Green Day gives Rose Bowl a stadium-sized portion of passion →

“We’re playing the Rose Bowl,” Billie Joe Armstrong told a stadium full of passionate Green Day fans on Saturday night. “Can you believe this shit?”

Thirty years since their formation and 23 since they unleashed “Dookie” on the world, they had to, because it was true. The veteran punk rockers were greeted with roar after roar after roar during their 2 1/2-hour set at the Rose Bowl, which began in typical Green Day fashion: “Bohemian Rhapsody” came on the P.A., followed by “Blitzkrieg Bop” and a dancing bunny, and finally “The Good, Bad and the Ugly.” Then the headliners hit the stage, launching into “Know Your Enemy,” “Bang Bang” and “Revolution Radio.”

Armstrong beckoned a fan onstage during the first song to sing with him (and then to leap into the crowd), and throughout the show had more fans onstage, giving a woman named Monica a guitar lesson. He showed her how to play the D and G chords, then gave her the guitar, saying “You can keep that guitar, just practice.”

The frontman stalked the stage as if conducting the massive crowd at the Rose Bowl, motioning to either side to scream when he raised his hands. “We are ending it here in L.A., baby, cause we always save the best for last,” he told the crowd.

During “King for the Day,” the band came out in costumes, with Armstrong dressed up as a cop and Tre Cool in a pink tutu. Then they did a little medley of songs: “Careless Whisper,” “Shout,” “Look on the Bright Side of Life,” “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” and “Hey Jude.” During “Bright Side,” Armstrong proselytized on the political climate: “I’m so sick of politicians just fucking everything up. America is a celebration of diversity and people coming together. We’ve been through enough together, we got to do something positive together. Son of a bitch, America is this, it’s people coming together, singing and dancing and having some passion together. Nights like tonight we can come together and get fucked up together, you know what I am saying? Because this is it, this is what gives me hope. I need you, we need each other. Stick up for the underdog, please. The people that don’t have fucking health care, the people that other people are trying to kick out of this country are more American than the motherfuckers sitting in Washington D.C. right now.”

He then paused and added, “I travel a lot more than Donald Trump does and I know what America is. I want love, and I want it now, ladies and gentlemen.”

After the speech he then went into “Satisfaction” and “Hey Jude” and then back to “Shout” and got the whole crowd to jump — during which you could feel the whole stadium moving from the vibration of people jumping. Before “Still Breathing,” Armstrong said, “This one is for all the survivors,” got a bit choked up for a second.

Welsh rockers Catfish and the Bottlemen opened the night with a quick- but hard-hitting set that featured frontman Van McCann running around stage nonstop. During their song “Soundcheck,” the Green Day confetti cannon was accidentally set off, which had the band laughing. Their 30-minute set was only five songs long, ending with “Tyrants.”

Setlist: Know Your Enemy, Bang Bang, Revolution Radio, Holiday, Letterbomb, Boulevard of Broken Dreams, Longview, Youngblood, 2000 Light Years Away, Armitage Shanks, Hitchin’ A Ride, When I Come Around, Welcome to Paradise, Minority, Are We the Waiting, St. Jimmy, Knowledge (Operation Ivy cover), Basket Case, She, King For a Day, Medley of Songs (Shout, Careless Whisper, Satisfaction, Hey Jude), Still Breathing, Forever Now. Encore 1: American Idiot, Jesus of Suburbia. Encore 2: Wake Me Up When September Ends, Good Riddance

Vampire Weekend at the Hollywood Bowl →

Vampire Weekend brought their “Father of the Bride” tour to the Hollywood Bowl on Wednesday for a memorable night that included a heap of songs from their new album (their fourth), a cameo from the Haim sisters and a cover of “The Boys Are Back in Town.” Well, a snippet of it.

The latter came after the band, performing as a seven-piece, opened the encore with “Stranger” and frontman Ezra Koenig opened things up to requests. The tune felt fitting, since Vampire Weekend was playing its first Bowl show in six years. Then, also by request, they played 2008’s “Boston (Ladies of Cambridge)” and 2010’s “Giving Up the Gun” before Koenig said “That was a chaotic request session but we loved it” and got back to the setlist.

