Kacey Musgraves performs at Oakland Arena in Oakland on Feb. 19, 2022. Onome Uyovbievbo/STAFF. OAKLAND — Toward the end of Saturday’s concert at Oakland Arena, as Kacey Musgraves was introducing oldie “Merry Go ‘Round” as a song that her label resisted releasing as her debut single in 2012, she…

Clockwise from top left: Little Hag, Kate Bollinger, LÉON, Remi Wolf, Sloppy Jane and MUNA. The intimate world-building of Kate Bollinger, soaring orchestral pop of Sloppy Jane, the soft-lit cynicism of Little Hag, bright turn-of-the-century anthemic pop rock of MUNA, slow dance time capsule of LÉON and the funky…

The Highwomen perform at BottleRock Napa Valley at the Napa Valley Expo on Sept. 3, 2021. Adam Pardee/STAFF. NAPA — After country star Chris Stapleton, himself a replacement to Stevie Nicks, suddenly became ill the day before BottleRock Napa Valley was to start, the festival’s producers acted quickly. They realized…

Jon Batiste, courtesy. We’ve all been out of practice with navigating a massive music festival. Though you may have been lucky enough to enjoy live music at various points through the last tumultuous 18 months, a three-day festival in wine country is new again to all of us. To…

MUNA performs at Great American Music Hall in San Francisco on Sept. 24, 2019. Photos: Gary Chancer. SAN FRANCISCO — “We’re the goddamn greatest band in the world,” MUNA guitarist-producer Naomi McPherson proclaimed after just one song into the Los Angeles pop trio’s sold-out show inside a sweltering Great American Music Hall…

Phoenix photographed at Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, California, on June 10, 2017. Photo: Alessio Neri RIFF doubled in readership in 2017, and as editor-in-chief, so did my workload. As one of five people running our humble little publication on a day-to-day basis, while planning as far out as…

Photo: Jay Demetillo This is the final in a three-part series. Read how I’m scoring my list and find out about my “special consideration” acts in PART 1 and 10 through 6 in PART 2. Favorite Shows 2016 | Favorite Shows 2015 | Favorite Shows 2014 Favorite Shows 2013 | Favorite Shows 2012 5 – TOM PETTY at BottleRock…

Photo: Jay Demetillo Welcome, once again, to my annual countdown of my most entertaining music experiences of the year. I attended 54 concerts this year, up from 51 last year and 41 the year before. In compiling this list, I’m not trying to scientifically list the best or most technically proficient…

SAN FRANCISCO — More than nine months into a tour, at a time when you couldn’t blame a performer for going through the motions, MUNA still puts on as passionate of a performance as it did on the first day. The Los Angeles trio, backed by a talented bassist and drummer, was still…

Muna photographed at Golden Gate Park at Outside Lands Music Festival in San Francisco on Aug, 12, 2017. Alessio Neri/STAFF. At first, the three musicians in MUNA were not sure whether they could a role as important as role models and inspirations to the queer community. These, days, however,…