Do you remember what happened October 1st, 1991 at the Oakland Coliseum? It was George Michael's last concert in the Bay Area. It has been 17 years since the Bay Area last hosted the international pop star! Not much has changed: back then we were amidst the Gulf War and Clinton was seeking the Democratic nomination. Sound familiar? Very. George Michael will be bringing his smash 25 LIVE tour to North American Arenas in the......

Usually, we don't feature arena concerts, but Wednesday night's concert featuring Mute Math, Alanis Morissette and Matchbox Twenty, is well worth it and is something to talk about. First off, who ever decided that those three bands ever belonged together? Strange enough, we kinda think it works (in an extremely 90's kind of way). With the arena setting, hopefully Mute Math will finally get the extra push to become a household name. Their concerts are......

Let's be honest, we were never really Maroon 5 fans. (Ick, right? Right.) We've never turned off their music if it happened to be on the radio but we've never, by choice, listened to it on our iPod. It is not because they are bad or hate their music - we've just never really cared to listen to them (voluntarily). Maroon 5 picked the best band to open for them, The Hives because they......

Walking on stage dressed in school boy suits, that would suggest that these five band members are in Harry Potter's entourage, we suddenly knew we were in for something special. The colors of their suits, black and white, did not match with their in-your-face, loud, rock-star sound. Chris Dangerous (Christian Grahn), the drummer, took the stage first. With his face, but mostly his eyes (Tyra Banks would be proud), Dangerous would look at different spots......

Van Halen held a press conference today to unveil specifics of the band's upcoming national tour. This is the first time in 22 years that "Diamond" David Lee Roth will be performing on such a tour with the band. The tour starts in September, but won't won't be anywhere close to San Francisco until November, so crossing our fingers that, um, Roth will still be with the band at that point. ...

SFist is still giving away tickets to see our boyfriend, Justin Timberlake, when he brings his virtuoso blend of singing, dancing, and white boy flava to the HP Pavilion on September 12th....

No winner last week, so we're going in random order. First up: the SJ Metro. Gary Singh had a crazy South Bay weekend. Is Palo Alto really as crime-ridden as they say? Cover article: The South Bay Best Of. Wow, this font is hard to read. It's broken down by city, with a readers' choice section. We didn't win their Best Blog award, which is only fair since we almost never talk about the South......

Everyone's talking about the man in the SF DA's witness protection program that was shot outside a Bayview auto body shop yesterday, in broad daylight. He had testified against two murder suspects before a grand jury. DA Kamala Harris called it "horrific," but otherwise seemed remarkably unsympathetic about the situation, saying that he shouldn't have come back to the Bayview if he wanted protection. "The first and last rule in witness protection is, don't go back to your danger zone," she said. The suspects in yesterday's shooting remain at large. He's dropped the Li'l, and maybe now he should change his name to Pow-Pow -- two people were shot outside the HP Pavilion last night after the Bow Wow show. Bow Wow (no longer dating Ciara, if you care) was performing at Wild 94.9's Bomb 21 show, along with E-40, Federation, Rihanna, and Bubba Sparxxx. The two people's injuries are not considered life-threatening. And we can't tell if this is encouraging people to take public transportation or not: apparently people are now stealing gas from cars parked in BART parking lots in the East Bay. BART did warn everyone, but also doesn't plan on increasing security -- no doubt because they're like, "see? we told you it was better to take public transportation." The police say to buy a locking gas cap, or "buy a Prius." ...

Last week's winner, the Bay Guardian. A list issue! We love lists. Coverage of the Battlecry dueling rallies last week. Annalee shares some blogger feelings. Johnny Ray Huston also thinks villainy's name is Stephen on Top Chef! The club reviewer preemptively mocks himself. Book section. A review of the Whitney Biennial by SFist Katie. And -- oh, SFBG! Win preview tickets to Brick by doing a word search? Come on, let's go rebus! Nothing beats the little cartoon eye, a heart, and a picture of a female sheep. Next up, the Metro: Circus protestors at the HP Pavilion. (n.b.: your correspondent represents these protestors at the day job, but had nothing to do with getting the article in the Metro, we swear. It was pretty funny when our client ran up to us yesterday and gave us a copy of the Metro, which we were already stressing out about picking up.) Soccer is cool. The Fly on the guy who wants to buy the Merc News. Cover article: giant squid! This article is like Moby Dick, only with squids, in California, and without the guy named Starbuck. Thin-crust pizza in SJ. An article on Edvard Munch. Aaaaaaaah! Todd Inoue's second SXSW roundup -- hey, he stopped by Austinist's secret Flaming Lips show! And SFist Eve's horoscope: 6714 is NOT your lucky number. After the jump, the SF Weekly, the EBX, and the pick of the week....

Last Friday was an historic night in California combat sports history, as the first ever sanctioned Mixed Martial Arts competition was held in San Jose's packed-to-the roof HP Pavilion. Anticipated since the establishment of the Ultimate Fighting Championships in 1993, the Strikeforce competition marks a landmark moment of legitimacy in a frequently misunderstood sport. The card read like a who's who of local marital arts talent, with students of Ceasar Gracie (more on him......

Yesterday the San Jose Sharks re-signed its head coach and two assistant coaches to new multi-year contracts....