Apple celebrated 50 years in business in high style, on a Tuesday, at Apple Park in Cupertino, with none other than Sir Paul McCartney performing live in the rainbow bandshell.

Apple, Inc. turns 50 today, and on Tuesday night, they had an employee celebration at the center of the company's spaceship doughnut campus in Cupertino, with a private concert by Paul McCartney.

As ABC 7 reports, McCartney sang a bunch of his and the Beatles' hits, including "Hey Jude," "Live and Let Die," "Help!", "Love Me Do," and "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da," and the station had a helicopter hovering over showing the crowd of employees and  lined up to get inside Apple Park before the big show — and, reportedly, capacity dictated that they could not bring a guest.

There's no word on how good the catering was, but below you can see a decent clip of the concert, beginning with "Let It Be." As for the 50th anniversary employee swag bag, it was kinda chintzy?

Apple CEO Tim Cook put out a memo to employees Wednesday, the abridged text of which can be seen below, via MacWorld.

Today officially marks Apple’s 50th anniversary. And as we’ve celebrated that milestone this month, l’ve been reflecting on some powerful words from Steve.

“When you grow up, you tend to get told that the world is the way it is,” he said. “But life can be much broader once you discover one simple fact: everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you. You can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use. Once you learn that, you’ll never be the same again.”

This is the ethos that brought Apple into the world in 1976 – and for fifty years, it’s what has drawn the smartest, most passionate, most creative and most committed people to this company.

...

Fifty years ago, there was a single computer prototype in a garage. Today, there are 2.5 billion active Apple devices in the hands of people in every corner of the earth — helping them create, communicate, learn and connect in ways that would have seemed unimaginable then.

It’s impossible to fully quantify the profound impact this company and its people have had on the world. And it’s a truly special thing to do what we do every day, knowing that our work is squarely focused on empowering people and enriching their lives.

...

Thank you for everything and here’s to the next fifty years.

Top image: Photo via appleworldturkish/Instagram

Basketball Hall of Famer turned DJ Shaquille O'Neal is throwing a big ticketed party event in the Bay Area over Super Bowl Weekend, and T-Pain and Tiësto are both scheduled to perform.

Dubbed "part circus, part carnival, part festival," Shaq's Fun House is coming to the Bay Area for its eighth iteration over Super Bowl weekend in February. The event, which in previous years has tagged along with the Super Bowl in its host city and brought together major stars in hip-hop and the DJ circuit, will be landing at the Cow Palace in Daly City on Friday, February 6, and tickets go on sale this Friday (Dec 12) at 10 am.

Tickets are starting at $249.99 for the event — and it should be noted that two years ago, when the Super Bowl was in Las Vegas, the Shaq's Fun House event there had tickets starting at $99, so the Bay Area markup is indeed real.

The event features circus performers, carnival games and rides, cocktail bars, as well as performances on a concert stage, and also featured this year, besides T-Pain and Tiësto, will be DJ and producer Disco Lines.

Shaq himself, aka DJ DIESEL, may also perform as he has in years past, but he doesn't appear on the official bill.

The video below shows a recap of the New Orleans iteration of Shaq's Fun House in February 2025. There is apparently some sort of open bar — Shaq says, "Once you pay your money, everything's free," but that may only be the sponsored options, which in this year's case will include Cutwater canned cocktails, and Nutrl canned vodka spritzes.

Also scheduled for that same night, February 6, is a concert by the one and only Sting at the Palace of Fine Arts. Then, on Saturday, February 7, The Killers will be playing the same venue, and across town at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, country star Chris Stapleton will also be putting on a show.

There will indeed be a pay-per-view livestream of the sold-out Dead & Company shows August 1-3 at Golden Gate Park, and anyone worldwide can tune in for both the opening acts and the 60th anniversary of the Grateful Dead performances.

Ever since we learned that Dead & Company would be playing Golden Gate Park on August 1-3, the burning question among Deadheads who could not afford those $635 tickets was are they going to livestream the three shows online? After all, there was a good, affordable livestream when they played Oracle Park in 2023. But this year, less than ten days out, all we had heard was that there’s going to be an IMAX screening in movie theaters of just Sunday night’s show, a one-show-only deal that is underwhelming to fans nationwide who do not have an IMAX theater within hundreds of miles of where they live.  

But on Wednesday morning, the news just broke that there will be a pay-per-view livestream of all three Dead & Company shows from Golden Gate Park, and it will be available worldwide. You can buy single-night shows, or all three shows as a package, plus you get the full sets from each show’s opening band. That’s nearly six hours of music each night, all to enjoy from the comfort of your own home and trusty Whip-It dispenser.

The broadcast is being handled by the subscription live music streaming service Nugs, who also brought us that 2023 Oracle Park livestream. Single-night shows are $39.99 for an HD broadcast ($49.99 for 4K), or the whole three-night bundle for $99.99 in HD ($129.99 for 4K).

“Each night you can watch three sets of music, the openers and presumably the two Dead & Company sets,” Nugs founder and CEO Brad Serling tells SFist.

