The best albums of 2022 include Carrie Underwood, Miranda Lambert, Banks, Sondre Lerche, Ghost, The Black Keys, Alice Merton, Omar Apollo, Coheed and Cambria, Pusha T, Tears for Fears, Nova Twins and Florence and the Machine. After poring over hundreds of our own album reviews and hundreds more albums…

Florence and the Machine performs at Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, Calif., on Oct. 9, 2022. Photo: Lillie Eiger.  MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Florence Welch of Florence and the Machine came to Shoreline Amphitheatre to make people dance with a set loaded with songs from her fifth album, Dance Fever. Attendees…

Florence and the Machine, “Dance Fever.” Florence Welch has always been one to embrace the avant-garde sides 21st-century pop music allows. With booming choruses, baroque lyricism and richly decorated videos, each of her albums has felt almost like an elaborately layered oil painting brought to life. With Florence and the…

Ricky Martin, pictured here Livin’ La Vida Loca. I’m taking a risk and pre-writing all my October columns. Why is that a risk? Because it’s 2020. The last time I wrote a column early a civil rights movement broke out between the time I filed it and when it…

Florence and The Machine performs at Concord Pavilion in Concord on May 15, 2019. Photos: Sean Liming. CONCORD — The penultimate episode of “Game of Thrones” knocked out the (spoiler alert) sitting Iron Throne ruler while destroying the reputation of another. At her tour stop at the Concord Pavilion…

The Easter Bunny, before and after listening to Jefferson Airplane. Tomorrow is Easter so obviously I have to do an Easter column. This presents a bit of a problem for me because Easter is a religious holiday and I’m completely incapable of not offending people. I offend people perpetually…

David Byrne performs at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco on Aug. 22, 2018. Photos: Paige K. Parsons. I don’t usually rank my top 10 shows, but this year’s best show was so far above the rest, I decided to make it clear who was at the top:…

Florence and the Machine performs at Not So Silent Night at SAP Center in San Jose on Dec. 8, 2018. Photos: Alessio Neri. SAN JOSE — All music, all the time—the theme was simple at Saturday’s Not So Silent Night, the annual alt-rock holiday concert presented by San Francisco’s…

Lady Gaga, probably singing about our editor. I’ll be honest with you, I kinda cheated on this one. Two of the songs are from one of my favorite video game series, two were generously provided by a friend, and one is Lady Gaga, which is basically the 21st century…

Florence Welch from Florence and the Machine performs at Outside Lands in San Francisco on August 11, 2018. Photos: Shawn Robbins and Joaquin Cabello. SAN FRANCISCO — Touting her new record, High As Hope, Florence and the Machine played her first U.S. show Saturday at Outside Lands with the new…