Muse came to the Sleep Train Amphitheater in Sacramento Tuesday night to an almost sold out crowd. This was one of several stops in California to kick off their North American Tour. Band of Skulls opened for Muse. They were a great compliment to the headliners. The same old school rock and roll music quality that Muse has in some of their songs is mirrored in this band. The songs focused on instrumental solos and well played transitions almost as much as the lyrics. While this is a relatively new band, having only formed in 2009, I don't think it will be long before they are headlining their own show. They have a raw quality and a unity to their music that makes them special. Muse has be

Ace of Spades hosted the tour finale of the Glow Sticks for Breakfast Tour Sunday night, featuring performances by Hyper Crush, Benzi, Silver Medallion and Sacramento band Playboy School. Fall Out Boy bassist Pete Wentz's DJ project with Spencer Peterson, Black Cards, was also scheduled to perform, but the duo had to pull out a few days before the show due to an ankle injury. Playboy School kicked things off in the early slot with a lukewarm set as people trickled in. Benzi livened the mood up with an electronic/Top 40 set that had a few guys raging, and a while later Silver Medallion came out and grabbed the mic, adding some organic energy to the stage as he ran around, whipping his lo

“Take your time to shine!” encouraged the band evaluator. The shy saxophone player nodded and jumped back into her jazz solo. Constructive feedback and encouragement were the focus of Saturday’s Traditional Jazz Youth Band Festival held at California State University, Sacramento. The event brought elementary school through college level jazz players together for a day of performances, evaluation by professional musicians and educators, clinics and opportunities to jam with the pros. Approximately 200 youth musicians in 30 bands filled the music building with the lively sounds of traditional jazz. Band names were as improvisational and free as the jazz form they play. “Stinky Cheese Hobo

With the cover art pattern used on their seminal debut LP, "Highly Refined Pirates," as their backdrop, and a light show on acid, Seattle's Minus the Bear thrilled a packed house at Ace of Spades on Monday night. The band is wrapping up their 10 Year Anniversary Tour, celebrating a decade of music and performing “Pirates,” released in 2002, in its entirety. The popular math-rockers put on a tremendous performance for a very jazzed audience. Featuring guitarist Dave Knudson's signature complex finger-tapping guitar work - used on every song on “Pirates,” the band combined powerhouse indie band swagger with down-to-earth Northwestern charm. Songs like "Absinthe Party at the Fly Honey Wa

After an original Oct. 20 show date that had to be rescheduled, alt-rock powerhouse Foo Fighters performed at Power Balance Pavilion on Tuesday night for about 10,000 fans. Opening the show was fantastic L.A. punk band The Bronx, playing as their alter-ego Mariachi El Bronx, which is less a gimmick than you might think. What started as a lark for the punk band has grown into a love that has seen the band release two mariachi albums and gain a following, and, yes, they stay true to the authentic mariachi style of music as well as wear black charro suits. The band performs in a variety of ways, sometimes incorporating mariachi into their punk set, sometimes performing as a punk band and m

Monday, July 11, Power Balance Pavilion hosted American Idol Live! for the tenth time. Spectators waited - thick, glossy programs in hand - for a live glimpse of their season favorite. There were even several devoted fans with binoculars. Power Balance Pavilion has hosted American Idol Live! every year since its inception. This year, the event exceeded expectations. The 11 young stars sang to a crowd of over 11,000 people. The evening’s show opened with all five ladies, all in white, singing Lady Gaga’s, “Born This Way.” Naima Adedapo, Haley Reinhart, Thia Megia and Lauren Alaina in a walking cast, helped down the stairs by Pia Toscana, opened the show. Start to finish, Idol Live! produ

You know that song with the can't-get-it-out-of-your-head whistling called "Young Folks" by Peter Bjorn and John that people seem to either love or hate? Los Angeles band Foster the People has a comparable track called "Pumped Up Kicks" – a sing-along with a cheery melody and dark lyrics about youth gun violence – that has the same effect. Polarizing song? For sure. One-hit wonder band? It doesn't look like it. Without seeming like they had anything to prove, the young group with more buzz than a beehive let its music speak for itself for a sold-out crowd at Harlow's Thursday night. Support act The Chain Gang of 1974 (aka Kamtin Mohager) from Denver came ready to warm up the crowd wit