As a reminder, those opening acts are Billy Strings (Friday, August 1), Sturgill “Johnny Blue Skies” Simpson (Saturday, August 2), and the Trey Anastasio Band (Sunday, August 3). Each opening act is expected to start their set around 4 pm PT on their given day.

I personally bought and watched that Nugs Oracle Park livestream 2023, and it was a technically excellent and very well-edited broadcast. There were unforgettable segments with the surprise Sunday night drone show, and the visual sets they offered during a little thing we call “Space.”

“The same team will be shooting the Golden Gate Park shows,” according to Serling.

The pay-per-view also buys you 60 days of Nugs All-Access, a giant vault packed with full Dead & Company concerts, rare Grateful Dead archives, plus recent shows from the Bruce Springsteen and Metallica tours, and a number of “exclusive live performances from the Dead’s extended musical family.”

This all grew from Serling’s exhaustive collection of live Grateful Dead bootleg cassettes that he was putting out in the 1990s.

“I started Nugs in the 90s as a way to share my Grateful Dead tapes,” he tells us. “That became so popular that the Grateful Dead called me up and said that they either needed to shut me down or go into business with me. So they ended up hiring me.”

That led to the webcast platform LivePhish.com, and now the larger Nugs, over the course of 25 years. “It grew from there,” Serling says. “We signed Metallica. We signed Bruce Springsteen. We signed Pearljam. We’ve done every iteration of the Dead, post-Jerry.”

And speaking of the Dead post-Jerry, we had another burning question for Serling. Will John Mayer be playing in the Jerry Garcia role at these upcoming Dead & Company Golden Gate Park shows? It turns out that yes, he will.

“John Mayer is Dead & Company, along with Bobby and Mickey, of course,” he tells us. “That’s not a secret or a surprise or anything.”

Related: Muni Is Truckin’ Grateful Dead-Themed Buses for Next Weekend’s Big Dead & Co. Concerts [SFist]

Image: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 31: (L-R) John Mayer and Jay Lane of Dead & Company, and Honorees Bob Weir and Mickey Hart of Dead & Company and of the Grateful Dead perform onstage during the 2025 MusiCares Person of the Year Honoring The Grateful Dead at Los Angeles Convention Center on January 31, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Amy Sussman/Getty Images)

SFist is doing a contest, everyone. You can win two free tickets to the NBA All Star Concert Series, happening down the street from the Chase Center on Pier 48 February 14 to 16.

As we told you last month, the NBA All Star Game is bringing more than just basketball stars to San Francisco for the mid-February festivities. There are three days of all-ages concerts happening near the Chase Center, four blocks north on Pier 48, featuring headlining acts Zedd (Friday 2/14), Noah Kahan (Saturday 2/15), and The Chainsmokers (Sunday 2/16).

Flo Rida and 2 Chainz are also performing, as are DJs Ryan Lucero and Shabazz.

SFist readers can get 10% off tickets for the All Star Concert Series, or a specific night, using the promo code MUSIC25 at checkout.

And, we are giving away two free general admission tickets (an $800 value) for anyone who follows us on both Bluesky and Instagram. If you already follow us on Instagram, follow us on Bluesky — we will DM the winner on Bluesky. One lucky winner will be randomly selected from our Bluesky followers on Friday, February 7 at 12 pm PT.

Note: Concert tickets do not include admission to the Chase Center for the All Star Game or other festivities.

Good luck! And thanks for reading.

Does it matter that the freshly announced Skrillex and Fred Again show this weekend at Civic Center Plaza is already sold out, considering the show will be outdoors, and these gentlemen are not known for being particularly quiet? We’ll find out Saturday.

When dubstep DJ and alien death-ray sound effect virtuouso Skrillex posted the cryptic tweet below Monday, clearly promoting a June 1, 2024 show in San Francisco at “Civic Centre Plaza,” we had to wonder if it was one of those free outdoor concerts that Another Planet Entertainment promised. After all, those are supposed to happen this year, and Civic Center Plaza was listed as one of the outdoor venues (along with Embarcadero Plaza and Union Square).

Well, SFGate jumped on the story and found that the Saturday, June 1 concert also features Fred Again. But it is not a free show, even though it is an Another Planet Entertainment show. In fact, it’s an $80-per-ticket show, and that’s before you pay your Ticketmaster fees.

Make that a sold-out $80-per-ticket show. Tickets went on sale at noon Tuesday, and as seen above, the queue was packed with tens of thousands of buyers. Social media posts indicate the show sold out in under an hour.

But will you be able to hear the generally very loud Skrillex if you just show up without a ticket? The show is advertised as being at Civic Center Plaza, and that is outdoors. While the image above shows a marquee at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, that is a specific different venue from (though right outside) Bill Graham Civic Auditorium. And Another Planet Entertainment’s upcoming show list describes some events as being at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, but this one is promoted as being at Civic Center Plaza.

