From an multiplatinum hip-hop star to a matchup of an orchestra and beloved indie rock act, there are some exciting shows and concerts to catch in the Bay Area this weekend and beyond.
Here’s a partial rundown.
Playboi Carti wants to ‘Antagonize’ you
Playboi Carti is heading for Northern California. Finally. The eccentric hip-hop star is set to perform Oct. 10 at Chase Center in San Francisco and Oct. 12 at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento. These two local dates are part of the Antagonist Tour, Playboi Carti’s first first solo headline trek since 2021.
The multiplatinum Georgia rapper is out on the road in support of his third full-length studio album, “Music,” a smash hit that, after productions delays, debuted atop the Billboard 200 upon release in March. “Music” has especially been a massive success on streaming platforms. It earned 134 million streams on Spotify alone in its first day of release — which reportedly made it the seventh-most streamed album in a single day. It went on to nab 384 million streams in its first week — reportedly the highest total achieved by an album since Taylor Swift’s “The Tortured Poets Department” in 2024.
The album, which features guest appearances from Travis Scott, The Weeknd, Kendrick Lamar, Jhené Aiko, Skepta, Future, Lil Uzi Vert and others, is Playboi Carti’s first full-length studio outing since 2020’s “Whole Lotta Red.”
Details: Showtime for both concerts is 7 p.m.; tickets start at $52 in San Francisco and $40 in Sacramento; ticketmaster.com.
— Jim Harrington, Staff
He can Reilly sing
As anyone who’s seen “Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story” knows, John C. Reilly has got serious pipes. And on Oct. 13 at Livermore’s Bankhead Theater, he’ll show them off in a heartfelt way for his world-traveling musical, “Mister Romantic.”
Boasting equal parts vaudeville, singing and storytelling, the show follows the titular character’s journey through the Great American Songbook. Think Irving Berlin, Johnny Mercer and Glenn Miller — then with Tom Waits thrown in, because why not? — filtered through the Academy Award-nominated actor’s honey-soaked voice. Backing him up are a musical group of Grammy winners including Davíd Garza, who’s worked with John Legend and Fiona Apple, and Gabe Witcher of the band Punch Brothers.
“I looked at our weary world a few years ago and tried to think of a way I could spread love and empathy,” Reilly has said about the show. “I decided the most fun way to do that was through performing and singing and telling people I love them.” In our day and age, is there anything more necessary?
Details: 7:30 p.m. Oct. 13; Bankhead Theater, Livermore; $100-$140; misterromantic.com, livermorearts.org.
— John Metcalfe, Staff
Classical picks: Decemberists, Kronos Quartet
Adventurous music lovers take note: the Bay Area’s classical music scene offers some daring works this week featuring the Kronos Quartet, the Kahanes and indie rockers the Decemberists joining the San Francisco Symphony. Each program offers a deep dive into the new.
Rocking the Symphony: For fans of the the Decemberists, Davies Symphony Hall is the place to be this weekend, as the acclaimed indie rockers from Portland, Oregon, make a special Bay Area appearance to join forces with the San Francisco Symphony in a one-night-only performance conducted by Edwin Outwater.
Details: 7:30 p.m. Oct. 10; Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco; $199-$325; sfsymphony.org.
“Beyond the Golden Gate”: That’s the title of this week’s program by the visionary Kronos Quartet, now in its 50th season and returning to Cal Performances to perform new and recent works by women composers. There are world premieres by Victoria Shen and Dai Wei, and guest artist Wu Man joins the acclaimed foursome on pipa. Central to the event is an exploration of Chinese-American history, with a hybrid performance, screening and discussion with David Lei and visuals by Windy Chien.
Details: 8 p.m. Oct. 11; Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley; tickets start at $58; calperformances.org.
