Hunter Hayes, courtesy. Singer-songwriter Hunter Hayes has been making music for nearly 15 years, but his latest project is arguably his most exciting and most personal. Red Sky is the first album Hayes has made since leaving Warner Nashville, and that journey inspired much of the process. Hayes and…

Muse performs live at Oakland Arena, in Oakland Calif. on April 14, 2023. Derek Tobias/STAFF. OAKLAND — U.K. alt-rock superheroes Muse brought the firepower and a full bag of trips to Oakland Arena on Friday. The band has played the East Bay venue at least a half dozen times…

Half-Alive, courtesy Yulissa Benitez. The road to Conditions of a Punk was long for Long Beach alt-rock trio Half•Alive. “We really just expected to do a ‘Part 2’ of the first album,” vocalist Josh Taylor said. “Then everything changed, and it just got bigger.” BottleRock Napa Valley 2023 Lizzo, Red…

Burna Boy performs at Oakland Arena on April 8, 2023. Italie Penaloza/STAFF. OAKLAND – After delivering a stellar co-headlining performance last weekend at Dreamville Festival in North Carolina, Afrobeat superstar Burna Boy dazzled Bay Area fans Saturday at Oakland Arena. He made it clear at Dreamville, which was live-streamed, that…

John Oates, courtesy. “It’s been a while since I played there,” John Oates recently said about performing in California, either on his own or as half of Hall & Oates, the mega popular rock-soul-R&B duo with Darryl Hall. That will soon change, as he and percussionist John Michel are…

Future performs at Oakland Arena in Oakland on April 1, 2023. Matt Pang/STAFF. OAKLAND — Atlanta rapper Future stopped at Oakland Arena on Saturday on his One Big Party tour, and brought along a few of his friends. Don Toliver, G Herbo, P-Lo and Lil Jairmy each played a set before…

Depeche Mode performs at SAP Center in San Jose on March 25, 2023. Steve Carlson/STAFF. SAN JOSE — Iconic electronic music group Depeche Mode chose San Jose on Saturday for the second stop in its tour supporting a just-released new album. The recent Rock and Roll Hall of Fame…

Buzzy Lee (Sasha Spielberg), courtesy Phil Chester and Sara Byrne. A lot has changed for singer-songwriter Sasha Spielberg since she released her debut solo album as Buzzy Lee, 2021’s Spoiled Love, a collection of acerbic breakup songs about a doomed relationship. Most notably, Spielberg, the daughter of director Steven…

Margaret Cho, courtesy Sergio Garcia. Comedian Margaret Cho has seemingly been everywhere on screen recently, from the wildly successful Hulu movie “Fire Island” to Comedy Central’s “Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens,” 2020 animated film “Over The Moon” (which was nominated for an Oscar), 2021’s “Good on Paper” and Netflix’s…

SZA performs at Oakland Arena in Oakland on March 14, 2023. Matt Pang/STAFF. OAKLAND — When SZA headlined Outside Lands last summer, more than five months before she released her smash second album SOS, she already had the nautical concept of her current tour. As with that festival set,…