Your week in concerts: G-Eazy, Robert Plant, Margo Price
It’s a jam-packed week of music in the Bay Area, as fans turn out to see G-Eazy, Robert Plant and other acts. Here’s a look at the top shows:
G-Eazy: The Oakland rapper is one of the hottest acts in the game, having topped the R&B and Rap charts with each of his last three albums. He’s performing two shows — on Wednesday at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco and March 1 at the Fox Theater in Oakland — in support of his fourth studio album, “The Beautiful & Damned.” Trippie Redd, Phora and Anthony Russo are also on the bill. Details: 8 p.m.; $54.50, Wednesday; $59.50, March 1, www.ticketmaster.com.
Robert Plant: The rock legend is supporting a new solo album (“Carry Fire”) but fans will have their fingers crossed that he’ll also play a bunch of Led Zeppelin tunes on Wednesday at the Fox Theater in Oakland. The Sensational Space Shifters are his backing band and Seth Lakeman opens the show. Details: 8 p.m.; $73.75-$103.75, www.ticketmaster.com.
Margo Price: Haven’t heard of this amazing country vocalist? We recommend that you correct that situation and try to grab a ticket to see Price on Wednesdy at The Independent in San Francisco. Blank Range opens the show. Details: 8 p.m.; $25, www.ticketfly.com.
Mac Sabbath: They dress up like McDonald’s characters and sing fast-food-friendly versions of Black Sabbath classics. Why would you want to be anywhere else than Slim’s in San Francisco on Monday? The equally cool Galactic Empire, which specializes in heavy metal versions of “Star Wars” compositions, is also on the bill. Details: 8 p.m.; $21-$26, www.slimspresents.com. — Jim Harrington, Staff
Plugging into Miles Davis
In the late 1960s trumpeter Miles Davis rearranged the jazz landscape for the fourth or fifth time by radically revamping the sound of his band, incorporating electric instruments, South Asian percussion, static harmonic structures and lean, sinewy grooves drawn from rock and funk. Davis continued to explore various electric settings until the end of his life in 1991, from the signature 1970s albums “On the Corner,” and “Jack Johnson” to 1980s efforts like “Star People” and “Tutu.”
Miles Electric Band is a project dedicated to exploring this music, with Rolling Stones bassist Darryl Jones, percussionist Munyungo Jackson, and drummer Vincent Wilburn (who all toured and recorded widely with Davis in the 1980s). They’re joined by a cast of younger players, including New Orleans trumpet star Christian Scott.
Miles Electric comes to Kuumbwa Jazz Center in Santa Cruz Wednesday and returns to the Bay Area May 24 for an SFJazz performance in San Francisco with the SFJazz Collective’s Sean Jones taking over the trumpet chair.
Details: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday; $35-$50; www. kuumbwajazz.org; 7:30 p.m. May 24; $30-$90; www. sfjazz.org. — Andrew Gilbert, Correspondent
Flower power
The unseasonably warm weather we had earlier means one thing in Woodside: There’s a bumper crop of daffodils and other blooms for the historic Filoli estate’s “Palette of Flowers.”
Kicking off the season is a Spring Frolic event Friday, and the unveiling that day of the 20th annual Botanical Art Exhibition, with plant portraits by both local and international artists. You can meet the artists from 4 to 5 p.m. (Their artwork will be on display through May 20,)
Saturday and Sunday are devoted to Daffodil Daydreams. Besides viewing the thousands of bulbs blooming in the gardens, visitors can ooh and ahh over the daffodil cultivars presented by the Northern California Daffodil Society, listen to daffodil talks, watch demos and go on mushroom hikes in the nature preserve. Children’s craft projects are planned too. The event runs 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days.
Throughout the season, Filoli has scheduled tours, hikes, gardening seminars and more. Make sure you don’t miss the 4,000 tulips in the Sunken Garden.
Details: Filoli, a 654-ace Historic Trust property, is open daily, including Easter and Mother’s Day, except for Mondays. Daffodil Daydreams and Botanical Art are free with Filoli admission of $18-$22. Discounts apply for groups, teachers and children. For details on all events and advance reservations, go to www.filoli.org. — Linda Zavoral, Staff
Grim future in ‘Jubilee’
They’re trying to rebuild the future out in Concord. Dystopian futures have long been a staple of science fiction, serving as a cautionary tale of what could happen if humanity doesn’t get its act together, and some of those prognostications often don’t sound at all farfetched.
Concord’s B8 Theatre now visits one such grim future landscape in “Jubilee,” a world premiere by Oakland playwright Susan Sobeloff, whose play “Strange Ladies” about the fight for women’s suffrage premiered with Berkeley’s Central Works a few months ago. After a terrible civil war, a fractured family struggles to keep itself together and work toward restoring a shattered democracy.
Details: Through March 3; B8 Theatre Company, Concord; $15-$25; 925-890-8877, www.b8theatre.org. — Sam Hurwitt, Correspondent
The power of 3
Talk about a cool tripleheader.
The headliner is Demi Lovato, who is one of the top pop stars on the planet. She’s got a ton of big hits to draw on, including “Cool for the Summer,” “Neon Lights,” “Give Your Heart a Break” and the recent smash “Sorry Not Sorry.”
She’s out on the road in support of her sixth fulllength studio album, 2017’s “Tell Me You Love Me,” and performs Wednesday at the SAP Center in San Jose.