Pair of Kahanes at SF Performances: San Francisco Performances opens its 2025-26 season this week with a gala concert featuring musician-composer Jeffrey Kahane and musician-composer son, Gabriel Kahane, performing piano works, including a new concerto by Gabriel titled “Heirloom” and dedicated to his dad. Folk and concert music, solos and duets complete the lineup.
Details: 7 p.m. Oct. 10; Herbst Theatre, San Francisco; $55-$75; sfperformances.org.
— Georgia Rowe, Correspondent
A penny for your thoughts
The rise of artificial intelligence has given rise to a host of pressing and unsettling questions. How are we to truly know the origin of certain ideas and expressions? Are our thoughts and feelings really our own? If the playing field of ideas is really bursting wide open, how can we be sure that the good guys will come out on top?
Ayad Akhtar’s 2024 play “McNeal” deals with these issues and more, centering on the titular central character, a talented writer who is either about to win the Nobel Prize for literature or is simply convinced that he deserves it so much it’s in the bag. If you’re guessing that perhaps McNeal is a tad unlikable, you’re guessing right. He’s also a raging alcoholic and is seriously under-developed ethically.
Much of Akhtar’s play deals with of-the-moment issues of the ownership of ideas and morality, and many have postulated that it is also a thinly veiled take-down of the egos and arrogance driving the contemporary literature world. It made its Broadway premiere on Broadway last year with Robert Downey Jr. in the central role. Now it has settled in at San Jose Stage, with Randall King directing and Johnny Moreno in title role.
Details: Through Oct. 19; San Jose Stage; 80 minutes, no intermission; $49-$74; www.thestage.org.
— Randy McMullen, Staff
Freebie of the week
During the summer of 1966 in San Francisco, the Tenderloin became a battleground between the gay, bisexual and transgender people who called the neighborhood home and city police, who were determined to harass the LGBTQ community and keep its members off the streets. The ‘60s were a time when gay and transgender people across the country were asserting their identities and demanding the right to live as they wished. The Stonewall riots in New York in 1969 were considered a capstone in the LGBTQ movement, but San Francisco had its own watershed moment three years earlier, during what is now known as the Compton’s Cafeteria Riot. The Tenderloin uprising was reportedly ignited when a transgender woman tossed a cup of coffee at a police officer who was attempting to arrest her at Taylor and Turk streets, leading to a widespread protest that was heard around the country.
Fifty-nine years (and a couple of months) later, Flyaway Productions – a troupe of aerial performance artists who frequently tackle political issues – is commemorating the Campton’s Cafeteria Riot with the Tenderloin performance titled “Down on the Corner.” The piece is performed by 10 queer, transgender and female aerial artists, accompanied by music by singer and songwriter Melanie DeMore, and a film by Leila Weefur.
Details: The 35-minute shows will be performed at Turk and Taylor streets 7:30 and 8:30 p.m. Oct. 10-11. Performances are free and require no reservations, just show up and be prepared to look up. More information is at flyawayproductions.com.
Some fancy global footwork on tap
“Around the World Through Dance” is the title of the program the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra has planned for an Oct. 11 matinee in Davies Hall. And indeed, the lineup of selections chosen for the concert, to be conducted by Wattis Foundation music director Radu Paponiu, seems to dip into just about every idea a diverse assortment of composers has had about how to celebrate the joy of movement to music: Johan Strauss’ Overture to “Die Fledermaus,” Antonin Dvorak’s Slavonic Dance No. 2 in E minor, Bela Bartok’s Romanian Folk Dances, Johannes Brahms’ Hungarian Dance No. 6, Ruth Crawford Seeger’s “Rissolty Rossolty,” Amy Beach’s “Bal Masqué,” Isaac Albeniz’s Tango in D Major and the Overture from “West Side Story” by Leonard Bernstein. Billed as an entry on the San Francisco Symphony’s Music for Families outreach efforts, the matinee program will also feature a petting zoo and a coloring station in the lobby.
Details: Tickets for the 2 p.m. performance are $29.50-$89; sfsymphony.org.
— Bay City News Foundation