Hip-hop star sets shows in NorCal

Bay Area fans were bummed when Tyler, the Creator removed himself from the 2024 Outside Lands bill for undisclosed reasons. (Yet, let’s face it, a lot of those frowns turned upside down once organizers announced that none other than Sabrina Carpenter would serve as the fill-in headliner.)

Still, Tyler fans did miss seeing the hip-hop superstar at the festival. Fortunately, they’ll have plenty of chances to make up for that as Tyler, the Creator returns to Northern California to perform three big shows.

The Grammy-winning rapper performs Sunday at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, Monday at Oakland Arena and March 5 at Chase Center in San Francisco. (And that’s on top of the truly impressive half-dozen gigs also listed on his tour schedule at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.)

Tyler is touring in support of his chart-topping eighth studio album, “Chromakopia,” from last year. The record follows 2021’s “Call Me If You Get Lost.” Fellow rapper Lil Yachty — a true rising star in the hip-hop game — opens the shows.

Details: Show times are 7:30 p.m. for all concerts; tickets start at $140 (subject to change); ticketmaster.com.

— Jim Harrington, Staff

Classical picks: Fleur Barron, Pocket Opera, more

This week, Bay Area music organizations are offering some of their most appealing shows of the season. Here are three events you won’t want to miss.

Barron returns: Back in 2023, Bay Area audiences were lucky enough to experience the San Francisco Symphony’s production of “Adriana Mater” by Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho. One of the stars of the production was Singaporean-British mezzo-soprano Fleur Barron, who gave an unforgettable performance in the title role and won a Grammy Award for her work on the opera’s recording. Now Bay Area music fans have another opportunity to experience her artistry, as part of the San Francisco Performances concert series. She’ll perform, accompanied by pianist Kunal Lahiry, in a wide-ranging program of works by Mahler, Messiaen, Ravel, Ruo, Weber, Weill and others. Details: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday; Herbst Theatre, San Francisco; $50-$70; sfperformances.org.

Trifonov at Davies: At the San Francisco Symphony, Esa-Pekka Salonen welcomes pianist Daniil Trifonov for a performance of Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 2. Also on the program: Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring,” along with the world premiere of Xavier Muzik’s S.F. Symphony-commissioned “Strange Beasts.” The event includes a pre-concert talk with Muzik, the third winner of the Emerging Black Composers Project, and Benjamin Pesetsky. Details: 7:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, 2 p.m. Sunday; $36.75-$199; sfsymphony.org.

Pocket Opera around the Bay: Pocket Opera, the Bay Area company known for its English translations crafted by founder and music director emeritus Donald Pippin, launches its 48th season this weekend. First on the calendar is Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro, with performances in Mountain View, Berkeley, and San Francisco; still to come this season are “A Pocket Magic Flute,” Kirke Mechem’s “Tartuffe” and Offenbach’s “La Vie Parisienne.” Artists for the season include Bay Area star soprano Shawnette Sulker and bass-baritone Eugene Brancoveanu. Details: “Marriage of Figaro,” Friday through March 2; pocketopera.org.

— Georgia Rowe, Correspondent

Skateboarding history in art

Ah, 1976 — the leap year that saw the U.S. Bicentennial, the birth of Apple Computer and the first successful Mars landing. And if you were into subculture it was a pretty groovy year for California skateboarding, too, as evidenced in a new show at Danville’s Museum of the San Ramon Valley. Jeff Heyman, a photographer based in Orinda (heymanfoto.smugmug.com), spent that year as a student at a local high school where he worked for the school rag, The Wolf Print. One of his projects was documenting the skateboarders at Montevideo, a drainage ditch in San Ramon where, as legend has it, much of the modern sport of skateboarding began.

In “Montevideo: Skateboarding History in the San Ramon Valley,” Heyman presents 20 rare, black-and-white images showing what was going down at this pivotal moment in history — young skaters from all over Northern California grinding, ollieing and having fun in the sun, long hair and bare chests and all. Check it out before the exhibit rolls away on June 8.

Details: Hours are 1-4 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday and noon-3 p.m. Sunday; 205 Railroad Ave., Danville; $5 general admission; museumsrv.org.

— John Metcalfe, Staff

Stream this: ‘All Happy Families’

Meet the Landrys, your average dysfunctional Chicago-area family that’s descending on their family home to get it prepped to rent since deadbeat but lovable son Graham (Josh Radnor) tends to blunder about with things like that. At least that’s how his vain TV star brother Will (Rob Huebel) sees it, and since he now owns that family home he wants to get in shape for incoming renter Dana (Chandra Russell).

The eventual gathering brings recently retired mom Sue (Becky Ann Baker) and complaining dad Roy (John Ashton) to help out and, along with kicking up dust bunnies and fixing pipes, the long-standing family drama as well as some workplace dramas surface. Director and co-screenwriter Haroula Rose’s wise and funny homecoming dramedy is entirely relatable and likable from first frame to last. It’s a real find that celebrates family but acknowledges it’s never easy to be under the same roof again with all of your parents and siblings for an extended amount of time.

This one’s been out for a bit but deserves a wider audience.

Details: One hour, 30 minutes running time; available to rent on various platforms.

— Randy Myers, Correspondent

Unleash the sounds — Noise Pop is back

Once upon a time, the phrase noise pop referred to a genre of music defined by elements of rock and pop music punctured with feedback and dissonance and told stories about people who were in general not happy with the way their lives were going.

But music fans in the Bay Area have long since recognized the phrase as the name of an annual music festival that brings a wide range of rock and pop acts to the Bay Area for a 10-day music explosion that includes some 50 concerts and other events. As usual, the lineup is a head-spinning mix of A-List rock and pop acts, including stars like St. Vincent, the Bay Area’s own Fantastic Negrito and Death Cab for Cutie frontman Benjamin Gibbard; critics darlings like the exciting young hip-hop star Earl Sweatshirt and indie rockers Mercury Rev; and a boatload of emerging artists that — who knows? — might become your next favorite music act.

This marks Noise Pop’s 32nd year, and although there might be a slightly heavier tilt toward established acts compared to its early years, the festival is a goldmine for music nerds and casual fans alike, and ranks up there with the Sketchfest annual comedy festival as happenings the Bay Area is truly lucky to call its own.

Details: Today through March 2; various San Francisco venues; Tickets vary per show, all-show general admission badges $289.71; information, complete schedule, tickets and more is available at www.noisepopfest.com.

— Randy McMullen, Staff