The other two acts on the bill are DJ Khaled and Kehlani.
Khaled has 10 albums to his credit, all of which have charted in the Top 20. His last two efforts, 2016’s “Major Key” and 2017’s “Grateful,” both hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200.
And definitely make sure you arrive to the show on time to see Kehlani, the rising R&B star out of Oakland who is touring behind last year’s debut “SweetSexySavage.” Details: 7:30 p.m.; $29.95-$149.95; www.ticketmaster.com. — Jim Harrington, Staff
Operatic ‘Snapshots’
A heated operatic conversation between a husband and wife erupts, threatening to disturb the peace at Hugh Hefner’s funeral. “Death of a Playboy,” by Bay Area composer Brian Rosen, is one of five new works being previewed in West Edge Opera’s Snapshot 2018, which lets audiences hear excerpts of operas in advance of their first full productions.
Performed this weekend in Berkeley and San Francisco, scenes from operas by Larry London, Katherine Saxon, Cyril Deaconoff, and Erling Wold are also on the program. Sopranos Heidi Moss and Julia Hathaway, mezzo-soprano Molly Mahoney, tenors J. Raymond Meyers and Darron Flagg, baritone Jacob Thompson and bass-baritone Jason Sarten will lend their voices to these intriguing, ink-still-wet scores.
Details: 8 p.m. Saturday at Odd Fellows Hall, Berkeley; 3 p.m. Sunday at Taube Atrium Theater, San Francisco; $40; 510-841-1903; www.westedgeopera.org. — Georgia Rowe, Correspondent
Brazilian brothers unite in Berkeley
Sérgio Assad is a longtime member of the San Francisco Conservatory faculty, but it’s not often he gets a chance to perform in the Bay Area with younger brother Odair Assad.
The Brazilian siblings make up classical music’s most celebrated guitar duo, a partnership that has attracted superlative collaborators such as cellist Yo-Yo Ma, reed master Paquito D’Rivera, violinist Gidon Kremer and soprano Dawn Upshaw.
On Sunday, they’ll be joined by Israeli mandolin virtuoso Avi Avital, a player similarly dedicated to expanding his instrument’s repertoire. Their program encompasses Bach, Debussy, Bartók, Piazzolla, and Brazilian choro, all recast for audacious string explorers.
Details: Presented by Cal Performances; 3 p.m. Sunday; Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley; $86; 510-642-9988, www.calperformances.org. — Andrew Gilbert, Correspondent
Non-dueling divas
You might think that throwing four operatic divas on stage at the same time might set off some miniexplosions of a hyperactively competitive sort. Not so with sopranos Deborah Voigt and Patricia Racette and mezzo-sopranos Marilyn Horne and Frederica von Stade. These four women — each a superstar in her own right and owning a big following in the Bay Area — are friendly fellow collaborators.
Under the auspices of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, they will gather at the Nourse Theater in San Francisco Sunday afternoon for a conversation about the opera world and their own careers, even giving some dishy anecdotes from the wealth of their experience. (Somebody be sure to ask von Stade about that long-ago time the stage interns subbed pot smoke for the fog machine in Santa Fe!)
Details: 3 p.m. Sunday; $50-$100; sfcm.edu. — Sue Gilmore, Correspondent
A man and his mentor
In recent seasons, pianist Daniil Trifonov’s Bay Area appearances have brought a thrilling blend of emotional intensity and effortless virtuosity. The great Russian artist returns to Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco on Tuesday; this time with his teacher, mentor and countryman, pianist Sergei Babayan.
Presented by the San Francisco Symphony, the duo recital includes two great Rachmaninoff piano works: The Suite No. 1 for Two Pianos, “Fantaisie-tableaux”; and its successor, the Suite No. 2 for Two Pianos. Also on the program are Mozart’s two-piano Sonata in D Major, Robert Schumann’s Andante and Variations in B-flat Major and Arvo Pärt’s “Pari intervallo.”
Details: 8 p.m. Tuesday; $37-$99; 415-864-6000, www.sfsymphony.org. — Georgia Rowe, Correspondent
Early alert: Here comes Clusterfest 2
Clusterfest is returning for Year 2.
The Comedy Central festival will host several bigname comedians and music acts June 1-3 at San Francisco’s Civic Center Plaza and Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, the same setting for the inaugural Clusterfest in 2017, organizers have announced.
The headliners include Trevor Noah, Amy Schumer, Jon Stewart and The Lonely Island, the Berkeley-based comedic trio of Akiva Schaffer, Andy Samberg and Jorma Taccone, giving what’s billed its “first live concert performance.”
Other acts include Tiffany Haddish, Jim Jefferies, David Cross, Michael Che, Roy Wood Jr., Maria Bamford, Salt-N-Pepa, Third Eye Blind, Bridget Everett & the Tender Moments, Action Bronson, Desus and Mero,Kyle Mooney and Nathan Fielder’s Video Treasures, This is Not Happening, Bert Kreischer, Last Podcast on the Left, John Early and Kate Berlant, Manila Luzon, Jinkx Monsoon and more.
Details: Three-day passes, ($199.50-$289.50 general admission, $599.50-$749.50 VIP) are on sale at www.clusterfest.com. No word on single tickets. — Jim Harrington, Staff