The Haims — Danielle, Esta and Alanna — sang harmonies on “This Life,” with Danielle staying to duet with Koenig on “Hold You Now.” Koenig said, “Vampire Weekend comes from New York, but L.A. is a second home. Thanks to L.A. for producing such talent, we were honored to have Steve Lacy, Haim and Ariel Rechtshaid on our newest album.” They ended the first part of their set with “Jerusalem, New York, Berlin” with Danielle Haim again lending her vocals.

By the end, Vampire Weekend had played 2 1/2 hours, closing with “Worship You,” “Ya Hey” during a rain of confetti and “Walcott.”

Setlist: Bambina, Unbelievers, Holiday, Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa, Sympathy, Finger Back, M79, Unbearably White, Step, My Mistake, Horchata, New Dorp, New York (SBTRKT cover), White Sky, Sunflower, This Life (With Haim), Hold You Now (with Danielle Haim), Harmony Hall, Diane Young, Cousins, A-Punk, Hannah Hunt, Oxford Comma, Jerusalem, New York, Berlin. Encore: Stranger, The Boys Are Back in Town (Cover), Boston (Ladies of Cambridge), Giving Up the Gun, Worship You, Ya Hey, Walcott.

Banks at the Hollywood Palladium →

Banks’ lavish show Tuesday night at the Hollywood Palladium was a lot of things — a celebration of her acclaimed new album “III,” a hometown blowout and, as it turned out, a poetry reading.

The artist, born Jillian Banks and reared in the San Fernando Valley, took a break a few songs into her set to share the poem “Ode to the Grey Zone.” “I initially wanted to call my album [that],” she said. “But then I thought that’s kinda fucking pretentious, so I skipped that idea. But I wanted to share the poem with you guys tonight.” And she did, ending with the final line: “You need to remember that whenever one road seems too long, answers to unanswered questions lie in your unwritten songs.”

She brought her written songs to life in a set that included all but three songs from her 13-track new album, starting with “Till Now.” A couple of older songs, including “Drowning,” earned a huge reception from the crowd — rousing cheers were not in short supply on this night — as she was flanked by backup dancers. Banks later was accompanied by a string quartet.

Kevin Garrett opened the night with a laid-back set that included a cover of Billie Eilish’s “When the Party’s Over.”

Banks setlist: Till Now, Fuck With Myself, Stroke, Drowning, Waiting Game, Contaminated, Hawaiian Mazes, Alaska, Propaganda, Poltergeist, Underdog, Sawzall, Better, Gemini Feed, Godless, The Fall, Gimme, This Is What It Feels Like, Beggin’ for Thread

Paramore & Foster the People at the Forum →

Hayley Williams allowed herself a moment to reminisce on Wednesday night at the Forum, the L.A. stop on Paramore’s “After Laughter Summer Tour.” She recalled the band’s first visit to Southern California to play the now-shuttered Knitting Factory in Hollywood. “That was in 2005, and it’s 2018, guys,” she said. “It also felt like a weird second home, coming to California. We don’t take it for granted.”

As for the vast expanse of the Forum, “I don’t really believe we are playing here,” she said. “Thank you, everyone, this is your doing. You guys know that, right?”

Paramore’s 21-song set culled from their their latest album, “After Laughter,” their fifth, and their catalog. As Williams has been doing throughout this tour, she picked someone from the crowd to sing the last half of the 2007 hit “Misery Business” with her. (A young woman named Ocean was the lucky winner, adding some veracity to the lyric “watch my wildest dreams come true.”)

Foster the People, backed by a neon sign bearing the title of their latest album “Sacred Hearts Club,” preceded Paramore with an electric 11-song set, with main man Mark Foster dashing back and forth across the stage. Jay Som opened the night to an arena that was already pretty full.

Paramore setlist: Grudges, Still Into You, Rose-Colored Boy, That’s What You Get, Crushcrushcrush, Fake Happy, Playing God, Forgiveness, Ignorance, Pool, Passionfruit (Drake cover -Acoustic), Misguided Ghosts (Acoustic), 26 (Acoustic), Caught In The Middle, Idle Worship, No Friend, Misery Business, Ain’t It Fun. Encore: Told You So, All That Love Is (HalfNoise cover), Hard Times

Local Natives at the Hollywood Palladium →

“Don’t tell Los Angeles, but we’re actually from Orange County.”
        — Local Natives, Thursday night at the Observatory

“This is our home, we love you guys so much!”
        — Local Natives, Saturday night at the Hollywood Palladium

Local Natives have a way of seeming local wherever they perform, and so it was for the Southern California quintet on Saturday night at the Palladium during the closer of their “Spiral Choir” tour, in support of their fourth album, “Violet Street,” released April 26.

