Rocktober 2025

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass in San Francisco, Ziggy Marley and Burning Spear, Saxsquatch, Paul McCartney, moe., Herbie Hancock, Daniel Donato, and more!

Many firsts were in store for me this Rocktober, my favorite month. First Hardly Strictly, first shows at Mystic Lake, Walker Art Center’s McGuire Theatre and Zhora Darling, first time seeing Burning Spear, Jack Knife and The Sharps or Herbie Hancock, and I’m sure many more.

10.3 Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival at Golden Gate Park with Sinkane, The Reverend Horton Heat, Margo Price, and Nathaniel Rateliff and The Night Sweats

My first time at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival coincided with the 25th anniversary of the event, held in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. Music was spread out over six stages. Somewhere around 80 artists performed over the course of the weekend, playing to an estimated 750,000 people.

Entering the festival, I heard the band Purple Blaze reminding the early afternoon crowd that it used to be called Strictly Bluegrass before playing their take on Lucinda Williams’ “It’s Over But I Can’t Let Go”. My research tells me that the first several years it was indeed ‘Strictly Bluegrass’, and Hardly was added in 2004.

The first act on my schedule was Sinkane, the Sudanese American singer songwriter. I’d never seen him before and was only moderately familiar with his music. His band was upbeat and he alternated between acoustic and electric guitars. His “Favorite Song” was a highlight.

We arrived at The Reverend Horton Heat’s set just in time to hear him playing “Big River”, making me feel like I was back home on the Mississippi. His big hit song, “Psychobilly Freakout” was among the best freakouts of the weekend.

The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band mentioned that they got started in California in 1966, an impressive run. Surprisingly, the sole original member, Jeff Hanna, and his son Jaimie who’s been in the band since ‘18, didn’t play the band’s biggest hit, “Fishin’ in the Dark”. Instead they opted instead to play two Bob Dylan songs, as well as one from one from Hank Williams, one from The Band, and the title track to NBDB’s landmark 1972 album, Will The Circle Be Unbroken. They also welcomed mandolinist extraordinaire Sam Bush to the stage for “Take Me In You Lifeboat”.

Margo Price played several of the same rollicking songs that appeared in her Farm Aid set two weeks prior, revisiting “Maggie’s Farm” and bringing country legend Rodney Crowell to the stage for “Don’t Let The Bastards Get You Down”. As an encore, Miss Margo led the crowd in an a cappella version of Janis Joplin’s “Mercedes Benz”, a lovely tribute to the San Francisco legend. Another great set from Margo and I’m looking forward to seeing her again at First Ave in the spring.

Nathaniel Rateliff and The Night Sweat were one of four acts that played Farm Aid in Minneapolis exactly two weeks prior to Hardly, and they delivered another high energy set complete with crisp horns and vigorous vocals. With music ending each day at 7pm, the day flew by.

Sinkane:

“Favorite Song”:

NGDB with Sam Bush:

Pooches were plentiful and happy at this expansive festival with endless green space and lots of shade available. Temperatures were a balmy (for San Francisco in October) mid seventies.

The Rev’s “Psychobilly Freakout”:

Margo Price:

MP and Rodney Crowell:

NR & The Night Sweats:

10.4 Hardly Strictly Bluegrass at Golden Gate Park with Samara Joy, Dan Tyminski, Sam Bush, Jeff Tweedy Steve Earle,

Jazz singer Samara Joy was first on my agenda for Day Two, and she played to an enormous early afternoon crowd. I’d seen her perform in the Gospel Tent at Jazzfest last year, so I knew not to miss her impressive scatting skills.

Dan Tyminski Band was up next, and while most people don’t know that name, they’re likely to recognize his voice as the “Man of Constant Sorrow” from Oh Brother Where Art Thou, the soundtrack to which is thought to have sparked a resurgence in the genre that brought us all to the park on this fine day. That album also features one of my favorite singers of all time, Allison Krauss, who Tyminski played with for many years in her band Union Station. Hearing the iconic “Man Of Constant Sorrow” live was perhaps the most strictliest bluegrass moment of the weekend. His twangful voice and outstanding band, featuring dobro, banjo, and mandolin, also sounded fantastic on the standard “Why You Been Gone So Long” and one of Phish’s favorite bluegrass numbers, “Old Home Place”.

Naturally, Jeff Tweedy played the gorgeous “California Stars” during his set, a song written by Woody Guthrie sometime in the 1930s or 1940s and recorded by Wilco and righteous rabble rouser Billy Bragg. It’s among my favorite Wilco songs, even if it is only half or 1/3 Wilco.

