Carly Rae Jepsen performs at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco on June 28, 2019. Photos: Joaquin Cabello. SAN FRANCISCO — Carly Rae Jepsen hardly gave fans at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium a chance to catch their breath on the second night of her tour in support…

OAKLAND — New York synth pop band St. Lucia has always lived up to its name in philosophy rather than sound. The quintet exudes a carefree anything-is-possible glow. But on its current “Intimate & Acoustic Tour,” supporting a new EP of reimagined songs, St. Lucia at times sounded like…

Messing around with COIN at BottleRock Napa Valley on May 25, 2018. Photo: Roman Gokhman. I think this column is morphing into more of a “my favorite Roman stories” list, but what still holds true is that memorable interviews still lead better stories. I tell the RIFF staff, which…

St. Lucia performs at August Hall in San Francisco on Oct. 15, 2018. Photos: Gary Chancer. SAN FRANCISCO — A show that began inauspiciously turned worse for St. Lucia frontman Jean-Philip Grobler Monday when he fell and injured his ankle on the second of two shows at August Hall.…

St. Lucia. Courtesy: Shervin Lainez. Jean-Philip Grobler still dreams of having the biggest band in the world. The St. Lucia frontman acknowledges that the time may not be right for his earnest, heart-on-sleeve pop music. Even when he was in the middle of writing his band’s third record, Hyperion, there…

Enigmatic dance pop has proven a strong suit of South African New Yorker Jean-Phillip Grobler. The St. Lucia frontman built up his classical chops singing in the Drakensberg Boys’ Choir. His training coincided with an ardent side-affinity for ‘80s legends like Phil Collins and Michael Jackson. Hyperion St. Lucia Sept. 21…

Photos: Alessio Neri NAPA — In the end, the only thing that could stop the Foo Fighters at BottleRock Napa was a strict 10 p.m. curfew. The rock band that headlined the final night of the fifth annual festival was about a minute from finishing “Everlong,” from 1997’s The Colour…

St. Lucia Looking back on my interviews over the past 12 months, the first thing that surprised me was just how busy I stayed: nearly 50 interviews of 10 minutes or longer, about a dozen more than 2015, which had seemed much busier. Interviewing artists is just one part…

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 13 through 8 in PART 2. Favorite Shows 2015 | Favorite Shows 2014 Favorite Shows 2013 | Favorite Shows 2012 7 – STURGILL SIMPSON at the Fox Theater – Nov. 19 Two weeks ago,…

Jean-Philip Grobler at Outside Lands on Aug. 7, 2016. Photo: Che Holts As a successful Emeryville-based studio knows all too well, it’s possible to take an inanimate object, give it life and make children and adults alike laugh and cry by telling a good story. That was a lesson…