Weekend Plans

It's the middle of May, whoa? If you're looking for something to get into this weekend there's a handful of diverse concerts making stops in The Bay area. Whether you enjoy virtuosic bluegrass, modern hip hop, or contemporary bands rooted in singer songwriter nostalgia, there's hopefully a   live show for you. View the list below.

May 14-17 | Rhiannon Giddens and the Carolina Chocolate Drops | SF Jazz Center
This North Carolina band is otherworldly. Rhiannon is easily one of the better fiddle/banjo players in modern music and her voice in angelic. Her band-mates can burn it down too. Tickets run between $25 and $45. They play traditional Afro-centric bluegrass that's rooted in real soul. Listen to their stories and please get out of your seat.

May 15 | Lord Huron | Fox Theater

Lord Huron has been gaining steam for a couple of years now. They're incredibly tight musically with  lyricism that is both familiar and worthy, as if smithing a story. Lonesome Dreams, their debut album, had a hold on me. Three years later they've released Strange Trails, which layers the listener in warmth like a handmade quilt. Other times their sonic tales haunt as the security blanket gets pulled away—sad and energetic are not mutually exclusive. This is going to be good.

May 15 | Timber Timbre | The Fillmore 

Call it what you will, mood music, freak folk, psyche-blues, what have you. Or call it nothing and just enjoy the unique qualities that allow Timber Timbre to create landscapes of energy. Their grooves bend between the world they are in and the one the audience thinks they know. They make me aware of conundrums. Confusion is a learning tool and they've taught themselves how to channel the periphery. Intrigued?

May 16 | Elvis Perkins | The Chapel 

Intimate venue, superb songwriting, hip neighborhood, must be Elvis Perkins in the Mission. His songs ebb with honest subtlety. Sounds and words mix like wind cooling your senses. His latest effort, I Aubade, soothes, almost lulling us away from the truth in each verse. Selfishly, I hope to hear a number or two from Elvis Perkins In Dearland, one of my favorite records. Enjoy the setting and  the sooth-saying.

May 16 | Ilovemakonnen | The Independent

"I'm a not so regular person in a not so regular world, and I'm just making the most of it and embracing myself." Sounds like someone who can recognize the moment. This young MC/beat-maker has something to say and finds humorous of ways of doing so. Fresh content and an eclectic scene are sure to unfold inside The Independent.  

May 17 | Wavy Gravy's 79th Birthday | Sonoma Mountain

Join Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, Steve Kimock & Friends, The California Honeydrops and Hot Buttered Rum for a mini-festival in Rohnert Park. Wavy Gravy will be the host of this SEVA benefit event. Have fun this weekend, there are plenty of options.

eightychoices.