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When The Lights Go Down In The City
Next Thursday, July 19th, Sonic Youth perform 1988's double album Daydream Nation in its entirety at Berkeley Community Theatre. The acclaimed album is lauded for its artistic vision and flowing dynamics from lulling instrumentals to all-out noise. We have a pair of tickets for one lucky winner to (re)discover the underground masterpiece. Watch the video for "Teen Age Riot" and enter to win. (Contest ends 7/15. Winner will be notified via email.)
Tonight catch brazen British siren Carina Round at Cafe Du Nord, who will be a hard act for headliner Cary Brothers to follow. On Friday, singer songwriter Rocky Votolato plays songs from his new record The Brag and Cuss [listen to it here] at Bottom of the Hill with Langhorne Slim and Panda. Chow Nasty celebrate the release of their new album Super (Electrical) Recordings at the Independent with two of our favorite local bands the Heavenly States and Magic Bullets. Watch Carina Round's video for "Down Slow":
We're guessing you've heard of the super secret Spoon show at Cafe Du Nord on Saturday night with none other than Rogue Wave opening the bill. San Francisco is truly benefitting from the promotional push around Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, released this past Tuesday, with that Popscene show a few weeks back, this not-secret performance at Cafe Du Nord, and their upcoming appearance at the inaugural Treasure Island Music Festival in September. Sure, it could have something to do with San Francisco being situated between Britt's hometown of Portland and the promotional mecca of Los Angeles, but we're just going to tell ourselves that Spoon has a crush on our fair city. Forget all the rumors you've heard about tickets; the band's mailing list says to get to the venue early on the day of the show for a chance at yours. If you're lucky enough to get in, be sure to buy a record off of them because the first 50 buyers get a meet & greet with the band. If you can't get in to see Spoon, Vanilla Ice is performing at Red Devil Lounge. Yeah we couldn't believe it either.
Sunday night's all about satisfying your nostalgia. The Psychedelic Furs, The Alarm and The Fixx take you way back at Mezzanine. Fans of reality television may or may not remember Flickerstick, who are playing at Red Devil Lounge. Smashing Pumpkins move into The Fillmore for an eleventy-night residency with a variety of opening bands, our favorite of which is Fair To Midland who open on Sunday and Monday.
Speaking of nostalgia, Tuesday night marks the return of Silverchair who are on their first US tour in five years. [UPDATE, 7/13: The show has been postponed until November 18th. You can hold on to your tickets or ask for a refund.] Remember those kids? The Australian trio took over American airwaves a decade ago with their angsty teenaged anthem "Tomorrow", drawing notoriety (and resentment) for releasing the best-selling album Frogstomp when they were only 15 years old. Laugh all you want, because they're still together and their new album Young Modern is selling like hotcakes in their homeland. They're playing at The Independent here, which is kind of like The Killers going to Australia and playing a dive bar. Watch their new video for "Straight Lines":
On Wednesday night, Popscene moves to the Rickshaw Stop to present a sold-out show with the exuberant pop of Sweden's Shout Out Louds and the band-of-the-moment Vampire Weekend.