Here's where I'd be
Who isn't going to be at the Hercules & Love Affair show this Friday? We've got the rest of the week's best live music shows listed, too.
These are bands we especially dig, not
full listings. For those, please see Concerts and Clubs.
For more top shows featuring local acts, please see Nightgeist.
Wednesday, July 23
PLAN A: Rocky Votolato, Owen @ The Casbah. Votolato has a lot of friends in high places (Death Cab for Cutie, Blood Brothers, David Bazan, etc.), but the popular Seattle singer/songwriter walks alone on this solo acoustic tour. PLAN B: The Warlocks @ Beauty Bar. The Warlocks claim a range of influences (Velvet Underground and The Kills to The Flaming Lips and Dead Meadow) for their psych rock, but, curiously, they don’t include the band (The Grateful Dead) whose original moniker they took as their own. PLAN C: Matt the Electrician @ Lestat’s. A quirky acoustic alchemist based in Austin (alliteration is fun!) providing the coffeehouse rebuttal to Larry the Cable Guy. BACKUP PLAN: Destructo Bunny, Deep Rooted @ Winston’s.
Thursday, July 24
PLAN A: Bo Bice @ Viejas Dreamcatcher. I’m totally joking. I just wanted to make sure you were paying attention. Now get your ass over to the Howlin’ Rain/Earthless show at The Casbah. PLAN B: Video Games Live @ Embarcadero Marina Park South. I’m totally serious. The San Diego Symphony and Master Chorale performing music from Super Mario Brothers, The Legend of Zelda and Halo? If this weren’t Comic-Con week, I’d swear there was peyote in my Diet Pepsi. PLAN C: Who’s Bad @ House of Blues. Billed as the “World’s No. 1 Michael Jackson tribute,” this is the best you can do to get your “Billie Jean” fix without being totally creeped out by the genuine article. BACKUP PLANS: Sounds Like JFK @ Beauty Bar and Chemikillz @ Static Lounge.
Friday, July 25
PLAN A: Junior Reid & The Reggae Angels @ ’Canes. Junior has reggae/dancehall chops aplenty but is best known for contributing vocals for every third hip-hop act from Wu-Tang Clan and The Game to MIMS and Fabolous. PLAN B: The Life & Times, Hercules & Love Affair @ The Casbah. This is the indie-rock equivalent of a drive-in theater double-bill with Life & Times playing the early (7 p.m.) show and Hercules delivering the nightcap (10 p.m.). PLAN C: The Aquabats, MC Lars @ House of Blues. Theatrical surf rockers in turquoise tights and a laptop rapper who takes his stage name from a semi-obscure Ben Stiller movie (Heavyweights) about kids at fat camp. BACKUP PLAN: Swim Party, Writer @ Whistle Stop.
Saturday, July 26
PLAN A: Gnarls Barkley @ Del Mar Race Track. Del Mar is kind of a bizarre place for Cee-Lo and Danger Mouse to go ca-raaaaaazy but, then again, they’re kinda bizarre themselves. PLAN B: Los Lonely Boys, Los Lobos @ Viejas Concerts in the Park. The only thing missing from this Tejano/Chicano rock fiesta is San Diego’s own Los Dos Bros. PLAN C: Starkillers @ On Broadway. It’s a shame that house-music electrolyte Starkillers (aka Nick Terranova) couldn’t pay Paris Hilton a visit when she makes an appearance with DJ Cobra at Stingaree on Thursday night, if you get my drift. BACKUP PLANS: Robert Walter Trio @ Winston’s and Kiss Action Comic-Con Party @ The Casbah.
Sunday, July 27
PLAN A: Stone Temple Pilots, Wolfmother, BRMC @ Concerts on the Green. See our “interview” with Scott Weiland on Page 34. PLAN B: Coheed & Cambria, Russian Circles @ Viejas Concerts in the Park. Check out what happens when nerds take too many drugs with our Coheed feature on this page. PLAN C: Alkaline Trio @ SOMA. One of the last bands still standing from the initial pop-punk wave, Alkaline thought about adding a steel-guitar player to their lineup, but Alkaline Quartet didn’t have the same ring to it. BACKUP PLANS: Bullet for My Valentine @ House of Blues and Kid Vegas @ Beauty Bar.
Monday, July 28
PLAN A: Derek Trucks & Susan Tedeschi Soul Stew Revival @ Humphrey’s by the Bay. I’m not exactly sure what a “Soul Stew Revival” is, but if it involves an Allman Brothers guitar virtuoso (Trucks) and his soul-singing wife (Tedeschi), I’m willing to find out. BACKUP PLAN: The Modlins, The Happy Hallows, Apes of Wrath @ The Casbah.
Tuesday, July 29
PLAN A: The Stiletto Formal, Metroid @ Beauty Bar. Not nearly enough Warped Tour bands use the cello to its fullest potential. Tip of the cap to you, then, Stiletto Formal. PLAN B: John Mayer, Colbie Caillat @ Cricket Wireless Amphitheatre. Why, Georgia, do we keep on waiting (waiting!) for Mayer to stop singing “Your Body is a Wonderland”? Well, because he has enough blues chops to play with B.B. King, Buddy Guy and Eric Clapton. Plus, his Chappelle’s Show sketch was pretty funny. BACKUP PLAN: Big Elf, A Scribe Amidst The Lions @ The Casbah.
Published: 07/22/2008
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