All’s not fine on Earth Day 2020. This past week we celebrated Earth Day on Wednesday and Arbor Day on Friday, which is ironic because we weren’t allowed to go outside. Both days were created in the ’70s to promote environmentalism as science began to realize we were destroying…

Kristine Flaherty, better known by her stage name, K.Flay, returns with her third LP, Solutions. The album presents a very personal and introspective take on the rapper turned alt-pop singer-songwriter. The album is less of a stylistic transformation, instead showing a natural progression of Flaherty’s sound. The hip-hop flow is still there,…

The past decade has been been a light-speed blur for BottleRock headliners Imagine Dragons and their North-Bay-raised bassist, Ben McKee. The band put the pedal to the metal since the release of its breakthrough debut album, Night Visions, in 2012 and never looked back. “It’s been a long time since any of us…

Imagine Dragons perform at the Concord Pavilion in Concord on July 24, 2018. The band is one of six co-headliners at BottleRock Napa May 24 to 26. Photo: Kate Vides. NAPA — BottleRock Napa Valley producers today unveiled the lineup for the seventh incarnation of their annual wine country festival,…

Photos: Kate Vides CONCORD — Five or six years ago, as Imagine Dragons were first entering the ring as challengers to be one of the biggest rock bands in the U.S., one of the few things that would have put them over the top was a strong visual signature…

Photos: Gary Chancer MOUNTAIN VIEW — Fighting back tears, Imagine Dragons frontman Dan Reynolds dedicated the band’s Tuesday show at Shoreline Ampitheatre to the people of Las Vegas, the band’s hometown. “They will never stop the music, they will never stop us,” Reynolds said before the band kicked into “It’s…

If you were holding out hope Imagine Dragons would course correct after Smoke and Mirrors, then you will probably be disappointed with the latest offering by the Las Vegas band. With EDM-like beats set to random pulses of the electric guitar, Evolve, cannot decide if it wants to be pop or rock, and ends…

Photos: Roman Gokhman Earlier this year, Provo, Utah, alt-rock quartet The Moth & The Flame released their second album, called Young & Unafraid. Many of the songs were already upwards of a year old at that point, which has Brandon Robbins (vocals, guitar), Mark Garbett (keys), Andrew Tolman (drums)…

Photos: Roman Gokhman The weather behaved and rain took the day off, saving event promoters from worry over attendance on the second night of the two-night event at Oracle Arena. The performances themselves were a bit uneven, but better than I’d predicted going in. The stars of the night…

This is the final part in a five-part series. Read how I’m scoring my list and find out about my “special consideration” acts in PART 1, the runners-up in PART 2, 15 through 11 in PART 3 and 10 through 6 in PART 4. Before I get my five favorite shows, here…