So it appears we are looking at an outdoor show by the very loud Skrillex. Previous Skrillex performances at the Portola Music Festival generated noise complaints, though all of the evening-set artists at that festival generated noise complaints. So we will have our answer to whether you can hear Skrillex for free, or how many complaints there will be from people who don’t want to hear Skrillex regardless of the price, when this show gets underway at 6:30 pm this Saturday.

Related: ...And Now, A Baby Dressed As Skrillex For Halloween [SFist]

Image: TORONTO, ONTARIO - AUGUST 03: Skrillex performs at the 2019 VELD Music Festival held at Downsview Park on August 03, 2019 in Toronto, Canada. (Photo by Johan Johannesson/Getty Images)

There’s yet another free outdoor concert series called SF Live that hopes to get you out of the house and spending money this summer, and the shows are curated by clubs like Bottom of the Hill, the SF Eagle, and Cafe Du Nord.

Okay, so it’s not Outside Lands, which just announced its 2024 lineup, and will set you back around $500 for a three-day pass. And it’s not that series of free outdoor concerts that Another Planet Entertainment has promised this summer but has not announced details of yet. And it’s not the Stern Grove Festival, which generally announces its lineup in the last week of April, so expect that any day this week or next.

But as SF City Attorney David Chiu (of all people!) announces above, there is a new free outdoor concert series called SF Live coming to various outdoor and park venues across town this summer. According to a press release from Mayor Breed, it’s a $2.5 million effort that “brings arts and culture into our parks and plazas through free performances curated by live music and entertainment venues.”

This appears to be the concert series Supervisor Aaron Peskin mentioned last week in connection with the city's effort to revitalize Union Square.

The schedule tends to place the acts on Thursday nights and weekends, generally in the afternoon or early evenings. But the first one’s a banger called Electric Fields, with DJ Galen of Sunset Sound System fame, plus well-known DJs Doc Martin and M3, at the Golden Gate Bandshell from 2-6 pm on Saturday, May 4. That’s followed by one-time Santana band musicians called Formerly Santana on Thursday, May 16 at Fulton Plaza (the area between the Main Library and the Asian Art Museum in Civic Center) from 4-7 pm; hip-hop/jazz collective Howard Wiley & Friends on Saturday, June 1 from 4-6 pm at the Golden Gate Bandshell; and bluesman Earl Thomas on Thursday, June 13 from 5-8 pm at Union Square.

Yet the later shows in the summer, which only have dates announced thus far, may prove even more interesting. The city has partnered with Noise Pop and a bunch of different nightclubs like the Great American Music Hall, Rickshaw Stop, and The Endup to “curate” outdoor live shows that are not at those particular venues.  

“The SF Live project has been a bright spot for Bottom of the Hill this year,” Bottom of the Hill owner Lynn Schwarz says in Breed’s press release. “It allowed me to book a headlining band I've always wanted to book but was too big for my venue.”

Who is this headlining band? We don’t yet know, and oddly, Bottom of the Hill does not appear on the concert lineup as being one of the partner clubs for any of the events, whereas we do see the SF Eagle, and Cafe Du Nord. and the Boom Boom Room.

But we do see Bottom of the Hill listed as a participating venue operator, so we imagine more shows will be announced, and this will be among them.

This appears to be the same SF Live concert series that the Chronicle reported was announced in 2021, and was scheduled to happen in 2022, but never did. That Chronicle reports references the same $2.5 million in state money that David Chiu references above, as he was a state Assembly member when he lined up the funds. According to the Wayback Machine, the SF Live website just launched this month, so it seems thing merely took a couple years to get off the ground.

Either way, SF Live is coming this summer, and it’s certainly no slouch. The idea, of course, is to get people out and spending money. But the concerts themselves are free, and there’s good reason to follow SF Live on Instagram for the announcements of more shows.

Related: Another Planet Entertainment Wants To Bring Free Outdoor Concerts To Downtown SF, Starting Next Year [SFist]

Image via SF Live Fest

Get your freak on when Missy Elliott comes to the Oakland Arena in July with Busta Rhymes, Ciara, and Timbaland, as tickets go on sale this week for Misdemeanor’s first tour in 20 years.

It’s stunning to learn that four-time Grammy winner Missy Elliott has never headlined a tour. She toured on the Lilith Fair (remember that?) in 1998, and after the success of the smash hits “Get Ur Freak On” and “Work It,” she co-headlined with Beyonce and Alicia Keys in 2004, and with Kelis and Talib Kweli on a second 2004 tour before stepping back from performing.

She also opened for Janet Jackson’s tour in 2015, the same year she appeared onstage for Katy Perry’s Super Bowl halftime show. Last year, she became the first Black female rapper inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

But the Chronicle picks up today’s news that Missy Elliott is headlining a tour this summer with Busta Rhymes, Ciara, and Timbaland, and the “Out of This World” tour comes to the Oakland Arena on July 9. (Note: The tour announcement video below contains some mild profanity, though it is pretty funny.)

