THURSDAY, MAY 8
ROCK
FRENCH POLICE
Chicago-based trio French Police has quietly become a cult favorite in the underground post-punk scene, weaving dreamy synths and melancholy vocals into a sound they call “sad disco.” Fronted by Brian Flores, the band formed in 2019 and quickly gained traction with their self-titled debut, earning comparisons to Cold Cave and Joy Division. Songs like “Club de Vampiros” and “Hidalgo” fuse retro aesthetics with raw emotion, resonating deeply with bilingual fans across the internet. The band’s 2024 album, Bully, cements their reputation for making heartbreak darkly anthemic. – ADDIE MAHMASSANI
INFO: Thu, 8pm, Cornerstone, 2367 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley. $31. 510.214.8600.
FRIDAY, MAY 9
CUMBIA
CHICHA LIBRE
While Brooklyn’s Chicha Libre first came together to explore chicha, a propulsive Peruvian hybrid blending surf-guitar riffs and cumbia grooves with keening cadences of Andean huayño, the band has developed its own deliriously celebratory sound. Featuring an international cast from France, Venezuela, Mexico and the U.S., playing folkloric and contemporary instruments, the quintet has embraced the pastiche aesthetic of poet Oswald de Andrade (whose ideas animated Brazil’s Tropicalia movement). The hi-octane cumbia-powered triple bill also features Philthy Dronez—a.k.a. East San Jose musician, producer and multi-instrumentalist Mathew Gonzales—and bolero-besotted El Pecado de Juana delivering hypnotic rhythms with DJ Lizzy Al Toque on the decks and visuals by Tsar Koshka. – ANDREW GILBERT
INFO: Fri, 8pm, Eli’s Mile High Club, 3629 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Oakland. $15-$20. 510.808.7565.
FRIDAY-SUNDAY, MAY 9-11
DANCE
MARK MORRIS DANCE GROUP PEPPERLAND
The mighty Mark Morris and company returns with Pepperland, a 60-minute gem after first bouncing the rainbow lollipop of a co-production—with Cal Performances—across the expansive Zellerbach stage in 2018. Cavorting and catapulting to a score featuring songs from The Beatles’ groundbreaking Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band with original music by composer Ethan Iverson, the swoon-worthy dancers make it all come together with unbounded energy and grace. Spirited by human voice, theremin, soprano sax, trombone, keyboards and the venerable Beatles canon, the nimble, noble troupe and Morris’ sometimes too slavish but always lavish and lovely musicality team up for a power pack of positivity. Through May 11. – LOU FANCHER
INFO: Fri & Sat, 8pm; Sun, 3pm, Zellerbach Hall, Berkeley. $42-$158. 510.642.9988; calperformances.org.
SATURDAY, MAY 10
ROCK
MEXICAN SLUM RATS
Hailing from Granada Hills, Mexican Slum Rats walk the line between experimental rock and post-hardcore for fans of Fugazi, the Frights and the Mars Volta and are known for their crazed, high-energy performances. It’s been two years since their last album, See You Around, and the world has changed a lot since then. Lead singer Kevin Villalba is the proud son of an immigrant mother who came here, while still pregnant, in search of a better life. To honor her and other immigrants, the band will donate $1 of every ticket sold to Centro Legal de la Raza, which provides legal and financial assistance to immigrants and low-income people. – MAT WEIR
INFO: Sat, 7pm, 924 Gilman St., Berkeley. $20/adv, $25/door. 510.525.9926.
SATURDAY, MAY 10
THEATER
YELLOW FACE
When playwright David Henry Hwang sat down to pen Yellow Face, he likely had little idea a comedy could dig so deeply into reality and stand on sturdy legs for more than a decade. But stand it has done, earning since its premiere in 2007 an Obie Award and a Pulitzer Prize nomination. Telling the semi-autobiographical story of a casting director spouting anti-misrepresentation messages while selecting for a production a white actor in an Asian role, the hypocrisy is equal measures of hilarity and hurt. Between and within the laughs, there is the stinky goo of false allyship, fallen identity, frustration felt by overlooked, historically marginalized artists and zealous xenophobia. It runs till June 8. – LF
INFO: Sat, 8 pm, Shotgun Players, 1901 Ashby Ave., Berkeley. $8-40. 510.841.6500.
