Thursday 6 June 2024

Spring into Summer: New and Noteworthy Entertainment and Jazz in San Francisco

Golden Gate Bandshell 
San Francisco Travel's latest roundup features updates on entertainment and jazz. 

All of San Francisco is a Stage

SF Live, a new free outdoor concert series kicks off in May, bringing arts and culture into the city's parks and plaza. The series will feature live music curated by entertainment venues and showcase local, national, and international talent. Each concert offers a diverse lineup of artists, ranging from rising indie bands to well-established jazz ensembles and high-energy pop acts. Over the next six months, SF Live concerts will be held at iconic open spaces and locations such as the Golden Gate Park Bandshell, Jerry Garcia Amphitheater, Union Square Plaza, Civic Center Plaza, Crane Cove Park, Fulton Plaza, and Eagle Plaza. A who's who of San Francisco entertainment and music venues is curating the entertainment lineup, including Mr. Tipple's, The Great Northern, Monarch, Madrone Art Bar, Bottom of the Hill, El Rio, Neck of the Woods, Great American Music Hall, Rickshaw Stop, The EndUp, Pandora Karaoke, Kilowatt, Cafe Du Nord, The Chapel, and The SF Eagle.

The SF Live music series in Union Square will encompasses four free happy hour concerts every second Thursday starting from June 13, plus three free large concerts on June 15, Sept. 21, and Oct. 12.

The Illuminate Live series in Golden Gate Park at the historic Golden Gate Bandshell runs through mid-November. The free concert series, held every Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday, features over 125 diverse concerts and genres.

Fisherman's Wharf will host a Pier Party at the Wharf with free performances every Saturday through to the end of October.

The new Chinatown Night Market on Grant Street takes place every second Friday evening of the month through November. The Chinatown Night Market features traditional foods along with music, performances, and activities for all ages.

Back for a second year, the popular Bhangra & Beats Night Market brings South Asian Bhangra and popular Bay Area music, street food, cocktails, and local artisans to downtown. The night market will take over three city blocks on July 12, Sept. 13, and Nov. 15.

Hip Hop on the Plaza, a series of free, all-ages events celebrating the rich history and diverse artistry of hip hop dance in San Francisco, returns this year. Running through September 2024 on UN Plaza, the series' dynamic lineup of programming includes weekly dance workshops and bi-monthly dance battles.

Civic Center Soundtrack, a free concert series between the San Francisco Main Library and the Asian Art Museum, brings diverse performances every Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday afternoons throughout the summer.

The Golden Gate Park Band, San Francisco's oldest musical organization, returns to the park for its 142nd season with free weekly performances showcasing San Francisco Bay Area cultural organizations and heritages every Sunday through Oct. 6. Visitors will also find permitted buskers playing in Golden Gate Park and on Market Street in the Mid-Market district.

The nation's longest-running free music festival, Stern Grove Festival, is a free ticketed concert series taking place on Sundays in June, July, and August. In early October, the free Hardly Strictly Bluegrass returns to Golden Gate Park with a lineup of country, soul, folk, and more performers across stages.

All That Jazz

A number of jazz and jazz-inspired venues have opened recently, including Stookey's Club Moderne's sister venue The Blue Room—a new bar and cabaret venue with a post-Prohibition theme featuring live music; The Dawn Club, which evokes a historic 1930s jazz club; Keys Jazz Bistro in North Beach, and GeeLou in the Marina. These complement classic jazz spots like Mr. Tipple's Recording Studio and the Black Cat supper club.

SFJAZZ, the largest non-profit jazz presenter in the world, will feature over 100 concerts across the 41st Annual San Francisco Jazz Festival (June 11 to 23), and the SFJazz Summer Sessions series. The San Francisco Fillmore Jazz Festival—the largest free jazz festival on the West Coast—will take place from July 6 to 7.

Boxcar Theatre relaunched its hit immersive theater experience set in a Prohibition-era nightclub: The Speakeasy: Age of Scofflaws (playing through June 23). The show transports audiences back to the Roaring 1920s inside an intricately designed space complete with a two-story cabaret, three bars, a casino, secret passageways, and disguised entrances.

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