The Chronicle explains that there’s a “Live Nation presale,” which requires a Live Nation membership, this Thursday, April 11 at 10 am PT with the resale code RIFF. The general ticket sale is Friday, April 12 at 10 am PT on Ticketmaster.

And I guess we’re just resigned to accept that there are big corporate tie-ins to all the popular tours these days. Admittedly, I’m a Verizon customer, and I was sent the above push alert at 1 pm Monday, informing me of a “Verizon Up” presale for this tour that will begin Tuesday morning.

"This is an incredible time in my life as I am experiencing so many milestone 'firsts,'" Elliott said in a statement picked up by Variety. "Being the FIRST female hip-hop artist to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and now going out on my FIRST headline tour. Fans have been asking me to tour forever but I wanted to wait until I felt the time was right because I knew if I was ever going to do it, I had to do it big, and I had to do it with family!"

Elliott has been on something of a hiatus in recent years, but played a small, one-off show last year at San Bernardino's Yaamava’ Theater, a clip of which is seen above (again, mild profanity). Variety ranked that show as one of the best concerts of 2023, even though Elliott’s set was barely an hour long. That may have been a sneak preview of this tour, which starts July 4 in Vancouver, rolls through Oakland July 9, and covers 24 cities overall.

Related: Madonna Proves She's Still Here and Kicking, If Not High-Kicking, at Chase Center 'Celebration Tour' Stop [SFist]

Image: ATLANTA, GEORGIA - MAY 12: Missy Elliott performs onstage during the Strength of a Woman's MJB “Celebrating Hip Hop 50” Concert in Partnership with Mary J. Blige, Pepsi, and Live Nation Urban at State Farm Arena on May 12, 2023 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Paras Griffin/Getty Images for Strength Of A Woman Festival & Summit)

If you’re staying in — or coming to — SF this holiday season and looking for fun things to do, look no further. There is actually a ton of stuff going on across the city in the next couple of weeks.

Whether you want to get in the holiday spirit somewhere near Union Square, or just go out on the town and check out a new play, a classic musical, some comedy, or The Nutcracker, here are 16 things you should have on your radar as the holiday season kicks into high gear.

1. Mamma Mia!, Golden Gate Theatre (Dec. 8 - 10) The timeless Mamma Mia! is back in SF, with just a few performances left this weekend, and it's a feel-good classic for any time of the year. It’s the ABBA musical's 25th anniversary tour, and while there’s no Meryl Streep or Cher, the actresses in this production are full-on, fantastically talented divas. (Plus, it’s a good follow-up to Golden Gate’s other recent diva story, ‘Tina - The Tina Turner Musical.’)

2. Off The Record with Trevor Noah, SF Masonic Auditorium (Dec. 8 - 14, 2023) The former host of the Daily Show is on the road this year, with a whole week in SF. Apparently, every show will be a little bit different, but the comedian is planning to touch on topics from breaking news to politics to race to his childhood in South Africa.

3. Dear San Francisco, Club Fugazi (Dec. 8, 2023 - Jan. 6, 2024) The historic North Beach club is starting a run of a new cirque show called "Dear San Francisco." It features a blend of acrobatics, choreography, spoken word, video projections, shadow play, and original music to tell the story of our city’s history and culture.

4. To Kill A Mockingbird, Golden Gate Theatre (Dec. 12 - 18, 2023) The Aaron Sorkin-adapted and Bartlett Sher-directed “To Kill a Mockingbird” is back in SF, after running in 2021 (a pandemic-related scheduling shift from 2020). The novel has transcended its literary roots to become "one of the greatest plays in history," according to NPR.

5. San Francisco Ballet - The Nutcracker, War Memorial Opera House (Dec. 13 - 30, 2023) Over 150 dancers will perform this Tchaikovsky holiday classic with the SF Ballet Orchestra. There are some great promo deals you can find in the schedule, too.

6. A Christmas Carol, ACT's Toni Rembe Theater (Dec. 6 - 24, 2023) Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol is a holiday season tradition for ACT, and continues to delight new audiences. ACT continues ramping back up to full steam, post-pandemic, and their rendition of the timeless Dickens classic is a fixture in Union Square this time of year. Plus, this run will see the first-ever sensory-friendly performance of the show on December 18, designed to cater to neurodiverse audiences and individuals with sensory sensitivities.

7. The Lion King, Orpheum Theatre (Nov. 22 - Dec. 30, 2023) Disney's classic musical adaptation of the family favorite film has returned to the Orpheum Theatre. And every ticket sold for weekday performances, excluding weekends and holidays, will come with a $5 donation to the San Francisco Zoo, using promo code SFZOO1, per Hoodline.