ABBA they are not. Stop by Harlow’s this Friday to see Swedish psych-rockers The Soundtrack of Our Lives as they make a quick run up the West Coast before heading back to tour Europe. Influenced by ’70s psychedelia, prog and classic rock, the six-piece from the land of IKEA and Absolut found critical success in the United States with their 2002 release “Behind the Music,” which was nominated for Best Alternative Music Album at the 2003 Grammy Awards. At the time of its release Noel Gallagher of Oasis proclaimed “Behind the Music” to be “the best album to come out in the last six years.” TSOOL followed up that success with 2004’s “Origin Vol. 1,” which peaked at No. 1 on the Swedish ch

Vacaville natives Papa Roach certainly know how to make an entrance. Friday night at Ace of Spades opening bands Track Fighter and Will Haven had just finished their sets. As Queens of the Stone Age's "No One Knows" played on the PA during the set change before Papa Roach came out, something on stage (a light?) blew with a loud pop, giving off small plumes of smoke and triggering the fire alarm. Cue the firefighters walking through the sold-out crowd a few minutes later, but there was no indication that it was anything more than a precaution. Thankfully it turned out to be a non-issue. The show went on as planned, and guy-linered frontman Jacoby Shaddix and company came out to much love

On the heels of an inaugural show last week featuring Rob Zombie, the first "all locals" show at new music venue Ace of Spades goes down Saturday. SacShows Presents: Soundcheck will feature performances by local bands Ten After Two, Carcerys Vale, Batten Down Your Heart, Above The City, The Winter Formal, City of Kings, and Oneira. Above The City is a relatively young, currently unsigned band made up of members Davey Sparks (vocals), Simon Pesely (guitar), Taylor Whitehurst (guitar), Zack Lee (drums) and Toby Hart (bass). The Sacramento Press recently spoke with Pesely, 21, about being in an up-and-coming band in Sacramento. How did Above The City get started? We started about nine mon

Saturday’s animated concert at Harlow’s served as one of many sold-out shows in California for Ra Ra Riot, Givers and Pepper Rabbit. The dark, intimate venue came alive with colorful lights and a clambering crowd of orchestral pop rock fans. At the first beat of sound, the room was flavored with music that could most simply be described as “fun.” Joining Givers and Ra Ra Riot for the first time on this tour, Los Angeles-based rock duo Pepper Rabbit opened the show with layered organ notes, looping effects and experimental use of unusual rock instruments: clarinet, bells and ukulele. Center stage, the lights glowed atop drummer Luc Laurent’s curls as his percussion pounded in our chests. V

This Thursday you'll have a chance to end 2010 on a good note by catching indie-rock fave Pinback at Harlow's. The heart of the San Diego band has always been Zach Smith and Rob Crow, and with an upcoming album on the horizon and to stay fresh creatively, the duo is taking a different approach to performing on their current outing. As Smith explains: "We've decided to have some fun and present our songs in a new light. Instead of playing our songs the traditional way by having a backup band play all of our extra parts we thought it would be entertaining and fresh for just the two of us to play live. The idea is to present our music at times in a more broken down manner very similar sound

Some of Top 40 radio's hottest acts performed at a packed Arco Arena on Friday night for 107.9 The End's annual Jingle Ball concert. The 2010 edition featured performances by 3OH!3, Jesse McCartney, B.o.B, and Paramore. Here are some photos from the show: 3OH!3: Nathaniel Motte of 3OH!3 Sean Foreman of 3OH!3 Crowd at 3OH!3 Nathaniel Motte of 3OH!3   Jesse McCartney: Jesse McCartney Jesse McCartney   B.o.B: B.o.B B.o.B B.o.B and friend. B.o.B   Paramore: Hayley Williams of Paramore Guitarist Taylor York of Paramore Vocalist Hayley Wiliiams and bassist Jeremy Davis of Paramore Jeremy Davis of Paramore Hayley Williams and drummer Zac Farro of Paramore Hayley Williams

