THURSDAY, MARCH 26
BLUEGRASS
MAGOO
Magoo ain’t your grandpappy’s bluegrass. The progressive quartet out of Denver honors the timeless roots of the tradition while adventuring into new territory. The band’s brand-new debut album, What a Life, features its signature three-part harmonies alongside musically adept improvisations, qualities it will bring to its Cornerstone gig, where it partners with the New Acoustic Collective. Listening to Courtlyn Bills strumming the holy heck out of his mandolin on the album’s title tune is a reminder of bluegrass’s birth in the heart of Appalachia, and also its appeal to people far beyond hill country. – JANIS HASHE
INFO: 8pm, Cornerstone, 2367 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley. $24. 510.214.8600.
FRIDAY, MARCH 27
THEATER
‘THE MONSTERS’
The actors playing LIL and BIG in Ngozi Anyanwu’s new play explain that it’s about a Black man learning to become vulnerable and how hard healing can be. And also, that the play is very funny. The Monsters explores what happens when BIG, a mixed martial arts fighter, copes with LIL, his little sister, appearing on his front door after years. Developed in Berkeley Rep’s Center for the Creation and Development of New Work, the cast worked with a female pro MMA fighter to master the powerhouse moves—but tapped into their own stories to build the emotional power. The 27th is the first preview; the show plays through May 3. – JH
INFO: 8pm, Peet’s Theatre, Berkeley Rep, 2025 Addison St., Berkeley. $33-$81. 510.647.2900.
FRIDAY, MARCH 27
FLAMENCO
AGUACLARA FLAMENCO
Founded and led by Clara Rodriguez, who spent three years studying and performing in Southern Spain, the Oakland school and company AguaClara Flamenco has performed on major stages across the region. But the best way to experience flamenco is up close and personal so you can feel the percussive footwork and watch the dialogue unfolding between the musicians and the dancers. Rodriguez is a riveting bailaora who moves with tightly compressed power and energy. She and her dancers usually perform with musicians led by guitarist David McLean, a player with a wide spectrum command of deep flamenco tradition and more recent developments. – ANDREW GILBERT
INFO: 7:30pm, The Sound Room, 3022 Broadway, Oakland. $32. 510.708.9691.
FRIDAY, MARCH 27
METAL
BAD OMENS
Formed in Richmond, Virginia in 2015, Bad Omens built their name on metalcore, and then steadily pushed toward a sleeker, more genre-fluid sound. Their 2022 breakthrough, The Death of Peace of Mind, mixed moody R&B hooks and industrial synths through guttural, snarly breakdowns. Last year, “Specter” topped Billboard’s Mainstream Rock chart. Frontman Noah Sebastian can both float through a hushed, tender chorus and detonate into a guttural scream. Accordingly, they’ve built a following that’s equally at home in an electric mosh pit and an eclectic pop playlist. – SONYA BENNETT-BRANDT
INFO: 7pm, Oakland Arena, 7000 Coliseum Way, Oakland. $63-$322. 510.569.2121.
SATURDAY, MARCH 28
LATIN
PEDRO JOSÉ PASTRANA
Pedro José Pastrana is a master of the Puerto Rican cuatro, the island’s national instrument that despite its name has 10 strings in five courses. He grew up playing traditional songs from the countryside known as Jibaro music, but in the Bay Area, he’s been mixing it up with leading Latin jazz practitioners like percussionist John Santos. He’s set to release his second album next month, Lo que nos llevamos, a project that explores the elasticity of culture and what people take with them (or leave behind) when they settle in a new land. – AG
INFO: 8pm, Eli’s Mile High Club, 3629 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Oakland. $25. 510.808.7565.
SUNDAY, MARCH 29
METAL
GHOUL
Holy pustulating severed heads from hell! Ghoul, the masked maniacs from Castle Grayskull, Creepsylvania, which conspicuously resembles Oakland, celebrate their 25th anniversary as the premier horror thrash band. If you didn’t feel the gripping hand of time slowly squeezing you closer to death, you do now. But that’s the whole point of Ghoul, bloody theatrical mayhem! For the uninitiated, Ghoul is a four-piece thrash band made up of mutants who hide their deformities behind burlap sack masks. Their live show consists of an array of characters who join them on stage like Mr. Fang, Killbot—with Walt Disney’s brain—and Kogar the Destructor. It’s fast, it’s furious, it’s one big happy f@#$ed-up family time. – MAT WEIR
INFO: 7pm, 924 Gilman St., Berkeley. $20/adv, $25/door. 510.524.8180.
SUNDAY, MARCH 29
INDIE-ROCK
RICKY
What’s the point as the world burns? That’s the question raised by San Diego self-proclaimed “slacker rock” indie singer/songwriter, Ricky. Their third LP, What’s the Point, drops two days before this show, so it’s safe to say they’ll be playing plenty of new material. Check out the single “Don’t Get It,” an apropos Millennial and Gen Z anthem that proclaims things like “Lots of money/I don’t get it/health insurance/I don’t get it.” Cut to his video, “Africa,” where Ricky rolls a spliff using a $100 bill as rolling paper then cruises around on his skateboard while smoking it. In a world of fake celebrities and influencers, be a Ricky. – MW
INFO: 6:30pm, Planetarium, 5327 Jacuzzi St., Richmond. $10. IG: @planetariumrichmond
TUESDAY, MARCH 31
ALT-ROCK
MICROWAVE
Microwave’s “Much Love” 10 Year Anniversary Tour slams into downtown Berkeley with emo, pop-punk, alternative rock energy. Hard-hitting guitar, and lyrics that dig out the grit and guts of life and spread them across finely written songs. The 2016 album honored in the show isn’t their only power pack, so let’s hope they pull out some tunes from 2024’s Let’s Start Degeneracy also. Along for the ride with Microwave and traveling like supersonic jets with their own, separate and equally formidable fuel supply are Anthony Green, HUNNY and Pure Hex. – LOU FANCHER
INFO: 8pm, UC Theatre, 2036 University Ave., Berkeley. $38. 510.356.4000.
TUESDAY, MARCH 31
HIP-HOP
DAVE
The British rapper released The Boy Who Played the Harp in late 2025, his third studio album. Steeped in Biblical references—Dave is the young shepherd taught by Saul to play the harp—the album’s lyrics center on destiny, faith, existential self-question and such. The writing is sharp, the piano lines subtle, the consistency from track-to-track clear evidence of a musician at the top of his game. Dave is unafraid and has enough awards stacked in his closet to venture into the darker sides of hip-hop: the objectification of women’s bodies, rape culture, the value of his own rapping and more. – LF
INFO: 8pm, Fox Theater, 1807 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. $56-79. 510.302.2250.
TUESDAY, MARCH 31
AFROPOP
DOBET GNAHORÉ
Born the daughter of percussionist Boni Gnahore and raised on the Ivory Coast, Afropop artist Dobet Gnahoré moved to France in 1999 during the military coup d’etat in her country. While in France she met guitarist Colin Laroche de Féline and the two formed Na Afriki, a French and Tunisian group that combined folk and contemporary African music with pop and released an album in 2007. Three years later she and India.Arie won a Grammy for Best Urban/Alternative Performance for their song “Pearls.” Gnahore’s music is powerful and serene, summoning ancestral traditions with modern sensibilities and layers of love and joy with plenty of room to dance. – MW
INFO: 8pm, The Freight, 2020 Addison St., Berkeley. $49. 510.644.2020.
