THURSDAY, AUG. 21
ROOTS
ANNUAL FREIGHT FIDDLE SUMMIT
For those who seek a hop in their step, a jig in their dance and instruments that don’t need to be plugged in, the Freight is the place to be this weekend. The annual Fiddle Summit returns to the folk venue this week with a lineup that is sure to transport everyone in attendance to a different era. Hosted by world-renowned Scottish composer and fiddle player Alasdair Fraser, this year features the string-jazz stylings of the Hot Club and the Celtic roots of the Pine Tree Flyers. Joining them is artist Nic Gareiss who uses traditional dancing like clog, flatfoot and tap as musical expression. – MAT WEIR
INFO: Thu, 8pm, The Freight, 2020 Addison St., Berkeley. $39-$44. 510.644.2020.
THURSDAY, AUG. 21
JAZZ
RAUL MIDÓN
Raul Midón is a guitarist, singer and songwriter who defies easy categorization, though “one-man orchestra” comes close. Blind since birth, he’s built a career on turning six strings and voice into a hundred textures—a weave of folk, pop, jazz and soul with technical precision and emotional depth. His self-produced 2024 album, Lost & Found, blends what he calls “smooth folk” with unexpected harmonic turns, pairing breezy anthems and blues-inflected pop with banjo-picking detours and a playful, ska-tinged ode to marijuana. A collaborator with everyone from Herbie Hancock to Sting, Midón remains an inventive, uncompromising genre-shifter. – SONYA BENNETT-BRANDT
INFO: Thu, 8pm, Yoshi’s, 510 Embarcadero West, Oakland. $35-$74. 510.238.9200.
FRIDAY, AUG. 22
ROCK
MY MORNING JACKET
When they first hit the scene in 1999 with their debut, The Tennessee Fire, My Morning Jacket received mild success. However, two years later when At Dawn dropped, they were celebrated as one of the heralds of the new wave of alt-country acts that would sweep the nation in the early-to-mid-aughts. Twenty-four years later, the quintet still plays amphitheaters to thousands of fans looking to sing, dance and get weird for a couple of hours. Earlier this year they released their 11th studio album with a special, early listening party at indie record stores across the country. Just another way for My Morning Jacket to prove they are still a band of the people. – MW
INFO: Fri, 7:30pm, Greek Theatre, 2001 Gayley Rd., Berkeley. $68-$215. 510.871.9225.
FRIDAY, AUG. 22
JAZZ
NOAH GARABEDIAN QUARTET
Berkeley-reared, New York-based composer/bassist Noah Garabedian makes a Bay Area appearance with the all-star quartet featured on his acclaimed 2022 album, Consider The Stars Beneath Us. While that project was laced with electronic textures, he’s presenting a mostly acoustic program at the Sound Room previewing his third album, which is slated for release next month on Contagious Music. This project features the Stars quartet with pianist Carmen Staaf, drummer Jimmy Macbride and saxophonist Dayna Stephens. With his aesthetic vision shaped by extensive studies and two State Department-sponsored sojourns across the Near East and South Asia, Garabedian is an inventive player with a deep tone. – ANDREW GILBERT
INFO: Fri, 7:30pm, Sound Room, 3022 Broadway, Oakland. $39. 510.708.9691.
FRIDAY, AUG. 22
HIP-HOP
SHUBH
Shubh, the Indian rapper and singer based in Canada, has built a global audience with his sleek trap beats, punchy hooks and Punjabi lyricism. “We Rollin” put him on the map in 2021, and now singles like “Supreme,” “One Love” and “Cheques” have racked up millions of streams and charted across India, Canada and beyond. He’s done it all largely solo—no big label, no flashy collabs, just relentless streams, a fierce fan following and a headline-grabbing persona. Now, with an international following built on his own terms, Shubh is stepping into the Supreme Tour, his first North American arena run. – SBB
INFO: Fri, 8pm, Oakland Arena, 7000 Coliseum Way, Oakland. $107-$337. 510.569.2121.