The Sacramento Bass Trackers Club is a community of local fisherman who share a passion for the good catch with good friends. Founded in 1984, the Bass Trackers host monthly club tournaments that help the veterans hone their tactics and teach the rookies the ropes. “The club gives someone interested in bass fishing who can’t afford it otherwise the chance to go out and fish on nice bass boats and learn how,” said Bass Trackers Club President Bob McCorkle Sr. A typical tournament consists of a $100 buy-in that pools between the teams of two, with cash prizes given to the top three winners. Teams are selected by a random drawing at the club’s monthly meeting. To win the tournament, teams m

For those wanting to release some stress after a rough day of voting on Tuesday, Arco Arena was apparently the place to do it. Four-time Grammy-nominated band Godsmack was in town, delivering the hard rock and splitting the eardrums of a crowd that struggled to fill the lower level of the arena. After energetic warmup sets by bands Drowning Pool and Five Finger Death Punch, the marketing machine was in full swing as the anxious crowd was shown a promotional video touting Godsmack frontman Sully Erna’s solo album, “Avalon,” which we were reminded was available at the merchandise booth. Next, we were treated to a dated documentary clip connecting hard rock/metal music with devil worshippi

Would a group called Stew and the Negro Problem be at home playing a venue like the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts in Davis? Absolutely. The intimate, lounge-like 250-person Vanderhoef Studio Theatre was the perfect setting for musician Stew and his provocatively-titled band, The Negro Problem, on Tuesday evening. The name is meant to challenge perceptions be in-your-face and humorous, which also describes the band’s music quite accurately. Announcing that his band was probably mad at him because he had no setlist, Stew guided the seated older crowd on a musical journey that was insightful, comical and just plain sounded great. The lyrically driven songs were the stars, with ea

Playing a combination of their own songs and classic covers, Latin rockers Los Lobos had the baby boomers out of their seats and dancing at the Mondavi Center’s gorgeous 1800-seat Jackson Hall in Davis on Wednesday night. Many genres are used to describe the music of “The Wolves” – roots rock, folk, Norteño, blues – and what Los Lobos does so well is blend the different styles to create a hybrid euphony that has given them a unique identity. Essentially they started out 30 years ago in East Los Angeles with classic Mexican songs that were deceptively simple, added various styles of music and elevated the sound into music that has garnered the band three Grammy Awards. The talented group

Before he was a political activist and lecturer, Krist Novoselic was a founding member and bassist of Seattle-based Nirvana, one of the most influential bands in history. After Nirvana ended when lead singer and guitarist Kurt Cobain committed suicide in 1994, Novoselic became proactive in politics, using his celebrity to draw attention to his causes, which include promoting election reform and increasing voter turnout. Thursday night he spoke to a group of roughly 150 in the University Union ballroom at Sacramento State. Free and open to the public, the chiefly student audience was a mix of the politically minded and curiosity-seeking. “The last I heard about Krist Novoselic was that h

  There is Lady Gaga and Miley Cyrus pop, and there is Rooney pop. It was nice to see the Rooney kind on Wednesday night at the Boardwalk in Orangevale. Both Rooney and one of their support bands on this tour, The Young Veins, have a throwback pop sound that isn't so common these days. As someone who grew up with Weezer, I was definitely looking forward to seeing Rooney for the first time. The Young Veins were a great opener (the other support bands were local band Flatlin, and Black Gold, from Brooklyn). The 'Veins are compromised of two former members of Panic! at the Disco and are touring in support of their first release Take a Vacation!  If The Byrds and The Beatles had a baby, their

A roadie turned on the smoke machine, and a few moments later, Portland by way of Alaska band Portugal. The Man emerged from the dense fog to take the Harlow's stage.  The experimental indie rock four-piece visited Sacramento Thursday night, touring in support of their latest full-length American Ghetto. Portugal. The Man is John Gourley (Guitar/Vocals), Zachary Carothers (Bass/Vocals), Jason Sechrist (Drums), and Ryan Neighbors (Keys/Vocals).  Think psychedelic indie rock with synth and dashes of electronica and hip-hop beats thrown in for good measure.  It's a progressive and complex soundscape, and at the same time very much melodic and head-bobbingly accessible. Their show at Harlow'