At live shows, Queen of Soul reigned
It’s been another tremendous year for live music in the Bay Area, filled with plenty of memorable rock, pop, hip-hop and other kinds of shows. I saw more than 100 concerts in 2015 — and these were the 10 best:
1 Aretha Franklin, Aug. 10, Oracle Arena, Oakland: The Queen of Soul was absolutely majestic, delighting her loyal subjects in her first Bay Area show in nearly 40 years. The 73-year-old vocalist, who has sold more 75 million albums worldwide, sounded amazing while crooning through a 100-minute set built from such classic songs as “Think,” “Chain of Fools” and “Respect.”
2 Wayne Shorter Quartet, Oct. 16, SFJazz Center, San Francisco: It was such a privilege to once again witness this group in concert. Every note mattered. Every interaction between the players was priceless. It was jazz music at its highest level, conjured up by one of the genre’s all-time greats — saxophonist-composer Shorter — and his amazing band of pianist Danilo Pérez, bassist John Patitucci and drummer Brian Blade.
3 AC/DC, Sept. 25, AT&T Park, San Francisco: It was AC/DC’s best Bay
Area outing in at least a decade — probably closer to two decades. Guitarist Angus Young was a force of nature as he charged through such hard-rock anthems as “Highway to Hell,” “Let There Be Rock,” “T.N.T.” and, best of all, “Shoot to Thrill.” It was the kind of night that reminds fans why they fell in love with AC/DC in the first place.
4 Garth Brooks, Nov. 14, SAP Center, San Jose: Back in the Bay Area for the first time in 18 years, the multiplatinum country star showed that he still ranks among the top live acts in the business. The best part of the show came toward the end, when Brooks simply picked up the acoustic guitar and led the capacity crowd in singalong versions of Bob Seger’s “Night Moves,” Billy Joel’s “Piano Man” and Don McLean’s “American Pie.”
5 Florence and the Machine, Oct. 21, Greek Theatre, Berkeley: The U.K. rock act has crafted three really good Welch studio albums, including this year’s “How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful.” Yet the group — led by powerhouse vocalist Florence Welch — took its art to an even higher level onstage in Berkeley.
6 Bob Seger, March 5, SAP Center: It was a fulfilling night of “Old Time Rock and Roll,” courtesy of one of the genre’s true titans. Seger and his mighty Silver Bullet Band were hitting on all cylinders as they raced through such fan favorites as “Roll Me Away” and “Hollywood Nights.”
7 J. Cole, July 14, Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View: The star rapper — who has topped the charts with all three of his full-length studio albums — was an absolutely magnetic presence onstage as he focused the 90-minute show primarily on his latest effort, the Grammy-nominated “2014 Forest Hills Drive.”
8 The Dandy Warhols, Dec. 2, Great American Music Hall, San Francisco: It was a big swirling, neo-psychedelic freakout from of one of the finest rock bands of the past 20 years. The new songs sounded quite strong, lifting expectations even higher for the Dandy Warhols’ next record.
9 Eric Church, Feb. 5, SAP Center: Touring in support of last year’s best album (“The Outsiders”), this Carolina cowboy hit fans with a high-octane set of tunes from throughout his brilliant career.
10 Spandau Ballet, Jan. 23, Warfield, San Francisco: This much is true: The influential New Wave/blueeyed soul band that formed in the late 1970s and reunited in 2009 is still pure “Gold” on the live stage.