SUNDAY, MAY 11
JAZZ
JASON MARSALIS QUARTET
The youngest sibling of the illustrious New Orleans clan, Jason Marsalis made his mark as a drummer and co-founder of the African diaspora encompassing Los Hombres Calientes with felonious trumpeter Irvin Mayfield and Headhunters percussion great Bill Summers—a longtime Oakland resident in the 20th century. As a vibraphonist, Marsalis has often celebrated the instrument’s founding figures, particularly Lionel Hampton, whose seven-decade career included classic recordings with Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman’s all-star integrationist quartet and an influential, if notoriously underpaid, orchestra that played a central role in the rise of rhythm and blues in the 1940s. – AG
INFO: Sun, 7pm, Yoshi’s, 510 Embarcadero West, Oakland. $35-$69. 510.238.9200.
SUNDAY, MAY 11
INDIE
SLOWDIVE
In Slowdive’s fifth album, Everything is Alive, the English shoegaze icons deepen their mythology without getting lost in it. It’s their Covid album, written and initially recorded across lockdowns and personal losses. The result carries the weight of grief without turning dark, containing within it something of the high of finally being able to reunite in the studio. Their sound is as spacious and glowing as ever, filtering modular synth experiments through the band’s unmistakable gauze of reverb-y guitars. The band is on a miniature West Coast jaunt between Australian and European stops. – SONYA BENNETT-BRANDT
INFO: Sun, 7:30pm, Fox Theater, 1807 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. $62. 510.302.2250.
TUESDAY, MAY 13
PUNK
THE MENZINGERS
No one does raw nostalgia like a Pennsylvania punk band, The Menzingers. Getting their start in 2006 in the milieu of Scranton’s ska-punk and pop-punk scene, The Menzingers made a splash with their self-titled demo tape and have been going strong since. They have combined grit with heart on seven full-length studio albums, the most recent of which is 2023’s Some of It Was True. While they forever cite the gravelly intensity of Florida punk bands Against Me! and Hot Water Music as core influences, they have also taken intriguing turns toward twangy Americana on recent songs like “Come On Heartache.” – AM
INFO: Tue, 7:30pm, UC Theatre, 2036 University Ave., Berkeley. $35. 510.356.4000.
WEDNESDAY, MAY 14
ROCK
SAM BLASUCCI
Known as one half of the poppy, roots-rock duo Mapache, Sam Blasucci is anything but a one-trick pony. As he was writing the songs that would be his first solo album, 2023’s Off My Stars, he gravitated away from the guitar and towards the piano, which he was gifted by the mother of Mapache’s Clay Finch. The result was smooth, elegant songs that touch on 1960s and 1970s pop vibes. His latest single, “Niitaka Pear,” features Laena Myers and keeps Blasucci’s dream-like daze fresh and alive with heads in the clouds. This show is a must-see for fans of Kurt Vile and Beachwood Sparks. – MW
INFO: Wed, 8pm, Thee Stork Club, 2330 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. $15/adv, $18/door. 510.859.8709.
WEDNESDAY, MAY 14
HIP-HOP
DAVE EAST
Dave East’s rhymes unfold like noir films—dark and brutally human tales of toughness, triumph and regret. The Harlem rapper has built a career on precision and a refusal to dilute his voice for mass appeal, with carefully chosen beats and deft storytelling about gritty realities. The challenges in East’s early life—a derailed basketball career due to injury, struggles with addiction and incarceration—have become a deep reservoir of experience that he draws on in his storytelling, creating complex, unromantic narratives about trauma and survival. – SBB
INFO: Wed, 8pm, The New Parish, 1743 San Pablo Ave., Oakland. $37. 510.227.8177.