8. Guys & Dolls, SF Playhouse (ongoing through Jan. 13, 2024) Sometimes classic shows can feel dated and stale, but SF Playhouse’s production of Guys and Dolls feels fresh, mostly due to a dynamic cast led by the standout, crystalline vocals of Abigail Esfira Campbell as Sarah Brown, stoic double takes of Joel Roster as Nathan Detroit, and the show stealing performance of Melissa Wolfklain as Adelaide. Ms. Wolfklain’s comic timing, impeccable singing, and single-minded intensity as the chronically engaged Adelaide draws the show’s disparate elements together, and when she exhorts Sarah to “Marry the Man Today” we fully engage with her belief that people can change, and we can help them do it. Director Bill English’s staging makes great use of the playhouse’s turntable, and choreographer Nicole Helfer brings a lighthearted touch to classic numbers like “A Bushel and a Peck” and “Luck Be a Lady.” Find tickets here. -Stephen Sultan

9. RUTHLESS! The Musical, New Conservatory Theatre Center (Dec. 1, 2023 – Jan 7, 2024) This black-comedy musical satirizes stardom in Old Hollywood and Golden Age, but feels perfectly 2023. Plus, it features local drag legend Countess Katya Smirnoff-Sky (aka J. Conrad Frank), and has drag happy hour Wednesday shows hosted by SF’s own Martha T. Lipton.

10. San Francisco Gay Mens Chorus, various Bay Area locations (Dec. 8 - 24, 2023) The San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus (SFGMC), the world's first openly gay chorus, is performing all over the Bay this holiday season, from SF’s Sydney Goldstein Theatre and the Castro Theater, to Berkeley’s Zellerbach Auditorium, to Sonoma County’s Green Music Center. Over 300 members will sing in these “Holiday Spectacular” performances.

11. SF Symphony, Davies Symphony Hall (month of December) Davies Symphony Hall will host a few different symphonic groups throughout the month. You can check out the “holiday brass” run with only the brass section of the San Francisco Symphony, the nativity-based George Frideric Handel’s “Messiah,” the “Merry-achi” performance with Mariachi Sol de Mexico, a 20th anniversary “Love Actually” screening with a live instrumental performance, or the gospel “colors of Christmas” seasonal show.

12. The Golden Girls Live: The Christmas Episodes (ongoing at the Victoria Theatre through Dec. 23) The annual SF drag tradition of having four drag queens (and supporting cast members) reenacting episodes from The Golden Girls live on stage has returned. New York-based queen Coco Peru has stepped into the role of Dorothy after the passing of Heklina earlier this year, and D'Arcy Drollinger (Rose), Holotta Tymes (Sophia), and Matthew Martin (Blanche) are back putting on a hilarious show — with Xmas song sing-a-longs during the commercial breaks. Find tickets here.

13. A Drag Queen Christmas at The Curran (Dec. 9); and/or the Jinkx and DeLa Holiday Show at The Warfield (Dec. 18 - 19) A bevy of Rupaul's Drag Race stars are returning to SF in December. 'A Drag Queen Christmas' brings host Miz Cracker, guest Todrick Hall, plus winners, fan favorites, and OGs including Sasha Colby, Heidi N Closet, Trinity the Tuck, Jimbo, Crystal Method and more. Then, the self-described “queens of Christmas” Jinkx and Ben DeLaCreme are putting on a "high-camp, side-splitting romp" once again at the Warfield.

14. Ali Wong, SF Masonic Auditorium (Dec. 16 - 24) San Francisco native Ali Wong is back to doing stand-up after a small break while she played her most dramatic role yet in the Netflix series Beef earlier this year. Now, she’s got a mini residency in the city for some new material, and grab tickets fast, because they’re selling out quickly.

15. LCD Soundsystem, Bill Graham Civic Auditorium (Dec. 30, 2023 - Jan. 1, 2024) LCD Soundsystem can’t stop touring, and even after playing Oakland’s The Fox last year and literally just wrapping up a multi-week residency in New York City, they’re coming to SF for New Year’s Eve. Openers include 2manydjs and Peaches.

16. Potted Potter, Palace of Fine Arts (Dec. 19, 2023 - Jan. 7, 2024) This kid-friendly play is an “unauthorized” Harry Potter experience (unaffiliated with known TERF JK Rowling), so you can feel OK about reliving your childhood. It’s a parody comedy play that condensed all seven Harry Potter books into 70 minutes.

Country rapper Jelly Roll and mom-rock band Train were set to headline the Alice 97.3 holiday concert  on December 1 in San Jose, but the show was just unexpectedly canceled.

It was a Bay Area teen holiday rite of passage for many years when the old Live 105 Not So Silent Night concert was a December staple on the alt-pop concert calendar. The event spawned a rival version from competing station Alice 97.3, called Alice in Winterland, which would feature John Mayer and Ed Sheeran-y kind of fare. No So Silent Night went silent after its final 2017 show, and now the same may be happening to the Alice 97.3 holiday concert. The Chronicle reported Thursday that Alice in Winterland 2023 has been canceled.

The concert was scheduled for Friday, December 1 at the SAP Center in San Jose. The lineup had featured Jelly Roll, SF’s own Train, and Benson Boone.

Alice 97.3 said in an announcement on their parent company’s website that “Due to unforeseen circumstances, this year's Alice in Winterland concert has been canceled. If you purchased tickets, refunds may be obtained at the original point of purchase. We're as disappointed as you are but we look forward to seeing you next year.”