Samara Joy:

Apologies for this shaky video, it’s zoomed in about x50:

Dan Tyminski Band:

“Man Of Constant Sorrow”:

“Old Home Place”:

Sam Bush:

Jeff Tweedy:

Steve Earle and The Hardly Strictly Dukes:

“Copperhead Road”:

“This Land Is Your Land”:

10.4 String Cheese Incident at The Fillmore Theatre

A first set highlight was the cover of Vassar Clements/Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (who they would cover again during their HSB set the following day) song “Lonesome Fiddle Blues”. That song’s melody was famously borrowed/co-opted by Charlie Daniels and used in “The Devil Went Down To Georgia”. Also played were “Joyful Sound” and “Eye Know Why” before ABB’s “Revival” concluded the first set. Second set got into spacier territory with “The Other One”, a nod to the Grateful Dead, whose house at 710 Ashbury is less than two miles from the venue.

“Revival”:

“The Other One”:

This SCI fan had the right idea:

10.5 Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival at Golden Gate Park with Alan Sparhawk and Trampled by Turtles, String Cheese Incident, Lucinda Williams, Charlie Parr, I’m With Her

Starting the day off for me was I’m With Her, a supergroup featuring Sarah Jarosz and and Aoife O’Donovan on guitar, and Sara Watkins on fiddle. Their harmonies are incredible and their song “Ancient Light” is one of my favorite songs of the year.

Charlie Parr had the most attentive audience of the weekend, where there were hundreds, perhaps even a thousand or two people seated quietly for the duration of his show. Opening with “817 Oakland Ave” was a lovely shout out to Duluth, where I saw Charlie perform countless times in the seven years I lived there. After playing “Cheap Wine”, one of his darker tunes about operating a liquor store and framing a young man for murder, he remarked “That wasn’t really a festival song” to laughs and applause. “Red Cedar” was fantastic, as we were surrounded by the eucalyptus and cypress trees. I’ve never been to a festival with so many dogs, so it was appropriate for him to play “Dog”. A nice pooch made an appearance in the clip of that song below. Parr closed his set with a stirring a cappella rendition of “Ain’t No Grave” that brought everyone to their feet.

Lucinda Williams’ “You Can’t Move Me” came after she did an excellent version of Bob Marley’s “So Much Trouble In The World”, and “Car Wheels On A Gravel Road” was played earlier in her set. She was married onstage at First Ave, which I’ve always thought is pretty spectacular.

After covering Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s “Lonesome Fiddles Blues the night prior at their excellent show at the Fillmore Theatre, Cheese revisited Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s catalog with “Fishin’ In The Dark” with mandolinist A.J Lee. They brought up Tim O’Brien and Peter Rowan to guest on a cover of O’Brien’s Celtic sounding instrumental “Lands End”. Fun to go from seeing a band play at a small theatre with 1600 people one night and the same band play in front 100 times that many people the following afternoon. Thanks again for scoring those Fillmore tix, AG!

The finale of the weekend was Alan Sparhawk with Trampled By Turtles, who together put out one of my favorite albums of the year. The seven coolly commanded the attention of the huge audience with their compelling and thoughtfully curated setlist. They switched it up between songs from their collaborative record, (“Stranger”), TBT’s material (“Alone”), and Low’s (“Days Like These”). Sparhawk has been a mentor to the guys in TBT since probably before the band formed, and I know they hold him in very high esteem, as we all do. We skipped Emmy Lou Harris to be at this set, and I stand by that decision. This would be the first of three Sparhawk performances I would see in the first 10 days of the month, leading me to contemplate if this month would turn out to be Sparhawktober.

The Crew: Me, Rick and AG

I’m With Her:

Charlie Parr:

“Dog”:

“Jubilee”:

“Ain’t No Grave”:

Lucinda Williams:

“So Much Trouble In The World”:

String Cheese Incident:

“Fishin’ In The Dark”:

Alan Sparhawk with Trampled By Turtles:

“Stranger”:

“Alone”:

“Days Like These”:

No visit to San Francisco is complete without dropping by the famous Grateful Dead house at 710 Asbury Street, in the Haigh Asbury district, very close to Golden Gate Park.

10.9 Ziggy Marley and Burning Spear at Mystic Lake Showroom

Incredible show from two legends of reggae in what may be one of the best venues in the state. I can’t believe I’d never been there before but I was thoroughly impressed! The 80 year-old Burning Spear opened the show, shuffling between his conga set and center stage. The 1975 jam “Marcus Garvey” was a highlight of his set.

