Sam Smith performs at Oakland Arena in Oakland, Calif. on Aug. 27, 2023. Matt Pang/STAFF. OAKLAND — Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love, beauty, pleasure and procreation was literally center stage Sunday at Oakland Arena. An enormous golden statue of the curvaceous, recumbent, nude figure took up the entire…

Sam Smith, “Gloria.” Imagine being a younger Sam Smith on the precipice of superstardom but having to censor yourself publicly and professionally for fear of losing not only everything you’d built for yourself, but also the respect of everyone else in the room. Even after becoming one of the…

Sam Smith, courtesy Michael Bailey Gates. Sam Smith is bringing his new album, Gloria, on tour. The Grammy, Golden Globe and Oscar winner will play both Oakland Arena and Chase Center in San Francisco in August. “GLORIA The Tour” is their first North American run since 2018. The 27-city…

Camaron Ochs, better known as Cam. Courtesy Chelsea Kornse. Looking at it with hindsight, longtime Bay Area resident Camaron Ochs sees the clear connection between the career she thought she’d have and the one that actually brought her acclaim. The songwriter and singer—known best as Cam—who broke out in…

Sam Smith, “Love Goes.” “If you want to judge me then go and load the gun,” Sam Smith sings on “Young,” the opening track of the Grammy-winning singer-songwriter’s new album, Love Goes. In many ways it reflects the mindset of the album’s creation. Smith entered the studio for their latest release…

Roman Gokhman’s Favorite Concerts of 2015 Welcome to my annual countdown of the most entertaining music experiences of the year. I only went to 41 concerts. Life commitments and a family took a higher priority. But then again, I enjoy profiling an artist over critiquing the music. I put…

The Black Keys perform at Outside Lands 2015 in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. Photo: Paige K. Parsons. If you attended this year’s installment of the Outside Lands Music Festival, you likely have already a list of your top favorite moments. But if you’re still trying to make up…

Sam Smith with his trophies at the 2015 Grammy Awards at Staples Center in Los Angeles on Feb. 9, 2015. I have some final quotes I gathered at Grammy interviews that didn’t fit into any of my stories, so I thought I’d share them here, along with a couple…

Sam Smith performs at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco on Jan. 31, 2015. Roman Gokhman/STAFF. On first impression, this was a much more grandiose performance than I expected. Sam Smith now has a full backing band and singers, and an arena-level production. All of that contributed to…