Alice in Winterland started in 1999, and was usually held at smaller San Francisco clubs like Bimbo’s 365 or the Masonic. The annual concert was of course forced to take a couple years off because of COVID-19. But there was an Alice in Winterland show at the SAP Center last year, with One Republic and John Mayer.

Maybe they’re having trouble filling that 18,000-seat San Jose venue, or maybe Bay Area sales aren’t as brisk as the corporate radio monopolies would like. Consider how the similar old Wild 94.9 Jingle Ball, organized by their parent company iHeart Radio, is scheduled to visit 11 cities this year, but no Bay Area cities are included on the tour.

Related: Bay Area's Live 105 Returns to Alt-Rock Format Following Fan Revolt [SFist]

Image: MODESTO, CALIFORNIA - JULY 20: Pat Monahan (L) and Hector Maldonado of Train perform in support of the band's "AM Gold" release at Basi Nationwide Amphitheater on July 20, 2023 in Modesto, California. (Photo by Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images)

The most anticipated concert tour of 2022 fired up SF Thursday night, as Lady Gaga delivered three hours of glorious pop delirium, more than a half-dozen outfits, and gigantic blazing cannons shooting humongous flames across Oracle Park.

Lady Gaga’s Chromatica Ball tour was supposed to have already happened two years ago. But the parade of horrors that was the year 2020 delayed the whole thing until  this summer, with the much-anticipated San Francisco stop finally scheduled to arrive Thursday night at Oracle Park.

But the way this week went with horrible heatwaves and blackouts, it honestly felt a little uncertain a couple days back. Would she still play this big-budget, special effects extravaganza if there were rolling blackouts all over the East Bay? And what if Oracle Park lost power?

Fortunately for Lady Gaga’s legions of Bay Area fans, circumstances cooperated, and her dazzling, nearly three-hour set made the unpleasantness of the past week seem like a distant memory. SFist was there at the show, and yes we were in the cheap seats. (But have you seen those tickets prices? There are no cheap seats!)  

She took the stage at 8:46 p.m., more than an hour past the scheduled start time, much to the relief of a very late-arriving Oracle Park crowd that clearly had trouble getting out of the house with their own highly involved wardrobe decisions.

And that was a good thing for us slowpokes, because she started with three bangers right off the bat: “Bad Romance,” “Poker Face,” and “Just Dance,” immediately covering the late 2000s Gaga ooh-la-la and mum-mum-mum-mah material that put her on the map.

Sure, it was the exact same set as every show of the tour. But there is a special connection between Lady Gaga and San Francisco, which did make this one special. She gave shouts out to Tony Bennett, her longtime hairstylist Frederic Aspiras​ (to whom she dedicated “Born This Way”)​, and Chromatica producer BloodPop, who happened to be in the house Thursday night.

And oh, those giant flame-shooting cannons! Certainly this show went to that well of flame-shooting cannons a lot. But honestly, gigantic bursts of fire never get old, and these flame-shooters were situated all over the field-level seating of Oracle Park.

Another trick the show pulled quite frequently was the color-coordinated constellation of tiny lights in the lower-level seats, utilized on most of the slower numbers, as she did for “Always Remember Us This Way” from A Star is Born.

Lady Gaga has clearly developed a remarkable versatility to transform her upbeat rager tracks into tasteful slow ones. She actually started “Born This Way” as a quiet, contemplative solo piano number, before it exploded (with flaming cannons of course) into the full-blast dance track you’re used to. She performed “Edge of Glory” entirely as a downtempo track, but led the crowd in such a passionate sing-along that the number was still remarkably high-energy.

Lady Gaga well-exceeded the very high expectations with her Thursday night SF show, with 21 songs, at least half a dozen over-the-top outfits, and more cake make-up than a bus full of drag queens going to Reno for Easter weekend. The beautifully mild weather definitely helped the vibe, and the nearly full moon over the outdoor venue even left Gaga’s herself a little breathless. We don’t know if she handed out stacks of cash to people living on the street, as she did for her 2017 show here. But certainly everyone who attended The Chromatica Ball tour show Thursday night left feeling (and looking) like a million bucks.

Related: Lady Gaga Gives Private Concert For Apple Employees, Tells Off Haters In Audience [SFist]

Hurry up and bring your jukebox money, because the B-52s are hanging up their touring boots after 45 years, and there are two San Francisco dates on their farewell tour.

Very fun college town Athens, Georgia is one of those “birthplace of bands” kinds of towns, with a historically outstanding music scene that has given us R.E.M., Pylon, and Widespread Panic. But the crown jewel, or at the shiny, happy people of that music scene, is the legendary new-wave kitsch act the B-52s.

The B-52s just announced that 45 years after their first performance, this summer will be their final, farewell tour. And the Chronicle reports the B-52s will play two San Francisco dates on that farewell tour, on Friday, October 28 and Saturday, October 29 at the Masonic Auditorium.

