Best of 2022, pt. 2: Best concerts edition.
Plus, more Christmas tunes from the Central Valley.
Last week, Cristobal Carrillo gave us a list of his favorite local-band releases for 2022.
It’s full of goodness, if you haven’t checked it out.
Here’s another ubiquitous year-end wrap-up post, this time presented by your truly. I’m running down the 10 best concerts in Fresno (or the extended Fresno area) for the year.
The list is in no order and is based on 1.) concerts I attended. 2.) concerts I can remember (with the help of my Instagram). It is obviously skewed, so please feel free to fill me in on what I missed.
The festivals
I made a joke about the second year of Fresno’s PorchFest, (Tower District, April 9). Something about measuring your worth as a local musician based on whether you were able to find a place to play. The joke being that every single musician I knew seemed to be playing somewhere that day. There was an overwhelming sense of community and camaraderie about the whole thing and that felt good.
The We Are Fresno Fest (Tioga Sequoia, Oct. 16) has a similar sense of community building. While this was a genre-crossing show (holding in the punk metal and indie vein) the dozen bands on the lineup understood their shared experience.
A DIY effort, done right.
The arena acts
For the hardcore Pearl Jam fans, especially those who got into the band through the album “Ten,” their Fresno tour stop (Save Mart Center, May 16) was a historic performance, even if singer Eddie Vedder was admittedly struggling through some kind of illness and drummer Matt Cameron was out with COVID.
It certainly felt like a one-off, never-gonna-see-these-songs-performed-in-this-way again kind of night, which is really all you should want from a good live performance.
Karol G’s Strip Love tour stop (Save Mart Center, Oct. 25) was a total surprise, in more than a few ways. I hadn’t really heard of the Columbian singer prior to getting pitched to do a review for the Fresno Bee (read it here).
I was told the show would be a sell out and saw that tickets were reselling at upwards of $400.
The reggeaton star put on a performance as well produced and well received as any I’ve seen at the Save Mart Center.
Also, someone went into a labor and gave birth at the show.
Club, theater shows, amphitheaters and nontraditional venues
Naplam Death are legendary. Like, if you’re at all into heavy, aggressive music Napalm Death feels like a band you need to see at least once in your life. Which is mostly why I caught their Fresno show (Strummers, April 13) this spring.
The show stood out to me for its well-placed local openers; Elder Devil, in particular proved their spot on the bill.
The Yapwers (Fulton 55, June 2) ranks up on the best-of list despite being one of the most disappointing shows of the year in terms of turn out. That said, the dozen or so people in the crowd were treated to one of the progressive alt/indie/country band playing songs from each of their rather amazing records (plus, some new material to boot).
Technically, Nick Lowe + Los Straighjackets were the opening for Elvis Costello on his latest tour with the Imposters. And technically the concert was outside of Fresno (Vino Robles Amphitheater, Sept. 6).
But there was no shortage of Fresnans who made the drive and seeing Lowe was bucket list for me, so I’m counting it here.
Lowe is in another part of his life now, and appropriately, the songs have been rounded off some, meaning the performances lacked some of angular edginess captured on the 1970s recordings. I am sad I wasn’t able to experience that first hand.
Still, being able to “Raging Eyes” performed live was worth the drive.
And, yes Elvis Costello was also good.
Silversun Pickups is on this list mostly because the concert (Tioga Sequoia, Oct. 15) was an example of the kind of shows that need happen in Fresno more often (see also: Durand Jones and The Indications).
Silversun Pickups (playing here with Lovely the Band for New Rock 104.1) is a mid-sized regional touring act that can easily draw upwards of 2,000. It feels like Fresno could be booking bands like this more consistently, given a proper venue (to its credit, Tioga Sequoia seemed to step up some in 2022. See: Movements).
My only complaint (if I’m being picky) was Silversun’s setlist, which didn’t pull nearly enough from 2015’s “Better Nature.”
Melt Banana is another band that falls into the category of “you should feel obligated to see them anytime they come town.”
The band’s Fresno performance (Strummer’s Nov. 13) was the last night of its tour, which had been postpone from earlier in the year. It is added here, in part, because of the collected lineup, which included Ed Schrader’s Music Beat (from Baltimore), the hardcore band Deaf Club and Fatty Cakes and the Puff Pastries (as fill in for Psychic Graveyard).
Locals only
Dying Suns made a big display of themselves in 2022, releasing the stellar EP
“Starcade,” and establishing themselves as a potent live act. To end the year, they put together a locals-only post-Thanksgiving rock show (Strummer’s, Nov. 26) that included Daze Baby, Sun Umbra and Strange Vine.
The crowd was split between twenty-something hipsters and old-heads (it’s me, so no offense) and the show worked as a multi-generational showcase of Fresno’s psych-rock scene.
It felt very much like a throwback to the days of Audie’s Olympic.
Merry Christmas! More songs to build your own playlist
Early this month, I wrote about Stoneshiver’s new Christmas album. I also mentioned a few other local Christmas tunes worth trying out.
AND… here’s few more, for today, or just to bookmark when you are creating your playlists for next year.
Daze Baby — “A Very Daze Baby Christmas” Ep, 2018
The Neptunes — “Sleigh Ride in Fresno,” 2007
Roger Perry — “Sad Christmas,” Facebook live, 2020
That’s it for this week. Remember you can now hear me on the Homegrown Show Sundays at 8 p.m. on New Rock 104.1 FM. If you have anything you think I need to be looking at or listening to, feel free to let me know: jtehee@gmail.com