Teddy Swims performs "Without You" during MusiCares Person of the Year honoring Mariah Carey on Friday, Jan. 30, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
From Super Bowl fun to the return of a beloved conductor and the Odo akland Interfaith Gospel Choir, there is a lot to see and hear in the Bay Area this weekend and beyond.
Here is a partial rundown.
A stroke of luck for Swims fans
Teddy Swims is set to headline the Super Bowl LX Tailgate Concert presented by NetApp — the NFL’s top pregame party — at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara on Feb. 8. But you don’t even have to leave your home to watch it.
The Grammy-nominated pop singer, who is also scheduled to perform at the 2026 BottleRock Napa Valley festival, will perform outside Levi’s prior to the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks battling it out to decide this year’s NFL champion. Bay Area hip-hop artist LaRussell will open the show.
“The Super Bowl is one of those events I grew up watching with my dad and brothers and have always dreamed of being at and performing,” says Swims, who is known for the smash hit “Lose Control” and other popular songs. “
Vallejo hip-hop star LaRussell, who will also be performing as the in-stadium house band at Levi’s on Super Bowl Sunday, is thrilled to be part of the festivities.
“Music has taken me places I never imagined, and Super Bowl is definitely one of them,” LaRussell says. “Being part of Super Bowl week in my hometown means the world to me.”
Details: The concert will be live-streamed on Peacock at 12:50 p.m. The audio will also be broadcast live on 120 iHeart stations across the country and the iHeartRadio app.
— Jim Harrington, Staff
Classical picks: McGegan, DiDonato, a whole lotta Mozart
The classical music week brings enticements that span from the Baroque era to new works — and welcomes returning artists with special programs you won’t want to miss.
“Baroque Garlands”: Nicholas McGegan, the celebrated conductor and longtime music director of the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra — and now its Music Director Emeritus — has always excelled in the dramatic works of the Baroque era. He returns to the organization this week to conduct two timeless works: Handel’s psalm setting, “Dixit Dominus,” and Rameau’s opera, “La Guirlande,” with soprano Nola Richardson and tenor Aaron Sheehan joining the Philharmonia Chorale led by Valérie Sainte-Agathe.
Details: 7:30 p.m. Deb. 6 at Herbst Theatre, San Francisco; 2:30 p.m. Feb. 7 at First Congregational Church, Berkeley; and 1 p.m. Feb. 8 at Bing Concert Hall, Stanford; $20-$125; philharmonia.org.
Mozart Aplenty: Music lovers who can’t get enough of Mozart’s works have delights in store at the San Francisco Symphony’s upcoming dream concert at Davies Symphony Hall. Under the British conductor Harry Bicket, the orchestra will play six of the composer’s works in this all-Mozart event, including Symphonies 34 in C Major and 38 in D Major, along with selections from the operas “The Marriage of Figaro” and “Don Giovanni.” The featured guest artists are soprano Golda Schultz and tenor Samuel White.
Details: 7:30 p.m. Feb. 5-7; Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco; $55-$155; sfsymphony.org.
Poetry and Music: In the countless innovative ways she’s found to explore and present music, American mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato always brings her audience along for a fascinating ride. This week, she returns to Cal Performances to explore the poems of Emily Dickinson in 24 intimate songs. She’ll be joined by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Kevin Puts and the Grammy-winning chamber trio Time for Three.
Details: 8 p.m. Feb. 7; Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley; $31-$86; calperformances.org.
— Georgia Rowe, Correspondent
2 film festivals returns to Bay Area
The Bay Area film festival season kicks into gear with not just one but two regional cinematic staples — the San Francisco IndieFest and the Mostly British Film Festival. Both get underway this week.
SF IndieFest (Feb. 5-15) exudes Bay Area talent and independent storytelling in long and short formats. All screenings take place at the Roxie in San Francisco with many films available online.
Seth Porges’ documentary “Santacon” opens the fest and looks at the cause and effect of the annual, mostly drunken, holiday tradition in San Francisco and revisits its origin story. And Rockridge filmmaker Lauren Shapiro’s “Still Life” is set in 1999 Alameda (it was shot there as well in Walnut Creek) and tells the coming-of-age story of a teen ballet dancer (Alameda’s Anika Jensen) who’s grappling with her mother’s leukemia and with her own growing-pains issues.
Details: Tickets are $5-$25; passes are $95-$250; sfindie.com.
Meanwhile, The Mostly British Film Festival (Feb. 5-12) is packed with numerous tempting titles, including the buzzy Scotland drama “I Swear,” which recounts the influential life of John Davidson who, in the 1980s, demystified what Tourette’s is and isn’t. Another option is the hard-hitting prison drama “Inside” with explosive performances from Guy Pearce and Cosmo Jarvis of “Shogun” and “Urchin.”
Details: Screenings are at the Vogue in San Francisco; tickets and more information are at mostlybritish.org.