Ziggy Marley, Bob’s oldest son, has won multiple Grammys and has steadfastly carried his father’s music into the 21st century. He is am absolute joy to watch and his stage presence, hopping, running in place, and his impassioned singing, is as close to Bob as we will ever get. In addition to the classic songs of his father, Ziggy played a number of his originals, such as the wonderful “Love Is My Religion”:

“Get Up, Stand Up>War/No More Trouble”:

Setlist courtesy of Shane W, nice work Shane!

10.9 WE Collective at Gluek’s

Another great lineup for Will’s Thursday night series at Gluek’s - this time he was joined by Jon Miller on guitar, Jon Ross on drums, and Joe Barron on bass.

10.10 Shahzad Ismaily: Bitterness Is Not a Bridge at The Walker Art Center’s McGuire Theatre

This program featured eight different artists of wildly different genres collaborating with Pakistani-American multi-instrumentalist Shahzad Ismaily, who played bass, percussion, keyboards, and a xylophone. I went into the show with no expectations at all, and left knowing that I’d be contemplating the subtleties of that show for some time.

For the first couple movements, it was very quiet. Sneezes were being stifled like they’ve never been stifled, and you could hear people shifting in their seats. The different sections each had their own distinct sound, with minimalist flourishes from Ismaily. My favorite parts were the Pow Wow singers Joe Rainey and Dylan Bizhikiins Jennings, who were joined on piano by s carey. Another moving section was Alan Spahawk, who’d brought along a guest singer whose name I didn’t catch, although I am fairly certain it was his daughter. They performed “Don’t Take Your Light” from his new album with Trampled by Turtles. It’s a riveting number that saw Ismaily adding light touches on a Minimoog. The only other structured song in the 90 minute performance was near the end from the accomplished singer songwriter Laura Veirs, whose brief set I also enjoyed.

The Finale:

10.10 Jack Knife and the Sharps at The Schooner Tavern

Rockabilly trio Jack Knife & The Sharps have been around for quite some time, 1984 according to their bio (on the First Ave website, which is the coolest place to link to a band’s bio, imo) and remarkably I’d never seen them before. I enjoyed their swinging sound that prompted many regulars to hit the dance floor for some impressive two-steppin’. In addition to Neil Young’s “Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere” he played a solo version of John Prine’s “Hello In There”.

“Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere”:

10.11 Bob Weir’s Birthday Bash at Ben’s Backyard

Longtime supporter of the scene and all around good guy Ben P has a tradition of hosting a backyard party in celebration of Bob Weir’s birthday and his own, which happens to be very close to my own bday. This year’s excellent band was led by Demitri Rallis, who was joined by Robert Hilstrom on keyboards, Ben Bukstein on percussion, Gregg Shutte on drums, and at points Mike Corcoran on guitar and Jason Fladager on guitar. The ensemble played a number of Grateful Dead songs, including a dynamite “Scarlett>Fire” and “Franklin’s Tower”.

Shakedown Street
Prince Caspian>
Don’t Let Go
Scarlett Begonias >

Fire On The Mountain

Franklin’s Tower

10.12 Circuit City: Alan Sparhawk, Jeremy Ylvisaker, Liz Draper, and Suwal Singh

This event was billed as “An afternoon altar. Building, bridging and strengthening community through gathering, hope and healing music. Nestled among the buildings in the heart of the West Bank. Summoning and soundplay. Curated by bassist Liz Draper.”

As I enjoyed lunch at The Weinery next door to this small open lot on Cedar Ave, The Twin Cities Bronze Bell Choir could be heard through the open windows as they chimed away as the afternoon’s opening act.

Then Circuit City, who seem to be an occasional project of guitarist Jeremy Ylvisaker, formed a circle and began. I honestly could listen to any one of these folks play alone for a long time. Two amazing guitarists, and the tabla is such a cool instrument providing Indian percussion, and Draper alternating between standard and upright bass. Having seen Alan Sparhawk perform the previous Sunday in San Francisco and two nights prior at The Walker, I was happy to keep thestreak going. Unfortunately he had no more gig on the calendar for the month so it was the conclusion of Sparhawktober.

Like Friday’s show, this was a low key affair that occasionally got funky and/or spacey between bouts of dronish riffs. I’m proud to live in a city that has an Arts and Cultural Affairs department that sponsors this kind of event!

10.12 Shotgun Ragtime Band at Driftwood

The band’s 747th consecutive Sunday was also my 47th birthday. Art Hoffman was filling in on rhythm guitar and Brian Greene was on lead. GR on keys, Munchie on drums and Phil on bass and we’re in business. Thanks Kate and Julie for the treats!

