From one of the world’s best metal festivals to a celebration of the “Blood Moon,” there is a lot to see and do in Northern California this weekend and beyond.
Here is a partial rundown.
Aftershock brings the rock to Sacramento
Gojira is the No. 1 reason to attend the 2025 Aftershock Festival this weekend at Discovery Park in Sacramento. The French quartet, which ranks on the short list of the greatest metal acts of all time, is absolutely sensational in concert and should pretty easily top Korn, Blink-182 and other big-name acts on the Aftershock bill.
Yet, Gojira is only one of the many reasons to attend what is most certainly the best metal/hard-rock festival on the West Coast. We also are looking forward to catching Demon Hunter, a fantastic Seattle five-piece touring in support of the recently released “There Was a Light Here,” and Flyleaf, a Texas outfit led by powerhouse vocalist Lacey Sturm.
We are also interested in Rob Zombie, who’s nearly as good at playing shock rock as he is at directing horror films, and the Grammy-nominated metalcore outfit August Burns Red. Want two more recommendations? Check out Baltimore punk act Turnstile — on the road of support of the fine new album “Never Enough” — and longtime Louisiana rockers 12 Stones. In all, some 115 bands will perform on four stages at the massive event.
Details: Oct. 2-5; hours are roughly 11 a.m.-10 p.m. daily; Discovery Park, Sacramento; more information and ticket options at aftershockfestival.com.
— Jim Harrington, Staff
Swoon at the moon
Oakland has many sister cities: Livorno, Italy; Ocho Rios, Jamaica; Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. But none of the sisterhoods is as old as Fukuoka, Japan, which became Oakland’s BFF in 1962 and celebrates the bond to this day.
On Oct. 5, the cities will fete their very special relationship in a very special way — wistfully gazing at the same moon. It’s a Supermoon, to be precise, or a full moon that appears swollen due to its seasonal closeness to earth. As it happens, this month’s Supermoon has the charming nickname of “Blood Moon,” because it historically appeared at the start of hunting season.
The Oakland-Fukuoka Sister City Association is teaming up with the Eastbay Astronomical Society to throw an “Otsukimi/Moon Viewing Festival” on the shore of Lake Merritt. From 5:30-6:30 p.m., visitors can browse a bonsai garden’s open house. Then there’s a Japanese dance performance and a dinner of bento boxes (available only by preorder). The moon viewing with telescopes starts at 7:30 p.m. — be there or be, er, circular.
Details: Festival takes place 5:30-8:30 p.m. Oct. 5 at the Lakeside Park Garden Center, 666 Bellevue Ave., Oakland; free, oakland-fukuoka.org. Preorder dinner at www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/2025-otsukimi-bento-orders.
— John Metcalfe, Staff
Classical picks: Nakamatsu; Tchaikovsky’s Fifth, more
New works, special guests, love songs and a festive evening with a masquerade theme are among the classical music events at the top of this week’s list.
A “Masquerade” to launch the season: Symphony San Jose returns with an old friend to launch the 2025-26 season; pianist Jon Nakamatsu joins conductor Nathan Aspinall in Rachmaninoff’s “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini.” The program also includes Berlioz’s “Symphonie Fantastique” and Anna Clyne’s “Masquerade.” Speaking of masks, audience members are invited to dress in their finest concert attire; check the company website for suggestions.
Details: Concert is Oct. 4 — 5:30 p.m. red carpet, 7:30 p.m. concert, 9:30 post-show reception; California Theatre, San Jose; $35-$115; symphonysanjose.org.
Gimeno at the Symphony: Spanish conductor Gustavo Gimeno is on the podium this weekend at Davies Symphony Hall for three performances of Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony, but the principal draw of his program just might be “Market Street, 1920’s,” a new work composed by the Symphony’s principal trombonist, Timothy Higgins. Grieg’s Piano Concerto completes the program, with Javier Perianes as soloist.
Details: 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday; Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco; $30-$185; sfsymphony.org.
Songs of love and sorrow: Mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter returns to the Bay Area on Sunday to delve into Schubert’s song cycle, “Schwanengesang.” Presented by Cal Performances in the intimate Hertz Hall, she’ll be accompanied by pianist Kristian Bezuidenhout in this entrancing music, which covers terrain from love and despair to serenity.
Details: 3 p.m. Sunday; Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley; $86-up; calperformances.org.
