There is a method to the madness for the opening half of St. Vincent’s set. Like many shows on the Fear the Future tour, Annie Clark, known as St. Vincent, began her sold-out show stage right with her signature guitar in hand playing “Marry Me” from her first album of the same name. The curtain barely open, revealed roughly fifteen percent of the stage. The song ends, the lights go out, the curtain opens a bit wider revealing St. Vincent a tad further upstage, further to her left, and holding a differently colored signature guitar. This pattern repeated for six songs as she worked through the songs chronologically in the order they were written from the albums Marry Me, Actor, and Strange Mercy.

It was Halloween weekend and some of the freaks and ghouls came out to see the Pet Shop Boys at the Microsoft Theater, Saturday night. I ran into Jareth (aka David Bowie from Labyrinth), a man dressed in a green suit from head to toe, and when asked what he was he just said: “I am myself.” Unfortunately, Microsoft Theater would not let him in the venue as himself because his face was covered by a green suit, but he fixed it and he was let in, along with every other cosplayer.

With Desert Trip steaming its way to Indio for yet another weekend of bucket-list performances, it’s time we share with you the best and worst from Desert Trip 2016. If you’re headed to Desert Trip this weekend, check out our pro tips below, as well as our favorite performances in order from most favorite to least favorite. All in all, Desert Trip was an experience of a lifetime. I’d say it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, but it’s happening again this weekend!

On Saturday night, Peter Hook, the former bassist of two iconic bands (Joy Division and New Order) came out to Los Angeles with his band The Light to perform tracks off both Joy Division’s and New Order’s versions of the album Substance in its entirety. The show was packed with thirty-one amazing songs that spanned about four decades worth of music.

It was a bit of a debacle. Performing the songs of Joy Division, Moving Units were supposed to perform two sets at The Echo this past Sunday night at Part Time Punks. But with such a high demand, the shows were merged into one performance at the Echoplex, a much bigger venue than the intimate Echo. Doors were supposed to open at 9 p.m. but did not open till past 9:30 p.m. Many people in line were confused about what was going on and kept asking if this show was going to be for both sets.

Juliette Lewis came out and rocked the Fonda Theatre last Thursday night. Clad in skin tight black leggings, white stiletto boots, and a funky white top with shoulder pads made of feathers — Lewis made her flavorful presence known. No longer touring with The Licks, Lewis was now rolling solo as “Juliette Lewis” (and a backing band).

Promoting peace and togetherness, The Art of Rap Festival streamed through the Hollywood Palladium for a night fresh beats, rhymes and unity.

The young and old punk rockers of Orange County came out to The Observatory this past weekend to celebrate end enjoy forty years of Buzzcocks music. The Buzzcocks rolled out an amazing performance playing some of their iconic punk anthems such as “What do I Get”, “Ever Fallen in Love”, and “Orgasm Addict” — along with some of their newer songs.

Upon walking into Deap Vally’s “Royal Jelly” video release party, it was immediately evident that Basic Flowers wasn’t a typical venue but more a quirky art gallery. Two rooms with walls covered in book pages and cloth were surrounded by ephemera, books, and obsolete electronics that lead to a larger room with the microphones and instruments expected at a rock show. After a bit of mingling in the antechambers, the majority of the crowd wisely followed their ears to the driving beat and ethereal voice and guitars of opening act, Liphemra.

The traffic this past Friday night did not help BACARDÍ’s Untameable Artist Series, where there was going to be a special performance by hip hop artist, Future. The 101 was closed off and the streets were jammed, it took me nearly an hour to get to the shuttle stop where I would be then taken to the famed Harry Houdini mansion. The moment I found out that I would be shooting this show I was wondering just what it would be like to go into the estate of Harry Houdini.

Punk’s not dead! That is a true statement because there were about 22,000 of them standing, walking, moshing, and surfing crowds in the sweltering, heat this past Saturday at San Manuel Amphitheater for It’s Not Dead Fest.

This past Friday there was an amazing rock show happening at The Forum: Deftones, Death from Above 1979, and Incubus. Right off the bat, I did not understand Incubus’ placement with both Deftones and DFA 1979. It was an odd pairing. I thought that there was no way that Incubus could compare to the hard hitting Deftones or the badass duo of DFA 1979. But much to my surprise it worked.

It was a night of pure rock n’ roll at the Observatory in Santa Ana, California last night. Three bands would play, Rocket From The Crypt, Los Angeles punk rockers, The Bronx and Dead Heavens. All three bands brought their own style of rock and each kept the crowd engaged.