John Mellencamp Golden Gate Theater March 18 , 2023 Photos by Raymond Ahner Typically the Golden Gate Theater in San Francisco is located at the corner of Golden Gate Avenue and Taylor Street. However, if you asked veteran rocker John Mellencamp for directions to his St. Patrick’s day shows at that venue this past weekend, he would have likely said the location would be at the improbable intersection of Americana and the Tenderloin. While it is difficult to reconcile in the mind’s eye the very disparate scenes of the slowed-down pace and simple virtues of bucolic middle America with the…
Author: Mark Paniagua
Mark Paniagua
Mark Paniagua is a bay area native who grew up on the SF music scene as a musician and sound engineer. Playing local clubs since the late 80's in bands such as Ringchildren, Sorrow Town Choir, and Fuzzbucket, Mark is an accomplished bassist and vocalist. He has also played and performed in a number of rock musical productions with Buzz Skycastle crew, including Jesus Christ Superstar, Pink Floyd's The Wall, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and Abigail the Rock Opera.
Fitz and The Tantrums Regency Ballroom January 25, 2023 Photos by Raymond Ahner Fitz and The Tantrums (FATT) put a charge into a chilly San Francisco winter night with an electric performance at the Regency Ballroom Wednesday night. To the delight of a packed house, the 5-piece multi-platinum outfit from Los Angeles blasted out a barrage of infectious pop sunshine, moving the crowd from the front row to the upper balcony. Led by founder and lead vocalist/guitarist Michael “Fitz” Fitzpatrick, Fitz and The Tantrums: Noelle Skaggs (co-lead vocals), James King (horns/guitars/percussion), Jeremy Ruzumna (keys), Joseph Karnes (bass), and John Wicks…
The Cult Ritualize The Warfield The Warfield Theater November 17, 2022 Photos by Raymond Ahner The Cult stormed through the hallowed Warfield in San Francisco, ripping a hole in the space-time continuum to reconstruct the Market Street theater into their own Sonic Temple of ritual rock for a packed house congregation of old-school fans. The result was a highly volatile spell of musical thunder and lightning conjured by mercurial lead singer Ian Astbury and partner-in-crime guitarist Billy Duffy, along with the current manifestation of The Cult (bassist Charlie Jones, drummer John Tempesta, multi-instrumentalist Damon Fox). Through the years, The Cult…
The Motet The Independent October 22, 2022 Photos by Kai Deering The Motet, the progressive funk machine from Denver, bounced through San Francisco, stopping long enough to funk things up on Divisadero with their recent show at The Independent. Formed in 1998, The Motet has presented itself with many different players and singers in their lineups over the years, morphing to showcase the specific talents of their top-notch members at any given time. Since the pandemic, they have seen fan favorite vocalist Lyle Divinsky and lead trumpet player Parris Fleming leave to pursue their own projects. While such a…
Scorpions Oakland Arena October 18, 2022 Photos by Raymond Ahner The ageless Scorpions brought their rock ‘n’ roll circus to the Oakland Arena, proving not only their staying power in the rock world but also a renewed energy to keep writing their chapter of rock history. It is crazy to think Scorpions have been a band for nearly sixty years now. Amazingly they have maintained three core members for over forty of those years. Even with all that history, singer Klaus Meine along with guitarists Rudolf Schenker and Matthias Jabs, and supported very ably by bassist Pawel Maciwoda and heavy…
Peter Hook & The Light The Warfield September 10, 2022 Photos by Raymond Ahner Legendary bassist/vocalist Peter Hook and his band The Light set up shop at The Warfield recently, leading legions of fans on a musical odyssey to the past to pay homage to his Joy Division roots by playing the post-punk album gems Unknown Pleasures and Closer in their entirety. Taking on both the late summer SF heat and the ensuing sauna-like conditions inside The Warfield, Hook jumped into the fray by playing a first set primarily focused on New Order, the band that emerged from the ashes…
Stadium Tour featuring Motley Crüe, Def Leppard, Poison, and Joan Jett Levi’s Stadium, Santa Clara September 7, 2022 Photos by Raymond Ahner Along with absolutely scorching temperatures, early September 2022 also brought the Bay Area a blistering rock show in the form of The Stadium Tour, featuring a bill of Def Leppard, Motley Crüe, Poison, Joan Jett, and Classless Act. Now what do these bands have in common aside from the fact that all are 80s era heavyweight headliners (newbies Classless Act aside)? Well one answer may be that all have a roster of hits that have defined the origins…
Red Hot Chili Peppers Levi’s Stadium July 29, 2022 Photos by Raymond Ahner. No matter when or where they play, one thing that is certain at a Red Hot Chili Peppers (RHCP) performance is that it will always be a colorful, high-energy party full of love riding high on a powerful blend of funk/thrash/alternative/punk rock electricity. That is exactly what RHCP delivered when they recently showed up to Levi’s Stadium to perform in the Bay Area for the first time since a late 2017 performance at the Bill Graham Civic to benefit North Bay Fire Relief. Speaking of fire (which…
Kraftwerk Bill Graham Civic Auditorium July 7, 2022 Photos by Raymond Ahner. Kraftwerk, the seminal electronic dance band from Dusseldorf, Germany, brought their multi-media “3-D” experience to the Bill Graham Civic for a show that was over two years in the making due to COVID delays. Currently consisting of founding member Ralf Hütter as well as Fritz Hilpert, Henning Schmitz and Falk Grieffenhagen, the pioneers of Euro dance music hit the stage donning Tron-style track suits and assumed their positions behind four ‘music terminals.’ The effect was more akin to a stage setting for a political debate than a dance…