— Georgia Rowe, Correspondent
Freebie of the week
A funny thing happened during Veracruz-born vocalist Lucía Gutierrez Rebolloso’s path to becoming a renowned Mexican/son jarocho singer. She discovered jazz. Granted, there are some foundational similarities between the two two genres, but Lucia has said that she fell in love with improvisational possibilities in jazz, and with the vocal stylings of such stars as Jazzmeia Horn and Cécile McLorin Salvant. Her passion was well-founded. In 2022, she announced her arrival in the jazz world by winning the Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition; she was the first Mexican artist to capture the prestigious event. She has since re-branded herself under the single-name moniker, Lucia, and released a self-named debut album, and has maintained an ambitious touring schedule. Jazz fans might remember her performance at last year’s San Jose Jazz Summer Fest. Now she’s in the midst of another Northern California run. She performed at last weekend’s Monterey Jazz Festival and has two performances this week, including a free appearance at the Yerba Buena Gardens Festival in San Francisco from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. Oct. 2 (ybgfestival.org). She’s also performing 7 and 9 p.m. Oct. 3 at Stanford’s The Studio venue, as part of the Stanford Live series.
Details: For Stanford tickets ($43.20-$54) and information, go to live.stanford.edu.
Celebrating African American Art
After a successful debut last year, the Museum of the African Diaspora’s Nexus: SF project is once again hosting its extraordinary Black Art Week, touching on dozens of exhibits and appearances highlighting Black Artists and their works. Running through Oct. 5, Black Art Week can set you up with scheduled visits to exhibits all across the Bay Area – from the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA) to the Cantor Museum at Stanford University. So you can take in New York–based abstract contemporary artist Alteronce Gumby works included at Stanford as part of the Anderson Collection; a new collection titled “The Art of Fashion,” featuring works by designer Brandin Vaughn (who designed Beyonce’s outfits for her Cowboy Carter and Renaissance tours) at the KARL arts complex in San Francisco; or the amazing African American quilts collection at BAMPFA. And we are just scratching the surface here. Many of the exhibits are free.
Details: Catch the entire lineup of events and exhibits at www.nexus-sfbay.com/schedule
Did you hear the one about the well-heeled blood sucker?
Shows marrying horror and comedy have a long, rich history, including such classics as “Young Frankenstein,” “Ghostbusters” “Rocky Horror Picture Show,” “Little Shop of Horrors,” “Scary Movie” and, perhaps the most important cinematic achievement in this category, “Attack of the Killer Tomatoes.” Of course, the genre extends to the stage world as well (“Rocky Horror” began as a stage musical). And now, the South Bay’s City Lights Theater Company has stepped into the ring with “Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors.” The 90-minute knee-slapper by Gordon Greenberg and Steve Rosen has seen productions in London earlier this year and New York 2023-’24, and is described as a mix of Bram Stoker, Mel Brooks and Monty Python – so you know the jokes will come fast and furious and will shamelessly employ any humorous trope available (and probably several that aren’t). As the creators have said, “it’s a show you can really sink your teeth into.” Featuring a cast of six directed by Caitlin Lawrence Papp, “Dracula” plays through Oct. 19 at City Lights Theater in downtown San Jose.
Details: Tickets are $40-$68; go to https://cltc.org.
An East Bay art explosion
It’s that time of year again in Emeryville, a city that has officially declared October Art & Culture Month and is set to launch its 39th iteration of the Emeryville Art Exhibition with an opening reception from 6 to 9 p.m. Oct. 3 at the Public Market Emeryville. From Oct. 4-26, more than 200 works by 140 artists who live or work in Emeryville will be on display for free at the Market from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays. Pieces in the juried show cover the arts spectrum – paintings, sculptures, woodworks and carvings, ceramics, textiles, photographs, digital artworks and some original music. If you happen to like what you see, great – it’s for sale. The exhibition space, donated for free by the local business Oxford Properties Group, is located at the south end of the Market, which has artisan food outlets, plenty of parking and a Saturday morning farmers market.
Details: For more information, check www.emeryarts.org.
A Dandy night for cool rock
Fans of modern psychedelic rock are going to be in for a real treat when The Dandy Warhols and Kula Shaker come to town next week.
Truth be told, we try to never miss a Dandy Warhols gig in the Bay Area — and, really, it’s probably been a couple decades since we did — because we absolutely dig this Portland act’s intoxicating mix of different rock styles, brilliant songwriting and, in general, unflinching coolness.
The group has released a pair of the best albums of the last 30 years — 1997’s “The Dandy Warhols Come Down” and 2000’s “Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia” — and are still putting out intriguing new music (see last year’s “Rockmaker”). Plus, they’ve got one our favorite guitarists in the game — the mighty Peter Holmström.
London’s Kula Shaker got off to a very quick start in its career, with the band’s debut album, “K,” topping the U.K. album charts. They are currently on the road in support of last year’s “Natural Magick,” which zoomed all the way to No. 1 on the U.K. indie charts.
Details: 8 p.m. Oct. 8; Regency Ballroom, San Francisco; tickets start at $53.90, axs.com.
— Jim Harrington, Staff