The ecstatic crowd got a sampling of Local Natives’ energy early: During the second song, 2009’s “Sun Hands,” Taylor Rice dove into the audience for a bit of crowd-surfing. It was one of many times they engaged the crowd, whether it was encouraging attendees to register to vote (reps from HeadCount were on hand) before playing 2016’s “Fountain of Youth” or it was Kelcey Ayer confessing that his first-ever concert experience was at this very venue … to see Slipknot.

The band played over an hour and a half, giving them ample time to showcase “Violet Street.” They played all but one song from the new album, ending their main set with “When Am I Gonna Lose You.” Two more new songs followed to start the encore, before they returned to that first album for “Who Knows Who Cares” to close the night.

As they did for entire tour, Australia’s Middle Kids opened the night.

Kehlani, Tove Lo, Icona Pop, Superfruit and more at LA Pride Festival →

The hashtag for the LA Pride Festival was #JustBe, but at times over the weekend it felt like it could have been #AlmostWasnt.

A monstrous, exuberant and delightfully diverse crowd packed West Hollywood Park for two days of music, comedy, pageantry and, as it tuned out, misadventures. There were standout sets from Kehlani, Tove Lo, Iona Pop, Superfruit and Lauren Ruth Ward, but sound problems fouled the proceedings several times and, even worse, the festival was oversold. When it reached capacity, some fans holding tickets were turned away.

Kehlani had planned a whole new set especially for Pride and decided to redo her entrance because “it’s that good.” Throughout her set, though, she still could not hear herself and told the crowd “I don’t know what I sound like, sorry if I am completely off.” More frustrated towards the end of her set, she said “This is unacceptable.”

Audio problems sabotaged and/or truncated Saturday sets from Jesse Saint John, Kim Petras and Superfruit. The overcrowding was even worse on Sunday, with a long line and fire marshals and police outside advising everyone who was not already inside the festival to go home.

A highlight, though, for those who got in happened before Eve hit the stage on Sunday– Christina Aguilera got up and sang two verses to a remix of her recent single “Accelerate.” On both nights, the energy stayed high during Eve and Tove Lo’s closing sets. In the end, LA Pride Festival 2018 was #WorthIt. 

Weyes Blood at the Masonic Lodge →

Shouts of “I love you!” echoed through the sold-out Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever on Thursday night, and the object of those cheers from fans, Natalie Mering — aka Weyes Blood — returned them in kind and in song.

On the eve of the release of her new album “Titanic Rising,” Weyes Blood gave the crowd an intimate and rapturous experience full of lively banter and livelier music. Highlights from the new album included “Wild Time” (“You know it is a wild time to be alive,” she said), “A Lot’s Gonna Change,” “Andromeda, “Something to Believe” and “Movies.” In introducing the latter, she said, “The next one is about something we all enjoy … and, no, it’s not love-making, it’s movies.”

And speaking of reeling the crowd in, later she said, “This next song is a cover and it is about God.” The crowd responded with a less than whole-hearted cheer. Mering then laughed and added, “It is called ‘God Only Knows.’”

Mering told the crowd that she had a lot of friends in the audience, including Brian D’Addario of Lemon Twigs (who helped to produce her new album) and his girlfriend Anastasia Sanchez of Pinky Pinky, as well as Chris Tomson of Vampire Weekend.

She closed the show with a solo rendition of “Bad Magic” from her 2014 album “The Innocents.”

January’s Best Science Images - The Month’s Sharpest Science Shots →

Super blood wolf moon. On the night of 20 January, sky-gazers in the Americas and western Europe turned their cameras to the Moon to capture an unusual phenomenon: a super blood wolf moon. A lunar eclipse occurred as the Moon made its closest approach to Earth, causing it to appear red and larger than normal. The clouds parted just in time for Jessica Hanley to snap this shot in Los Angeles, California.