Primus San Jose Civic June 19, 2022 Photo by Randy Johnson Bay Area music fans got a healthy portion of home cooked progressive rock at the San Jose Civic as local rockstar mad scientists Primus swept through the south bay on their A Tribute to Kings tour, paying homage to their childhood heroes Rush. The impact that the visionary prog rock trio from Canada had on Primus bassist and band leader Les Claypool was very evident as he re-counted his first concert experience, which was seeing Rush at the Cow Palace. “I can remember back to my first concert….1978….Rush… on…
Tears for Fears Shoreline Amphitheater, Mountain View June 2, 2022 Photos by Raymond Ahner Tears for Fears have been in hibernation for some time, but proved they are back and in prime form, recently landing in the bay area to play the Shoreline Amphitheater in support of The Tipping Point (released in February) which is their first studio album in nearly eighteen years. Bucking the trend of 80s/90s hit makers that band together on nostalgia tours, playing condensed sets and leaning heavily on older hits in their collections, Tears for Fears has shown that they still have a DIY hunger…
Pearl Jam Oakland Arena May 12, 2022 Photos by Raymond Ahner (IG – raymond_ahner) Flannels and hoodies, and ball caps…oh my! Such was the uniform of choice for most fans that congregated to see Pearl Jam storm Oakland Arena and deliver on shows that were delayed years due to pandemic restrictions. Even so, COVID still had a grip on the performances, as drummer Matt Cameron (formerly of Soundgarden) contracted the virus and had to sit out the Bay Area performances. Instead of postponing again, the grunge (hate that label) pioneers chose to carry on. Using a revolving door of drummers…
Paul McCartney Oakland Arena May 8, 2022 Photos by Raymond Ahner (IG – raymond_ahner) Turn me on dead man. That is exactly what the legendary Sir Paul McCartney did to the Oakland Arena, playing a nearly three-hour set to the delight of a Mother’s Day full house. Apparently, McCartney tickets were a popular Mother’s Day gift as there were scores of mothers in attendance either on a mother/child date, or with the full family in tow. Playing the exit show for his quick two-show Bay Area weekend, McCartney along with bandmates Rusty Anderson (guitar), Brian Ray (guitar/bass), Wix Wickens (keyboards),…
Journey and Toto Chase Center March 31, 2022 Photos by Raymond Ahner (IG: raymond_ahner) The old and the new collided at the state-of-the-art Chase Center in San Francisco as Journey and Toto teamed up to crack open a time capsule of what many born after the 80s would term “dinosaur rock.” While it is true that if you squinted your eyes and tilted your head it could lead you to believe that this was an epic Thursday night at the Cow Palace in 1982, concertgoers were brought back to 2022 as they had to present IDs and vaccination cards to…
Planet Booty The Independent November 26, 2021 Photos by Nicole Baptista. Friday night booty calls were loud and proud on Divisadero, and that was because Oakland rump shakers Planet Booty invaded The Independent. Celebrating a homecoming show which culminated their YES tour, and the re-awakening of live music in the Bay Area, Planet Booty had anticipation buzzing throughout the hall and had the collective booties (many adorned in shimmer and spandex) of those in attendance shaking and bouncing from the moment they danced their asses on stage. On an unstudied look, it would be easy to dismiss Planet Booty as…
Rebellion Angelo Moore & Del the Funky Homosapien Angelo Moore, the talented, animated frontman of the legendary LA funk/punks Fishbone is back in a big way with the new single “Rebellion” (Ropeadope Records). Working with an all-star cast (dubbed The Brand New Step) which calls on the might of members of Ween and Thievery Corporation, as well as legendary bay area rapper Del The Funky Homosapien, “Rebellion” is a blatant call to action given the political implications of the ever growing and ever agitated BLM movement. Considering the government’s glacial progress on race relations in this country in the wake…
Volume 1: The Impact on the Bay Area Music Community Will I ever see a live show ever again? Seriously, was the acoustic show Feb 26 at Berkeley’s Cornerstone (to see William DuVall and Sacramento’s rising star Katie Knipp) the last local live music show I will ever see??? The thought fucking freaks me out. It has been over 6 months now since live music was abruptly put on hiatus, and like many traumatic losses in life there is a delay in fully grasping the magnitude of what exactly just happened. After seeing the country temporarily succeed at abating the COVID-19 virus through…
It has been over a month since the term ‘social distancing’ has become more commonplace than the terms ‘live music’ or ‘rock opera.’ Sadly, that trend shows no signs of changing anytime soon, that is unless we start to change the discussion. With that in mind, let’s flashback to a time where the San Francisco live music scene was thriving, and a small musical theater company that partnered Buzz Productions, Skycastle Music, and Lunar Eclipse Records was lighting up San Francisco stages with stellar performances of a series of rock operas that defined the era’s fertile musical underground from 1998…
William DuVall The Cornerstone, Berkeley February 26, 2020 Photos by Phil Kampel It’s a rare opportunity to see someone who has performed as a major tour headliner do their thing in an intimate setting about the size of a school gymnasium. William DuVall provided that opportunity at The Cornerstone in Berkeley, stripping it all down to just his voice and his acoustic guitar to the delight of those in attendance. DuVall, who is most widely known as the singer/guitar player counterpart to Jerry Cantrell in the dark and heavy-handed Alice In Chains, is taking a respite from rock stardom to…
Tool SAP Center, San Jose January 14, 2020 Photos by Elizabeth Gohr SAP Center in San Jose continued a brilliant start to their 2020 live music series as it hosted the genre blurring legends Tool for a tour de force performance that floored the sold-out arena. Throughout its career, Tool has defied musical labels in an industry that will gladly pigeonhole artists for the sake of being able to market them better. Metal? Prog? Math Rock? Alternative? Rock? Punk? Industrial? Technically, Tool can check each of the boxes. When considering the band, they are equal parts grotesque awkwardness and rare,…