Fox Opening | 02.05 - 02.07 | Oakland

looks like a hell of a venue. Looks almost as grand as the one in Atlanta.

Afraid to interview Mike Ness???? pusse

claypool should play there

it looks quite the ballerness

I totally feel you with the Playstation 3 commercial reference Franti has me disenchanted and when I hear his music it makes me wonder how somebody who is anti-corporation can be doing a playstation and fox commercial

what happened Franti?? soldout just like the mainstream

great pics Josh! Can't wait to see this in person.

If you are going to write a review of a show, stay for the whole thing, even if ya don't dig the band(Social D).

It will be interesting to see how this does in a competitive Bay Area marketplace.

THIS IS THE MOST BALLIN SHIT EVER

Makes me miss living in berkeley even more than I already do. Damn I gotta move back to the Bay

Man, Mike Ness is the shit. If you only know about his "rough" image and disregarded him based on that. Take a listen to his solo acoustic albums especially "Cheating At Solitaire".

"I decided that JamBase wasn't paying me enough to risk an interview,"

I think this is bad reporting. If you are going to cover a band and you don't know anything about them, you should do more than check out their myspace page...maybe listen to their songs and read some lyrics? Social D is, in my opinion, the shit and has had lasting power where other punk bands have either sold out or faded away. Cudoes however on calling out Franti...

i was just listening to social d's "white light, white heat, white trash" album and that record kicks fuckin ass. lyrics are really good and they rock!

Nice to see that ALO's grandparents made it out to the show. WTF?

moe - i'm with ya. Ness IS the shit. and kudo's to everyone here who said so. Greg needs to grow a set. Punk rock and the 'jamband' scene are more closely related than some may think, and Ness spoke out against the bush administration just as much as franti. don't sell 'em short Greg.

Michael Franti has become just like his show was last week - SOLD OUT

I completely agree that this was bad reporting. While it's just my opinion that Social Distortion is a great band, this reporter has an obligation to do a little research before reviewing their show. I clicked on this link mostly to read about Social Distortion and was left extremely disappointed. If you're going to advertise that you're reviewing a Social Distortion show, you should actually do a proper review. This reporter doesn't really seem to have an open mind either.

Wow the venue sounds awesome. I cant wait to check it out. Whats with the reporter? what a wussy! was it his first show ever?

Maybe Franti really likes PS3. I mean, who could blame him. I hardly see how it's "selling out" to do a commercial for a product that's awesome and he probably uses personally often. It's not like he's doing commercials for Wal-Mart or Exxon.

It appears this was written as a review of the opening of the Fox Theater, not as a review of one specific show/artist. This is evidenced by three separate nights and that least seven musical acts being covered. There was no false advertising, also it is an editorial piece so bias on the reporters part should be expected. The writer included his opinions (we all have them, obviously) and did a good job covering what is a great piece of news to the community that surrounds music.

I really enjoyed getting the chance to read about the reopening of this venue. I love the Bay area and in my opinion it has the coolest music scene in the country. The Fox will undoubtedly add years of fun and entertainment to the Bay!

I got the chance to work temporarily for Another Planet Entertainment for the first time in 2004 while visiting the Bay and made it back 3 or so other years to work with them at the Greek in Berkeley. I can honestly say this is the coolest company I have ever worked for and the Fox will be in good hands with APE at the helm. IT IS AMAZING AN INDEPENDENT PROMOTER HAS SUCH A STRONG INFLUENCE AND BOOKS SUCH INTERESTING ACTS HERE, SUPPORT IT!!!!

I have always argued just that, rev. Jones, I grew up playing in a punk band going to lots of punk and ska shows in early high school and then seeing a lot of jamband shows in later high school and college and have always thought that the scenes were closer to each other in a lot more ways than people realize. Now I attend a wide variety of shows and have just become more picky about which bands to see within those genres. Social Distortion is a great band that has stood the test of time despite all of Ness' problems and I really wish the reviewer hadn't essentially refused to review them. If he didn't want the job he should have just said so. He could have covered ALO/Franti and gotten someone else to cover Social D. I would love to see Social D. break into the festival scene along with flogging molly, gogol bordello, the dresden dolls/Amanda Palmer, and a few more bands with punk roots and attitude but other things going on musically.

The Bay Area Rocks!

well this is for sure the best new reason for all of us east bay ites to thumb our noses at our sf brothers and sisters when they say of oaktown "there's no there there". we already had the glorious paramount, right around the corner, and now this. franti and spearhead were solid, solliliquists were okay for what they were, didn't knock my socks off, ALO played a really nice though too short set but w/ a good jam w/ lights at the end. but the night's star was our new bay area venue. i love the bar that has floor to ceiling windows and looks out on to the street. there are beautiful architectural details everywhere. the photos are nice jambase but you have to be in this place, check out the groovy deco ceiling to really get it. 3 bars on the main floor and 2 upstairs i think + the giant street facing bar that has a smaller bar upstairs (which we had practically to ourselves for part of an intermission, people didn't figure out it was there) so no waiting. very cool touch that they've kept an old huge westinghouse stage switching panel about 30 feet long or so that runs along the wall between the lobby and this bar. people were having fun all night switching the switches and making lights go on and off, great attention to detail that they kept this old thing. the staff were also really nice friendly and helpful all night. yahooo! sound a bit shrill and or bouncy but i trust APE to get this under control over time. OAKTOWN BABY!

"I couldn't get over the feeling that Mike Ness was YELLING at me," wow dude. First off, I think Mike Ness is one of the few punk frontmen who actually has a decent singing voice and good lyrics to back it up. Also, the fact that you were afraid to interview him because of his violent past (most of which occurred about 20 years ago) shows that you went into their show with a closed mind and didn't give them the chance they deserved. Besides the Social Distortion snub, this was a decent review and if I ever make it out west I hope to catch a show here.

Great looking venue, I can't wait to one day see a show there! FYI - Mike Ness is a cool dude, I knew him back in the day ('83) when SD was a local OC punk band. I'm sure he's stil a cool dude. Too bad for JBase.

no no no, this isnt a social D review, thats fine if he didnt want to review the guy. And no social distortion shouldnt make it to the festival scene, and no, the scenes arent that similar.

How do you figure there actually similar anyway? Punk is aggressive, jam is passive, punk is 40% kids being dropped off by the rents or older brother (yes, just like you and me when we where freshman), punk is focused on different drugs. Politics, okay some similarities, and cmon what musician besides ted nuggent didnt speeak out against bush anyway?

punk is all about short fast sets, jams takin sweet time.... i could go on but only like 6 pple will even read this being that this review is ole news anyway. (: on that note, ive been whatching the sapranos series for the first time, i have a crush on meadow saprano.

does anyone know who the brunette back-up singer was with franti during one of his last songs, "I got love for you"? She was wearing a black gown and sounded great. But who is she?!?!