for the first time, an aerial arts film festival. Among the troupes and performers on the lineup this year are the Zaccho Dance Theatre, Flyaway Productions, Gregory Dawson and dawsondancesf, Aeriosa Dance Society, Corporeal Imago, Kelsey na Gealai, Shannon Gray, Thai Lam, Megan Lowe & Roel Seeber, Sam Wilder, Joey the Tiger, and many more.
Details: Performance times are 5:30 and 8 p.m. Friday; 1, 3 4:30 and 8 p.m. Saturday; and 3, 5 and 7 p.m. Sunday; $10-$30; zaccho.org
Bay City News Foundation
Classical picks; Merola, ‘Legend of the Ring’
Here are two productions classical music fans should know about.
Merola Opera takes a bow: Each year, a group of international opera artists comes to San Francisco for a one-of-a-kind summer training intensive. Named for San Francisco Opera founder Gaetano Merola, the Merola Opera program’s elite students participate in every aspect of the art form, including performances ranging from recitals and concerts to fully staged operas such as this year’s production of Mozart’s “Don Giovanni.” Now on the cusp of their professional careers, this year’s artists take one more turn, this time in the Merola Grand Finale, a fully staged concert in the War Memorial Opera House conducted by Steven White and directed by Anna Theodosakis.
Details: 7:30 p.m. Aug. 17; War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco; $10-$65 show, $85 additional post-show reception; Merola.org.
West Edge Opera’s condensed ‘Ring’: In its original form, Richard Wagner’s “Ring” cycle is four operas, usually performed over four evenings. But David Seaman’s “Legend of the Ring” condenses the composer’s masterwork, creating a production music lovers can experience on a single evening, with none of its dramatic intensity and memorable music overlooked. West Edge Opera, which has presented this version of the “Ring” twice before, has revived it as part of its Summer Festival 2024, and it’s a stunning achievement; directed by Sam Helfrich and expertly conducted by company music director Jonathan Khuner, it’s sung by an excellent cast headed by Philip Skinner as Wotan and Tracy Cox as Brünnhilde.
Details: 8 p.m. Aug. 17; Scottish Rite Center, Oakland; $20-$160; $10 rush tickets day of show; westedgeopera.org.
— Georgia Rowe, Correspondent
Dazzling dahlias strut their stuff
Are you gardener enough to grow the biggest, baddest dahlias around? Then come down to Golden Gate Park this August and show everybody what you got at the 2024 Dahlia Society of California Flower Show.
Twinkle Toes! Croydon Masterpiece! Brookside Snowball and Kidd’s Climax! All the A-list cultivars will be here, lovingly nurtured to tumescence by their membership-dues-paying plant mommies and daddies. (Though visitors are also welcome, and get in free.) This year, expect throngs in the thousands to flock to the Hall of Flowers, where growers from all over the state will compete for titles like Flower of the Year, Old-Fashioned Bouquet and Nature’s Oddities. There will also be a Largest Dahlia in the World Contest, as these blooms can easily grow larger than a human head.
The weekend show promises enough dahlia-mania you’ll understand why, almost a century ago, the city’s forefathers chose the dahlia as the Official Flower of San Francisco. And to quote: “[I]n its versatility, its beauty, its infinite variety of color and form, it is the very symbol of San Francisco life and of the spirit of her people.”
Details: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Aug. 17, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Aug. 18; San Francisco County Fair Building (outside the San Francisco Botanical Garden) at 9th Ave. and Lincoln Way, San Francisco; free, sfdahlias.org.
— John Metcalfe, Staff
Jerry Harrison revisits ‘Remain in Light’
A lot was going with Talking Heads when the band started working on its fourth album, “Remain in Light.” Bandleader David Byrne was suffering from writer’s block. Drummer Chris Frantz and bassist Time Weymouth, by then a married couple, were debating leaving the band. Famed producer Brian Eno, who had worked on the Heads’ two previous albums, wasn’t sure he wanted in on this one. But what emerged from recording sessions in the Bahamas and New York in 1980 turned out to be an unqualified artistic and commercial success. With a sound that melded funk, pop, the Nigerian Afro-pop of Femi Kuti, electronic music and more, and lyrical content that touched on everything from African mythology to John Dean’s Watergate testimony, “Remain in Light” has been cited as one of the best and most influential albums of the 1970s and ‘80s and a landmark in popular music. Now Jerry Harrison, the Talking Heads’ talented guitarist and keyboardist, is revisiting the release with a pair of concerts. The Marin resident is teaming with guitarist Adrian Belew, who took part in the recording of the original album and is a frequent collaborator of Harrison’s, as well as a full band. No, David Byrne won’t be on hand with his wide-shouldered suits and herky-jerky stage mannerisms, but these shows are a great chance to hear some talented musicians perform some iconic and unique music. And one of the concerts – 1 p.m Saturday at China Basin Park in San Francisco – is free. The other show – 7 p.m. Friday at The Quarry in Santa Cruz – is ticketed ($60.97-$117.62).
Details: Tickets available at www.tixr.com/groups/noisepop, more information is available at www.remaininlight.net.
— Bay City News Foundation
Strings but no bow
So what the heck is a theorbo? Well basically, music lovers, it’s a lute on steroids. An instrument developed by Baroque musicians craving a lower, richer sound, the theorbo is a plucked string instrument with an extended neck and a soundbox with a curved back (like its ancestor the lute) that is typically six feet long and has about 14 strings. But let’s have an expert demonstrate for you – there will be two opportunities this weekend. Andrew Flory, a classical guitarist, theorbo player and lutenist from Rochester, New York, will appear in recital at 7 p.m. Friday at Trinity Lutheran Church in Pleasanton and again at 7 p.m. Saturday at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Walnut Creek. On his program for the theorbo will be works by Alessandro Piccini, G.G. Kapsberger and Robert de Visée. He will also be performing some favorite works for classical guitar, and you will have no trouble determining which instrument is which. Donations of $20 are requested for the Pleasanton event at 1225 Hopyard Road, $5 for students with children admitted free, but no one will be turned away for lack of funds. The Walnut Creek recital at 1924 Trinity Ave. has a similar setup, with donations of $20 general, $10 students, but all are welcome.
Details: Register in advance at stpaulswc.org/concert-series, where you can also obtain an online link to view the full program.
— Bay City News Foundation
Channeling Karen Carpenter
East Bay singer Laurie Roldan isn’t too fazed about proverbially stepping into the shoes of Karen Carpenter.
“I have a connection with her because she really just was my idol. I sang every song of hers when I was little, and I know every single word,” says the vocalist, who brings “Laurie Roldan Sings A Song for You: A Cabaret Concert Inspired by the Music of Karen Carpenter” to San Francisco’s Gateway Theatre on Saturday and Aug. 25 to benefit the musical theater troupe 42nd Street Moon.
Roldan says through the years, listeners have told her that she has a similar sound to the late vocalist, who, with her brother Richard in The Carpenters, topped the 1970s pop charts with numerous soft, melodic, distinctive hits.
Though the duo’s music was antithetical to much of the rock and roll popular in the era, the songs have stood the test of time, says Roldan. She adds, “It’s powerful. And you know, people really love it. They have an emotional connection. … especially ‘We’ve Only Just Begun.’”
This is the fifth time she’s done the show and the first in San Francisco. And while the show has been tweaked over the years, it still offers her original message, which is to “inspire people to never give up, to always pursue your passions.”
Details: 7 p.m. Aug. 17, 3 p.m. Aug. 25; Gateway Theatre, San Francisco; $39-$49; 42ndstmoon.org.
— Leslie Katz, Bay City News Foundation