Boygenius at the Wiltern →

Individually, and as the trio Boygenius, Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus gave the crowd at the packed Wiltern a special Friday night filled with sharp songs, soaring vocals and emotional crescendos.

It was the final show of an 18-date tour for the three singer-songwriters, whose unexpected collaboration yielded a six-song EP, released in October, and shone a light on the trio’s keen songwriting.

On Friday, their respective solo sets were followed by a seven-song Boygenius nightcap, with the trio performing all six songs from the EP and their new cover of the Killers’ “Read My Mind” (previous shows had seen them cover the Dixie Chicks’ “Cowboy Take Me Away”). Dacus began the night, mixing a couple of new songs with material from her latest album “Historian.”

Playing a hometown show, Bridgers followed. She opened with “Smoke Signals,” the crowd roaring when she hit the lyric “But nothing’s changed, L.A.’s all right,” and later earning nods of approval for “Scott Street,” a song set in Echo Park. She later allowed as how she had played the Wiltern before, as an opening act, and in those days she had bangs. “We don’t talk about that time,” she said dryly. “It looks good on people, but not when you have a widow’s peak.”

Baker, the youngest of the trio at 23, followed with a set that included a duet with Matt Berninger of the National on “All I Want,” a new song that will benefit Planned Parenthood.

The Boygenius set ended the night, with the trio saying they’d worked out the harmonies for the Killers cover for their Morning Becomes Eclectic set on KCRW. Before playing their last song, “Ketchum, ID,” they gathered around one mic and before playing the song, hugged each other. During this moment, the crowd cheered wildly and the fans in balconies gave a standing ovation. At the climactic ending, Baker shredded a guitar solo, during which Bridgers and Dacus continuously bowed towards Baker. After leaving the stage, the trio and other managers and band members came back on stage and they all bowed together.

Boyggenius setlist: Souvenir, Bite The Hand, Stay Down, Me and My Dog, Salt In the Wound, Read My Mind (Killers), Ketchum, ID.

Leon Bridges at the Greek Theatre →

“Who came with their grandma tonight?” Leon Bridges asked the crowd at the Greek Theatre on Tuesday night. The crowd roared as one grandma waved her arms excitedly.

It was a night of cross-generational joy, as the 29-year-old Texan laid down some gospel-infused soul in support of his new album “Good Thing,” released in May. He played two hours, finally getting the crowd off their feet by prodding, “Y’all scared of dancing? Dance with me, L.A.” He dedicated “Lisa Sawyer” to “all the females in the crowd tonight” and then said this of “Brown Skin Girl”: “I love all types of women, but on this song I’m celebrating my brown type of girls.” John Mayer came out for “Mrs.” to play guitar — he was first introduced as just “John,” with the crowd not realizing who he was. They erupted moments later when Bridges added the last name.

Fellow Texans Khruangbin opened the night.

Setlist: If It Feels Good (Then It Must Be), Bad Bad News, Better Man, Shy, Coming Home, Beyond, Ana, Georgia To Texas, Forgive You, Lions, You Don’t Know, Lisa Sawyer, Brown Skin Girl, Mrs., Smooth Sallin’, Flowers. Encore: River, Mississippi Kisses

King Princess at the El Rey →

Before King Princess emerged on the El Rey Theatre stage Thursday night, fans were screaming “Let’s go lesbians” in solidarity. Mikaela Straus returned their greeting when the Brooklyn band got ready to play, saying “What’s up gays?” With her debut EP, “Make My Bed,” out now on Mark Ronson’s Zelig Records, Strauss has played her first ever shows this summer. With a solid month under her belt, she that she is a “bougie girl” and “it’s hard to live that life on tour.” That got some laughs. She also said that she has “been going around this nation and it is so inspiring seeing the unity between everyone. I’m not going to go crazy on anyone but the gays are here to stay. All around the country the gays are supportive.” She introduced fan favorite “Talia” as “salty and about a lady,” and then checked in afterwards to see if “y’all made out” during the song. The crowd screamed in response. “That makes me happy, a happy dyke,” Strauss replied. With a message of inclusion that permeated the evening, a fan handed her a pride flag towards the end of the show which she happily wrapped around her shoulders and responded, “It’s my good luck charm, I love it.”

