Sting performs at the Masonic in San Francisco on Nov. 6, 2024. Imani Sires/STAFF. SAN FRANCISCO — “Did anybody else have a rough night last night?” Sting asked Wednesday night at the Masonic as he kicked off the first of two shows, in the wake of Tuesday’s Presidential election.…

The Psychedelic Furs perform at Uptown Theater in Kansas City, Mo. on Oct. 23, 2024. Courtesy. San Francisco concert photos below: Meri Brin. SAN FRANCISCO — The 1980s were resurgent Saturday night as two of the decade’s most influential bands co-headlined a show at the Masonic. The Psychedelic Furs…

Pixies, “The Night The Zombies Came.” Zombies, in popular culture, are commonly understood to be creatures whose natural lifetimes have ended, but who continue on in a kind of walking coma, devoid of a soul and all but the most basic of motor functions. With The Night the Zombies…

Weezer performs at Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif. on Oct. 9, 2024. Matt Pang/STAFF. SAN FRANCISCO — A silver capsule appeared onstage Wednesday night at Chase Center. As countdown clocks on giant screens reached zero, the capsule rose slowly, revealing the four members of Weezer, standing on the…

Jack White performs at Great American Music Hall in San Francisco on Oct. 4, 2024. Courtesy David James Swanson. SAN FRANCISCO — Friday night’s surprise sold-out Jack White concert was everything rock and roll is supposed to be: hot, loud, sweaty and intense. The show followed a similar gig…

Air performs at the Masonic in San Francisco on Oct. 2, 2024. Mariana Garcia/STAFF. SAN FRANCISCO — Science fiction writer William Gibson once wrote, “The future is already here, it’s just not evenly distributed.” But quite a bit of the future seemed to be present at the Masonic when…

The Smile (Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood and Tom Skinner), “Cutouts.” Cutouts is the second full-length album from The Smile in 2024. The supergroup composed of Radiohead’s Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood, along with Sons of Kemet’s Tom Skinner, has achieved a level of productivity they were unable to match…

“Bad Monkey” original series soundtrack, celebrating the music of Tom Petty. The gift and curse of a genius like William Shakespeare’s is that the bard’s work is always being reimagined. So you get “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” set amid a roller derby, a robotic Lady Macbeth or Hamlet delivering…

Peter Hook & The Light perform at The Warfield in San Francisco on Sept. 21, 2024. Derek Fisher/STAFF. SAN FRANCISCO — Legendary bassist Peter Hook delivered what amounted to two headlining sets from his pair of  influential bands Saturday night at the Warfield. Fronting Peter Hook & The Light, he…

Bright Eyes, “Five Dice, All Threes.” The first 90 seconds of Five Dice, All Threes, the new album from folk-rock act Bright Eyes, features dialog centered on a dice game called game of threes.  It’s impossible to know whether the conversation was recorded for the album, is a dialog…