“It has been a wild ride, that’s for sure,” B-52s singer Cindy Wilson said in a statement. (Wilson elicits a special fondness from the local SF drag scene, considering her help with the 2021 telethon to keep the Oasis open.) “We feel truly blessed to have had an amazing career encouraging folks to dance, sing along with us, and feel they can be whomever they are with our music.”

Tickets go on sale this Friday, April 29 at 9 a.m. PT on the B-52s website. The Tubes are the scheduled opening act for those SF dates, though KC & the Sunshine Band are opening on other parts of the tour.

So will this be our last chance ever to see the B-52s live again? Maybe, maybe not. According to the Chronicle, B-52s vocalist Fred Schneider “has previously said that while the band would no longer tour, it would still make some festival appearances.”

Related: Outside Lands Announces 2022 Lineup, Featuring Green Day, Post Malone, and SZA

Image: TheB52s.com

Levi’s Stadium has been a laughingstock concert venue over its nitpicky 10 p.m. concert cut-off, so Santa Clara just changed it — but only for five nights a year.

Let’s be honest. When the 49ers left town for their fancy-ass new Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, every good San Franciscan was rooting for that stadium to be a failure and a boondoggle. And it was! But while many of the stadium’s turf and traffic issues have either been resolved, or people have just gotten used to them, the weeknight 10 p.m. concert cut-off has earned the stadium a terrible reputation among performers.

A recap: Santa Clara got all upset when U2 flouted the cut-off in 2017. The very next week, Coldplay said ‘Fuck it’ and gleefully jammed until 11 p.m. Ed Sheeran cancelled his concert in protest of Santa Clara’s fussy rules, and the Rolling Stones vowed to never play Levi’s Stadium again on any future tours (they should live so long!).

Well, Santa Clara has gotten the message and they’ve changed the policy, but only in the slightest and most incremental way. NBC Bay Area reports that the Santa Clara City Council has approved a new weeknight curfew time of 11 p.m. — but only for five weeknights a year. And even that very marginal concession was contentious, passing the council by a slim 4-3 margin.

Weekend concerts are still allowed to go on until 11 p.m.

"My job now as an elected official is to make sure we’re going to make as much money as we can off of this stadium," Councilmember Anthony Becker said at the meeting. "And that’s going to come with very transparent oversight. That’s going to make sure operations are going smoothly and making sure the neighbors' concerns are addressed.”

Plenty of Santa Clara residents are already unhappy with this very small concession.

"I feel like maybe during the week it’s a little too much, especially for younger kids," stadium neighbor Arion Lewis told NBC Bay Area. "I do have a younger sister who attends school during the day, and then I work really early in the morning. So I try to go to bed early but it’s kind of hard when you have noise from the stadium.”

Meanwhile in San Francisco, the Giants’ Oracle Park chortles and blows off fireworks at 1 a.m.

So who are the lucky five acts per year that get to play past 10 p.m.? A look at the upcoming Levi’s Stadium concert schedule shows a July engagement with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and  three months before that… Uh-oh, it’s Coldplay, who last time said said ‘Fuck it’ and gleefully jammed until 11 p.m.

Related: Santa Clara Ramps Up Fight With 49ers, Votes To Take Over Control Of All Non-Football Events At Levi's Stadium [SFist]

Image: LevisStadium.com

A new initiative called SF Live will fund a series of outdoor concerts across the city, with Another Planet Entertainment and clubs like Bottom of the Hill putting on the shows.

San Francisco has not done a massive bailout for COVID-ravaged local bar and nightclub industry, but there have been a number of small-bore efforts. There was a $2.5 million tax waiver to nightlife venues last year, a $3 million nightlife recovery fund earlier this year, and the Just Add Music (JAM) permit system does allow for more outside shows. Nightclub owners have described many of these efforts as “too little, too late.”

There’s a little more now, though the funds and the fun won’t start until 2022. KRON4 reports that the city has pulled $2.5 million from the state to put on a new outdoor concert series called SF Live, which according to a press release from the mayor's office, will fund the concerts and pay venues and operators to “curate talent lineups and market the performances.”

“When you see tourist videos for going to San Francisco it’s not the same as New Orleans where there’s someone playing music on every corner,” Bottom of the Hill owner  Lynn Schwarz told KRON4. “Why can’t we do that and put music on every corner, why can’t we be the next Austin, why can’t we be Nashville, why can’t we be a world-renowned music city because music drives tourism and people will come for the music.”

There is very little detail on who or what these outdoor concerts will involve. The mayor’s press release for SF Live has a quote from Breed (of course), city attorney David Chiu (who wrangled the funding while still in the state assembly), and a member of the Office of Economic and Workforce Development. The only non-City Hall types quoted in the release are Bottom of the Hill’s Schwarz, and SF Venue Coalition co-founder Casey Lowdermilk, who’s also an assistant manager for Another Planet Entertainment (the large concert promoter who puts on Outside Lands and manages the Fox Theater, The Independent, and Bill Graham).