Feel Like A Stranger

Loose Lucy

Little Red Rooster

Big Railroad Blues

Bird Song

New Speedway Boogie

Shakedown Street

Eyes>

Drums>Space>

Black Peter

West LA Fadeaway

10.16 Saxsquatch at Skyway Theater

“I just wanna say I’m so grateful to here with y’all tonight, and not alone in the woods, you know what I’m sayin” was one of the many times Saxsquatch expressed genuine appreciation for us, the fans, who have presumably made his dream come true. Happy to do it, my good man. Getting Rick Rolled by a sasquatch playing saxophone was not on my agenda for Rocktober, but it takes all kinds. This was a fun set from an creative and dedicated 7-foot-tall dude.

10.16 WE Collective at Gluek’s

This week’s Collective was Will, Scott Yonke, Marcus Schmid of Big Tasty and Wookiefoot on keys, and drummer Sam McKinney. The night included:

They Call Me The Breeze

Cobblestones

Bittersweet Symphony

Dark Timber

“Cobblestones”:

10.17 Paul McCartney at US Bank Stadium

When you stop and think about it, getting to see a Beatle is pretty remarkable. They were the epicenter of popular music years before I was born, and I can think of few people in the history of the world that are as universally revered as Paul McCartney. He is one of the most successful songwriters ever, and is still performing his beloved songs after more than 60 years. Parents brought children of all ages, grown children brought parents of all ages, and I’m fairly certain everyone wept at one point or another.

At 83, Paul is not quite as nimble as the last and only other time I saw him perform, at Target Field in 2014. But 11 years later, though his voice creaked and wavered here and there, this an absolutely joyful show was among the best I’ve ever seen.

60 years after The Fab Four reportedly had their first saunas ever, in the Twins locker room at Met Stadium, Paul returned to play the biggest venue in Minnesota, this time in front of around 50,000 fans. The only song that was played at the Met Stadium show and at US Bank Stadium was “Help!”, which opened Friday’s show. Macca brought along a three piece horn section for added punch, and his veteran band was on point, adding everything from scorching guitars to harmonies to accordion to tambourine (one of which was adorned with the Prince Love Symbol and shown on the big screens). Paul himself played bass, electric and acoustic guitars, a ukulele and piano.

This was at least my sixth show at US Bank Stadium, and it had the best sound of them all. I was hesitant to even buy tickets, knowing how bad the sound can be, but the risk paid off handsomely. Highlights from the 36 song, nearly three hour show were nonstop and sourced from Paul’s solo work, The Beatles, and even The Quarrymen, the precursor to The Beatles. “Help”, the relatively obscure “Coming Up”, “Got To Get You Into My Life”, “Drive My Car” (those were the first four songs!) “Getting Better”, “Maybe I’m Amazed”, “Blackbrid”, “Jet”, “Something”, “Band On The Run”, “Get Back”, “Let It Be”, “Live And Let Die”, “Hey Jude”, “Helter Skelter”, “Carry That Weight”, and “The End”. Ok so that’s about half the songs played but they’re some of the biggest songs ever. I appreciated how he paid tribute to his dear friend John Lennon with the ‘final Beatles song’ from 2023, “Now And Then” , and to George Harrison by playing “Something”.

The ever cheeky Paul remarked “See you next time!” before a cloud of confetti billowed from the stage and left no doubt that the spellbinding show was over. I hope he’s right and we’ll see him next time.

“Getting Better”:

“Blackbird”:

“Band On The Run”:

“Let It Be”:

“Live and Let Die”:

10.19 moe. at Fitzgerald Theatre

The night after moe. sent a message of solidarity to the nationwide NO KINGS rallies via their setlist in Madison Saturday night, the Buffalo, NY, band brought their 35th anniversary tour to the Twin Cities. It had been quite a long time since I’d seen moe., maybe all the way back at 10,000 Lakes Festival, where they played at least one year. The unexpected covers of Traffic’s “Low Spark Of High Heeled Boys” and Bruce Springsteen’s “Pink Cadillac” in the second set were memorable moments, as were moe. standards “Blue Jeans Pizza” and “Timmy Tucker”. I also always appreciate a xylophone and heard a few great solos from percussionist Jim Loughlin. Oh, and their walk on music was “I Will Dare” from The Replacements.

“Jazz Cigarette”:

“Pink Cadillac”:

10.22 Herbie Hancock at Orpheum Theater

The Jazz virtuoso still clearly enjoys performing at 85 years old, even breaking out his keytar for a super funky medley with “Rockit” and the show ending “Chameleon”. Otherwise he stuck to keyboards and a joke or two about the Miles Davis days. He was joined for the 8 song, 2 hour show by SNL bassist James Genus, film scorer Terence Blanchard on trumpet, Lionel Lueke on guitar and Jaylen Petinaud on drums (youngest member of the band by a few decades at 27). Really happy that I got to see this Jazz legend!

