KISS performs at the Oakland Arena in Oakland on March 6, 2020. Gary Chancer/STAFF. OAKLAND — The Centers for Disease Control was likely not happy with KISS if one of its inspectors happened by Friday night’s show at Oakland Arena. At one point, bassist and professional gross demon-man Gene…

Mosswood Park in Oakland, the site of Burger Boogaloo, photographed on June, 26, 2019. Photo: Karen Goldman. OAKLAND — Attendees at this year’s Burger Boogaloo music festival in Oakland’s Mosswood Park will have some neighbors: The park’s homeless residents. After the controversial eviction of the park’s homeless encampment for…

Photos: Alessio Neri OAKLAND — Around the time she began writing her own songs for the first time, Melbourne singer-songwriter Carla dal Forno lived in a house that was supposedly haunted. Her music reflects that haunted feeling, and she put that on full display at her Noise Pop show at the…

Photos: Johan Doornenbal OAKLAND — Michael David Rosenberg has dedicated half of his life to singing and connecting with people under the moniker Passenger. The 32-year-old English singer-songwriter performed at Fox Theater Thursday, supporting his 2016 album Young as the Morning, Old as the Sea.  Ominous backlight illuminated Rosenberg for the majority of his songs,…

Austra performs at the Mezzanine in San Francisco on Feb. 11, 2017. SAN FRANCISCO — Austra‘s Katie Stelmanis started her show at the Mezzanine by singing Israel Kamakawiwoʻole’s most famous tune, “Somewhere over the Rainbow,” as a tribute to the victims of the Oakland Ghost Ship fire. Her set was arranged…

Photos: Ian Young By all accounts 2016 was a shitty year. But amid the chaos were much needed distractions in the form of live music. This year I traveled to Iceland, Chicago, Indio, Los Angeles and Seattle to attend 110 shows and eight festivals, watching and photographing more than 250 bands. Here’s…

Oakland pop punk band SWMRS will headline a Ghost Ship fire benefit concert at record store and label 1-2-3-4 Go! Records Sunday. “There is no accurate way to describe the hole that is forever left in our scene and our city by this devastating catastrophe,” singer Cole Becker said in…

Photos: Ian Young OAKLAND — Anyone living in the neighborhood of Oracle Arena could’ve been forgiven for thinking that Saturday night’s installment of Not So Silent Night didn’t begin until 10:30 p.m., because despite an actual start time of 6 p.m., the arena remained something of a library until the headlining local…