Let’s get right to the news (it’s good).
Wednesday and Thursday: Tool at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium
The art-metal gods have spoken: Tool must return; And they must play the hits. The band’s 2014 is already off to a deafening start, taking requests and giving the devoted Tool following some sweet satisfaction. And now the greatest news of all: a new Tool album is coming. Guitarist Adam Jones told Crave Online, the next Tool album is 100 percent done, and all we know is it’s coming sometime this year. Maybe, – if the art-metal gods are the maximum amount of benevolent – they’ll offer a sneak preview at one of their Bill Graham shows this week? Pretty please?
Wednesday: Los Angeles Philharmonic at Davies Symphony Hall
Seriously, when was the last time you treated yourself to a real-adult night on the town? Ditch the tap beer for an evening and step up your culture game already. The world-class, Gustavo Dudamel-led LA Philharmonic presents a night of Brahm’s Second Symphony, “one of the Romantic master’s most expertly wrought creations,” according to the SF Symphony. Phenom pianist Yuja Wang is the featured soloist and your muse for your personal cultural renaissance.
Friday: Gui Boratto at Mezzanine
False humility is for the birds. Give me a man with discerning tastes, and I’ll give him the price of admission. That’s part of the allure with Sau Paolo’s Gui Boratto, who says on his website bio, “I believe in good and bad taste. Not only in music, but in all kinds of artistic expression. Despite the style, hype, name or whatever, I just want to release beautiful pieces of music.” Anyone who has listened to Boratto’s 2007 masterpiece Chromophobia would confirm that sentiment, critics especially.
Saturday: Wolfgang Gartner at Ruby Skye
I’d quite enjoy being worldwide DJ phenom Wolfgang Gartner for a day. Ya know, especially if that day was a night spinning at Las Vegas super club XS. He looks like he’s having an OK time. What a brilliant, fist-pumping, crowd-mesmerizing, critic-wowing, magnificent bastard.
Saturday: We Became Owls at Bottom of the Hill
This is so cool. Local Americana band We Became Owls recently raised enough money via Kickstarter to record, master, and print a new EP, wildly good news for anyone who knows the genius of WBO. Score one for the internet! For those unfamiliar, We Became Owls is cut from the same cloth as everyman champions Damien Jurado, Jeff Buckley, and Jeff Tweedy. They have your back, and you clearly have their back.