“Rockit”:

“Chameleon”:

10.22 Twine at Bunker’s

Guesting on drums tonight was Kale of Matcha Fever and for “Ride Me High”, Toni, also from Matcha Fever as well as the only authorized Prince tribute, Chase and Ovation.

Jon and Will on Dire Straits’ (I always thought Mary Chapin Carpenter wrote it!) “The Bug”:

“The Bug” sax solo from Snowman:

10.24 Magoo with Buffalo Galaxy at 7th Street Entry

Bluegrass buzzband Magoo made what I assume to be their first stop in Minneapolis, as I’d never heard of them until a few days before the show. The Colorado quartet covered the bases for me with high energy, a dobro, guitar, mandolin and upright bass. Locals Buffalo Galaxy opened the show.

Buffalo Galaxy:

Magoo:

10.25 People Brothers Band with SaltyDog at Hook and Ladder Theater

The two out-of-town bands, both known for funky grooves, have made somewhat of a second home in Minneapolis, where they’ve both played multiple shows in recent months and continued to garner an enthusiastic fan base. Fun to see members of each band hop on stage with the other a week before they would again join forces for Halloween in Duluth. PBB had Maxophone on saxophone too!

“Long Train Running”

“Big River”

The Hook has the best volunteers in town!

10.28 Dead North with Mikkel Bee at 331 Club

Dead North are a couple that moved to Minneapolis from Michigan recently, with the fella playing acoustic and the lady playing mandolin or fiddle. Mikkel adds such a cool layer of rhythm too. Impressive skills from the pair, who performed Billy Strings’ “Dust In A Baggie” and Ralph Stanley’s “Little Maggie”.

“Dust In A Baggie”:

“Little Maggie”:

10.29 Dream of the Wild / Terrapin Stallion at Zhora Darling

My first time at Zhora Darling, and wow, I was very impressed. The place looks really cool and sounds great. There’s a bar in the venue, which is separate from the bar/restaurant. This was billed as Terrapin Stallion, which, if I understand correctly, is Dream of the Wild with the theme of Grateful Dead and Ween songs.

10.29 Twine at Bunker’s

Great show and lively crowd for this special Twine-O-Ween themed night, the first of two. The band was in costume and seasonal tunes like “Thriller” set the tone for the evening.

10.30 Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country at First Ave

Another stellar show from DDCC, their second year in a row playing the Main Room Halloween Eve. In 2023 they played the Amsterdam on the 29th. Donato has a big Halloween event in Milwaukee every year (where this year they would debut over a dozen wildy different covers) which works out nicely for Minneapolis. Our setlist was comprised of a lot of songs from the new album, Horizons. I love how much Donato enjoys performing with his outstanding band, and how he seems to be just as much in awe of keyboardist Nate ‘Sugarlegg’ Aronowitz as the rest of us are. Having seen this band at least 7 times by my count (2-3 at Blue Ox, one in Nashville, two First Ave, one Amsterdam, one at Palace theatre opening for Greensky Bluegrass) I can safely say this band keeps getting better.

10.30 Twine at Gluek’s

Part Two of Twine-O-Ween kept the holiday cheer going a block away from the outstanding Daniel Donato show at First Ave. The stage was covered in cobwebs and the band sounded so dang good that I couldn’t stop grooving long enough to get any footage, just a couple snaps of john_hamsandwich and Snowman with their masks.

10.31 China Rider featuring Snowman at Day Block Brewing

Three nights of Snowman in a row to close out Rocktober? Don’t mind if I do! Brian ‘Snowman’ Powers and his saxophone were a lively addition to China Rider’s already talented lineup for this Halloween show. The Pink Floyd numbers in the second set were a fun and well executed Halloween surprise!

Setlist included:

Alabama Getaway

Lazy River Road

New Speedway Boogie

After Midnight w Elanor Rigby teases

Me and Bobby McGee

Bird Song

Mexicali Blues

Dark Star >

Breathe >

Brain Damage >

Eclipse

E:

The Wheel >Dark Star

Snowman on “New Speedway Boogie”:

“Us and Them”:

“Eclipse”:

That’s a wrap for Rocktober, another fun one! Three Sparhawk show to start the month and three Snowman shows to end the month, with plenty in between. Thanks for following along and stay tuned for Showvember!