New Jersey’s Donna Missal opened the night stating that she was happy to open for King Princess because her fans are “loving inclusive people that celebrate themselves and each other. I love that.” The New Jersey singer covered Natalie Imbruglia’s “Torn” during her set.

Set List: Make My Bed, Upper West Side, Best Friend, Sunburn, House Burn Down, Talia, Homegirl, 1950, Queen, Ohio

Phoebe Bridgers at the Troubadour →

Phoebe Bridgers, maker of mostly sad songs, ended her show Saturday night at the Troubadour with a happy one. It wasn’t one she wrote, but it brought a night of sublime music to the finish line with a smile.

In front of a hometown crowd that packed the room, Bridgers played songs mostly from her 2017 debut “Stranger in the Alps.” She opened with “Smoke Signals,” did two songs (“Steamroller” and “Waiting Room”) solo and engaged the crowd with some humorous anecdotes. She copped to having done a promoter’s pay-to-play at Troubadour way back when, and said she remembered seeing James Blake at the historic venue in the early days. She also acknowledged her mother sitting in the balcony, saying Mom drove her to “more concerts than she actually attended, if that makes sense.” Wink.

Conor Oberst joined Bridgers onstage for “Would You Rather,” and then Noah Gundersen to joined her for a value-added version of “Killer.” Bridgers and Gundersen — who recently toured together — last week released a video collaboration that marries the artists’ respective singles, “Killer” and “The Sound.” Bridgers’ main set also included a Tom Petty cover, “It’ll Will All Work Out,” and she ended it with her own “Scott Street,” joined by Oberst, Lukas Frank and two other friends. The two-song encore ended with Sheryl Crow’s “If It Makes You Happy.”

Lomelda opened the night.

Phoebe Bridgers setlist: Smoke Signals, Funeral, Georgia, Would You Rather, Chelsea, Demi Moore, Killer, Steamroller (solo), Waiting Room (solo), It’ll Will All Work Out (Tom Petty), Motion Sickness, Scott Street. Encore: You Missed My Heart, If It Makes You Happy (Sheryl Crow)

Liam Gallagher at the Wiltern →

Liam Gallagher delivered the first performance in Los Angeles of his solo project at the Wiltern on Tuesday night, a stage he hadn’t visited since a 2011 show with Beady Eye. Right before the infamously misunderstood Oasis frontman hit the stage, Randy Newman’s “I Love L.A.” played over the speakers, and the excited crowd echoed the statement, singing along, “I love L.A., we love it!”

While Gallagher is currently touring in support of his solo debut, “As You Were,” the packed audience eagerly anticipated some Oasis classics would appear in the set, and also hoped to see a potato being peeled on stage*. Indeed, the show kicked off with some familiar things, “Rock N’ Roll Star,” the opening track from 1994’s “Definitely Maybe,” and “Morning Glory,” from the second Oasis album, “(What’s The Story) Morning Glory.” These elicited an eruption of cheers that did not abate until the show was over. Fans were just as excited about his new songs, and let him know by echoing every word. While a mutual appreciation was clear, the frontman did not engage the audience too much during the hour and a half set, turning away when he wasn’t singing and pacing the stage, instead channeling his energy into an intense performance. He mouthed a “thank you” to the endless screams of “I love you” from the audience and gave a lot of high-fives after the show. When he finally left the stage, the audience would not relent, chanting his name, saying to their friends, “He’ll come back …” Alas, he didn’t.

L.A. quartet Warbly Jets opened the night, playing a 30-minute energetic set that warmed up the crowd. They seemed just as excited as everyone else for Liam Gallagher, pausing in between songs to say, “Liam Gallagher right? It’s fucking Liam Gallagher.”

Set List: Rock N’ Roll Star (Oasis), Morning Glory (Oasis), Greedy Soul, Wall of Glass, I’ve All I Need, Bold, For What It’s Worth, Some Might Say (Oasis), Slide Away (Oasis), I Get By, You Better Run, Be Here Now (Oasis) // Encore: Cigarettes & Alcohol (Oasis), Live Forever (Oasis)

*Just another page in the Gallagher brothers feud: Since Noel had a person on stage playing scissors on the Jools Holland show, Liam tweeted a request for “somebody to peel some spuds live on stage.” So, at his London concert on Nov. 7, a fan brought a potato and peeled it during the set.