Here's where I'd be
From Broken Social Scene to Toots & The Maytals, we went through this week's live-music shows and picked out the best so you don't have to
By Todd Kroviak
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, Aug. 20
PLAN A: Saviours, Archons, Hostile Combover @ The Casbah. For those of us who weren’t around to experience the first wave of American metal/hardcore crossover bands, Saviours shred and bludgeon like it’s still 1983. Envision early Metallica riding the lightning, with Lemmy sitting shotgun and Greg Ginn playing backseat driver. PLAN B: The Royalty, Steve Carlton Band @ Beauty Bar. If Weezer, Rilo Kiley and Amy Winehouse are your thing(s), then be prepared to bow down to The Royalty, a female-fronted pop group from El Paso. My guess is they’re gonna be huge.
Thursday, Aug. 21
PLAN A: Toots & The Maytals @ House of Blues. I’m eternally jealous of Toots Hibbert, because I’ve never seen a picture of him without a smile on his face. But then again, I didn’t play a large part in inventing reggae; nor did I write several of the catchiest melodies ever recorded. PLAN B: The Long and Short of It, Black Eyes & Neckties, Extinct Animal @ Radio Room. On record, The Long and Short of It are a short string of Black Cats firecrackers, but in a live setting, they explode more like strategically placed sticks of dynamite. PLAN C: Jeremy Enigk, Anya Marina @ The Casbah. Sunny Day Real Estate fans may long for the days of emo yore, but former SDRE singer Jeremy Enigk demands respect. Dude must have balls the size of cantaloupes to try to pull off the preach-rock posturing he’s developed.
Friday, Aug. 22
PLAN A: Broken Social Scene, Menomena @ House of Blues. After watching Half Nelson, I’m always going to associate BSS’s brilliant “Stars and Sons” with cracked-out hipsters. Thanks a lot, Ryan Gosling. PLAN B: “Hillgrass Bluebilly” w/ Bob Log III, Scott H. Biram, Left Lane Cruiser, Pant Hoots @ The Casbah. Put on your finest overalls and keep the spit can handy. Three one-man bands (Log, Biram, Hoots) and one two-man band (Cruiser) kick out the hillbilly jams like Cletus the Slack-Jawed Yokel. PLAN C: “4 O’Clock Fridays” w/ Black Francis @ Del Mar Racetrack. I’d argue that “Frank Black” is a more intimidating pseudonym than “Black Francis,” but the Pixies songwriter has enough fans in his corner by now that he can let his guard down a little bit. BACKUP PLAN: The Donkeys, The Sarees @ Whistle Stop Bar.
Saturday, Aug. 23
PLAN A: “SoCo Music Experience” w/ Common, The Black Keys, Kinky, Saul Williams, Grand Ole Party, more @ Petco Park Parking Lot. Common seems too preoccupied with his acting career to keep making genre-bending albums like 2003’s underrated Electric Circus. Let’s just hope he remembers how to rock a crowd. PLAN B: Beachwood Sparks, The Tyde, Brainticket DJs @ The Casbah. Read all about the Sparks on this page. PLAN C: Cash’d Out, Hell on Heels Burlesque, The Palominos, DJ Gonzo @ Belly Up Tavern. Johnny Cash ain’t coming back from the dead, but Cash’d Out channel his spirit so well that you’d swear the Man in Black were standing right there on stage.
Sunday, Aug. 24
PLAN A: El Vez, MEX, Lysa Flores @ The Casbah. Southern California’s Mexican Elvis may be pushing 50, but his legendary shows still bring the goods. Be sure to catch openers MEX (The Mario Escovedo Experience), whose Mariachi en Ingles is the soundtrack to your next tequila and Tecate binge. PLAN B: “Swami Sunday Mass” w/ Sunday Night Blackout @ Bar Pink. John Reis (the Swami) presents his Sunday afternoon rock ’n’ roll service with skeevy Seattle rockers Sunday Night Blackout, who are clearly hell-bent for leather and other perverted delights. PLAN C: Gospel Gossip, The Minor Keys, Rosemary’s Garden @ Beauty Bar. Gospel Gossip take Galaxie 500’s downer-pop and give it a smiley facelift. BACKUP PLAN: Joshua Radin, Erin McCarley @ Belly Up Tavern.
Monday, Aug. 25
PLAN A: Matthew Sweet, The Northstar Session @ Belly Up Tavern. Sweet’s perfect pop has been taken for granted by the masses, and “Sick of Myself” still feels like aural Prozac. PLAN B: Buddy Akai, Head Like a Kite, Satanic Puppeteer Orchestra @ The Casbah. Head Like a Kite take the unfulfilled promise of late-’90s electronica and use it as a starting point for new explorations in genre-busting. BACKUP PLAN: Jay Spazboy’s Rock N’ Roll Trivia @ Chasers.
Tuesday, Aug. 26
PLAN A: Lucinda Williams, Buick 6 @ Humphrey’s Concerts by the Bay. Williams is a living legend who’s tough enough for rockers, sensitive enough for folkies and appealing enough for everyone in between. PLAN B: Los Amigos Invisibles, The Bankhead Press @ Belly Up Tavern. Take lounge music’s obsession with cocktail kitsch and replace it with derivatives from the coca plant, and you’ll get this hopped-up Venezuelan combo, who burn through clean, Latin-inspired tunes like they’re Iron Maiden songs. BACKUP PLAN: Pretty & Nice, Crescendo @ Beauty Bar.
Published: 08/19/2008
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