So looking at the tea leaves, it is fair to assume that Bottom of the Hill and Another Planet will  be some of the organizations who will “curate talent lineups and market the performances.”

But for a venue with tens of thousands in back rent due, this $2.5 million for an outdoor concert series is not going to amount to much once it’s spread around among a number of nightclubs. As the Chronicle points out, the far larger $150 million California Venues Grant Program allows grants of up to $250,000, and that program is taking applications through this Friday, November 19.

Related: New Nonprofit Vows To Pay Off Nightclubs‘ Unpaid Bills [SFist]

Image: Kevin K via Yelp

Another big step toward reopening the economy is taking place this month, beginning the same day that vaccine eligibility opens up to all Californians ages 16 and up. State health officials announced Friday that indoor concerts, theater performances, and sports arenas will be allowed to reopen April 15 with restrictions — and capacities will be tied to how many attendees are vaccinated or show a negative COVID test.

"As we continue to expand vaccine distribution, California is poised for a safe and equitable recovery," said Dee Dee Myers, the director of the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development who was formerly a Los Angeles film exec. "We will continue to work with businesses, arts organizations, community groups and others to open carefully, with health and safety top of mind, so that we never have to go backwards."

As Deadline reports, "Purple" tier counties will continue not to be allowed to hold indoor events like concerts, basketball games, or theater shows. But in the "Red" and "Orange" tiers, there will be allowances made as more of the state gets vaccinated — much the way Israel has been allowing such events for those with a vaccine "passport."

For all venues, advance ticket sales will be required, and only in-state guests will be permitted. Also, no eating or drinking will be allowed in seats, and masks have to stay on.

For medium-sized venues with capacities up to 1,500 people, the rules are as follows: In the "Red" tier capacity is limited to 10% or 100 people, but capacity increases to 25% if the venue requires all guests to show proof of full vaccination or a negative COVID test. In the "Orange" tier, it's a 15% capacity limit or 200 people, and capacity increases to 35% with proof of COVID negativity or immunity. In the "Yellow" tier, it goes up to 25% or 300 people, or 50% with vaccinations or negative tests.

For larger venues with capacities over 1,500, it's a flat 20% capacity limit in the "Red" tier with testing or vaccinations required; but in the "Orange" tier, venues can host guests at 10% capacity without vaccinations or tests, or up to 35% with them. (See charts below.)

Additionally, as the Chronicle reports, Myers spoke of the state doing away with the color-tiered system altogether in the not-too-distant future — but first there will be the introduction of a "Green" tier in which most activities are freely allowed.

"We said we would reopen the economy as soon as it was safe to do so," Myers said during Friday's briefing.

This is all great news for music venues and theaters across the Bay, which can start to think about scheduling programming and bringing in revenue again. Most or all of the Bay Area is expected to be in the "Orange" tier as of next Tuesday, and San Francisco may enter the "Yellow" tier on April 13.

And this means that Warriors fans may get to go back to the Chase Center in just two weeks.

Live vocal performances still aren't permitted in San Francisco under pandemic rules, even outdoors. But on Thursday night, Mission District venue The Chapel pulled off an experiment in COVID-safe live performance, with the singer live except not physically in the space with the band or the audience.

The musician, Kelley Stoltz, was finally able to celebrate the release of an album he put out in November titled Ah! (etc.), at two live dinner shows at The Chapel last night. His band was near the audience, on a stage by the outdoor patio at Curio — no wind or brass instruments allowed, but guitar, drums, and bass. But Stoltz's image was actually projected across the patio wall with a psychedelic, 60s-style light show by Lance Gordon of the Mad Alchemy Liquid Lights, with Stoltz actually singing from the third floor of a nearby building.

"Kelley Stoltz has always been a 'giant' of the SF musical scene — but now he has finally assumed his mythic proportions in real life, expanded as he has been, across our 80ft outdoor wall," the Chapel writes on Instagram.

Stoltz was set up with special monitors to hear the band with, but there was no guarantee that this was all going to go smoothly.

As the singer told KPIX before the shows on Thursday, "It will be strange! I did realize that in a sense, the whole point of live performance is that interaction with the audience; the feeling of energy feeding off of them, saying a joke between songs, getting a laugh from this guy or working with the crowd that way."

Still, the performances seemed to come off without a hitch, and fans were able to see a live(ish) show for the first time in many months.

The Chapel sold out both shows last night, which came with $90 tickets that included dinner from Curio. And while the venue will continue doing dinner shows like these with instrumental acts — Dan Horne Band is playing two shows, brunch and dinner, on March 14, for instance — the Kelley Stoltz performance proves that they can pull off safe and socially distanced shows with vocals too, albeit in a complicated way.

It remains unclear when San Francisco's health department may lift the ban on live singing and wind instruments at live performances. But with the expected move into the "Red" tier next week, SF will be allowing later hours for outdoor spaces again, with food served past 10 o'clock.

Photo: Dave Pehling via TheChapelSf/Instagram