SATURDAY, AUG. 23
ELECTRONIC
ITCHY-O
A little bit Burning Man, a little bit rave, a little bit 1960s performance art: Itchy O has it all … and then some. Founded in 2009, the Denver-based percussion and performance collective is known for highly immersive shows in which electronics wail, beats pound, and masked musicians weave in and out of the crowd. The groove is positively hypnotic, conjuring primal emotion and futuristic visions at the same time. Their latest exploration in beautiful anarchy, the Split Sigil Rite, enacts a journey from “a Rending in the West” to “a Resurrection in the East.” Attendees can expect the unexpected. – ADDIE MAHMASSANI
INFO: Sat, 9pm, The UC Theatre, 2036 University Ave., Berkeley. $35. 510.356.4000.
SATURDAY, AUG. 23
JAZZ
ART LANDE QUARTET
Something of a cult figure whose influence on the Bay Area scene continues to reverberate more than four decades after his departure, Art Lande is an often-astonishing improviser who has nurtured generations of young jazz artists. Based in Boulder since the mid-1980s, he’s kept Colorado’s creative music scene thrumming. In some circles, Lande is still best known for 1970s ECM recordings Red Lanta and Rubisa Patrol. But as a prolific and ingenious composer, he’s recorded an expansive body of work on tiny labels with collaborators both illustrious and largely unknown. Returning to Piedmont Piano with the program “UnStandards,” he performs with New York reed expert Bruce Williamson, bassist Peter Barshay and Oakland drummer Dillon Vado. – AG
INFO: Sat, 5:30pm, Piedmont Piano Company, 1728 San Pablo Ave., Oakland. $25-$30. 510.547.8188.
SATURDAY, AUG. 23
THEATER
‘DRAPETOMANIA’
“Drapetomania” is a term used in the 19th century by Dr. Samuel Cartwright to describe a theoretical madness, a labeling that pathologized Black trauma by suggesting a mental disorder had caused enslaved people to run away from their masters. Wayne Harris, after serving for years as program director for the Marsh Youth Theater in San Francisco, is staying 100% visible in the Bay Area’s theater scene with his highly regarded plays. Among others, his most well-known are Mother’s Milk, Train Stories and The Letter; Martin Luther King at the Crossroads. That last one earned him a trip to Palestine in 2012 to speak on Martin Luther King Jr. on behalf of the U.S. government. His mixed feelings about this trip provides the fodder for Drapetomania. – LOU FANCHER
INFO: Sat, 5pm, The Marsh, 2120 Allston Way, Berkeley. $25-$100. 415.282.3055.
TUESDAY, AUG. 26
BLUEGRASS
BELA FLECK & THE FLECKTONES
Banjoist/composer Bela Fleck is a powerhouse as a bandleader, but in his Flecktone “castle” there is no shortage of musicians who rule their domain. Pianist/harmonica player Howard Levy, bassist Victor Wooten and percussionist/drummer Roy “Futureman” Wooten bring their majesty to a style impossible to define with one label. Some call it “country.” Some hear within the band’s driving rhythms, magnetic melodies and blazing instrumentalism, a hybrid that includes the best features of classical, jazz, bluegrass, fusion, African, electric blues and Eastern European folk dance music. Their 2025 album, BEATrio, introduces harp into the mix. Gotta love a band that just keeps on keepin’ on. – LF
INFO: Tue, 8pm, The UC Theatre, 2036 University Ave., Berkeley. $65. 510.356.4000.
WEDNESDAY, AUG. 27
HIP-HOP
AFROMAN
What was the best song of the year 2000? Stoners of the world will say, hands down, “Because I Got High” by Afroman. The Mississippi-born, Los Angeles-raised rapper burst onto the hip-hop scene with that unforgettable ode to weed, scored a Grammy nomination for it and has been smokin’ ever since. Combining his distinctive absurd humor with laid-back West Coast beats, Afroman produces golden track after golden track. He also entered politics in the past few years, filing paperwork to run as an independent in the 2024 presidential race. He would have been “Cannabis Commander in Chief.” If only. – AM
INFO: Wed, 8pm, Cornerstone, 2367 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley. $38. 510.214.8600.
