RIFF photographers’ favorite concert photos in 2023 included these shots of Arctic Monkeys, Future, Karol G, Kim Petras, Lil Wayne, Lupe Fiasco, Måneskin, MisterWives, Mr. Bungle, Muse, NF, P!nk, Post Malone, Queen, Static-X, Taylor Swift, Isley Brothers and Zach Bryan. We asked our photographers to share their favorite concert…

Queen and Adam Lambert perform at Chase Center in San Francsico on Nov. 8, 2023. Onome Uyovbievbo/STAFF. SAN FRANCISCO —It’s impossible to watch a Queen concert and not think of Freddie Mercury: His voice, personality and performance style were all iconic. Yet he’s now been gone longer than he’s…

Lil Jon in 2017. Courtesy Interscope Records. Footbaaaaaaaaall! Back in 2019, in the Before Times, I celebrated the start of the NFL season with five classic jock jams. It was a great idea for an annual feature! Then the 2020 season was weird on account of the plague, then…

Queen and Adam Lambert, courtesy Bojan Hohnjec. March 31 update: Queen and Adam Lambert have added a second San Francisco date on their Rhapsody Tour, as well as seven additional shows in some cities. The new show will take place on Thursday, Nov. 9. Tickets go on sale on April…

To fully recognize Danny Elfman‘s expansive CV would take up the rest of the word count of this review. The singer, songwriter and composer began his career in the early ’70s with Oingo Boingo and branched out into scoring films, penning television theme songs and composing for live concert…

The Foo Fighters should rename themselves The Old Standbys. No band produces as consistently at a decently high level. Dave Grohl and company can’t be accused of not doing their part to keep rock and roll alive. For a quarter century, they’ve waved the flag of uncomplicated guitar rock,…

Clockwise from top left: Idina Menzel, Queen, Mattiel, Shenna and Rob Halford of Judas Priest. Like it or hate it, the carols of yesteryear and a handful of modern classics will dominate the airwaves until Christmas Day ends. It’s hard not to crack a smile when Vince Guaraldi or…

  We’ve reached two milestones: The ’80s, and modern music. This is the first time we have hip-hop, punk and metal in the top five. While rappers had been performing through the ’70s, the first two widely-released singles (Kurtis Blow’s “The Breaks” and Sugarhill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight”) didn’t come…

  This is technically a special edition of RIFF Rewind because this week I’m coming to you live from Chicago! Land of nonstandard pizza, wind way too cold for a lifelong Californian, and a disproportionate number of people named Frank! I guess that requires some explanation: One of those…

Things are getting sparse, you guys. Oh I found some good songs, don’t get me wrong, but it wasn’t easy. This is Gordon Lightfoot‘s prime and Bowie and Queen had hits, after all. But a novelty disco hit made the honorable mentions so the drop-off is steep. Music shouldn’t have used…