– Randy Myers, correspondent
Storytellers go full TILT
Most of the time, when you buy a theater ticket you know what you’re in for. Not so with “TILT: Stories on the Edge,” a production that relies on everyday people steppig up and revealing their private reckonings. The stories might be funny, painful or poignant, but at the end of the night they’re all meant to be unforgettable.
Following a sold-out performance in Los Angeles, “TILT” arrives in Berkeley on Feb. 12 at the Marsh Arts Center. Guiding the night’s action is host Aaron Samson, a playwright and Moth StorySLAM champion who’ll tell his own special story. The way it works is audience members send pitches to the organizers and, if selected, they get 5-7 minutes to do live storytelling on stage. (Those interested should send a three-sentence pitch by email to sharistrulson@gmail.com, or bring it up in person that night, describing a true, first-person story they are ready to publicly disclose.)
“TILT” is a fundraiser for the Alex Manfull Fund, a nonprofit dedicated to fighting childhood neuroimmune disorders such as pediatric acute-onset neuropsychiatric syndrome (PANS).
Details: 6 p.m. Feb. 12; 2120 Allston Way, Berkeley; $30-$200; givebutter.com/tilt-berkeley.
— John Metcalfe, Staff
Here’s your freebie of the week
Black History Month and the Lunar New Year arrive at the same time of year, so why night throw a tag-team double header celebration? That’s what the Oakland Asian Cultural Center has in mind with this weekend’s event, simply titled Lunar New Year + Black History Month Celebration. And, indeed, you will find a multifaceted array of performers and activities at the free event, running from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Feb. 7 at the Oakland Asian Cultural Center, located in the Pacific Renaissance Plaza, 388 Ninth Street, Suite 290.
Expect to see and hear a lot of dancing, drumming and music from East Bay Asian and African American artists, including the Toishan Association Lion Dancers, Afro-Filipino MPWRD Collective, Patty Chu’s Chinese Dance Troupe, queer lion dance troupe Comrade Lover, Bantaba Drum Call, Urisawe Korean Drumming, and members of the SambaFunk! Dance school in Oakland. Also on hand will be a Kids + Teens Zone with storytelling and appearances by picture book author Dr. JaNay Brown-Wood, YA fantasy author Aimee Phan, and more, as well as craft activities led by Oakland’s Storyland Collective. There will be a marketplace featuring local Black and Asian vendors, as well as representatives from Eastwind Books, Marcus Books, and more. The event is part of the Oakland Asian Cultural Center’s 2020 E.A.R.S. for Change Initiative, aimed at fostering stronger ties between the Black and Asian communities.
Details: For more information, go to oacc.cc
— Bay City News Foundation
Hershey is Hershey
You still have several chances to catch the latest show by popular musician/storyteller Hershey Felder, who’s performing in Mountain View through Sunday with a production that marks a twist from his usual routine. The talented performer known for impersonating famed classical composers while playing portions of their works on piano and telling their life story is this time tackling a different subject matter – himself. “Hershey Felder: The Piano and Me” is more than a “greatest hits” production looking back at his previous shows. He’s also adding a good deal of his own story – how certain works and composers have registered in his life and helped him through heartbreak. Of course, Felder’s formidable musicianship still figures prominently in the show – which includes portions of piano works from such composers as Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt, Rachmaninoff, Bartok, and more. But after 28 years and some 6,000 performances around the world (not to mention nearly 20 films), Felder has earned the right to feature some of his own history in the mix.
Details: Performances are 7:30 p.m. Feb. 5, 8 p.m. Feb. 6, 2 and 8 p.m. Feb. 7 and 2 and 7 p.m. Feb. 8 at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, 500 Castro St. Tickets are $34-$115; go to theatreworks.org.
— Bay City News Foundation
OIGC magic
The Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir this year is marking its 40th anniversary of serving up first-rate gospel music provided by singers from a wide array of backgrounds under the direction of famed director Terrance Kelly. They have become such an institution in the Bay Area and beyond that they are the subject of a heralded documentary (“One Voice – The Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir”) and have collaborated with musical luminaries ranging from Kronos Quartet to Linda Ronstadt and many others. And their annual shows celebrating Christmas, Martin Luther King Jr. Day and others are well-known throughout the Bay Area. One of those performances returns this weekend when the choir presents its 11th Black History Month concert at The Freight music hall in Berkeley. The setlist will touch on everything from established civil rights anthems to little-known and rarely heard Negro spirituals, delivered by a talented and passionate group of vocalists who have thrilled music fans and touched hearts since the choir’s inception.
Details: The concert is 7 p.m. Feb. 7 at The Freight, 2020 Addison St.; in Berkeley’s arts district. Tickets are $39-$44; go to thefreight.org.
— Bay City News Foundation
From Baroque to hot rock
“What Is Your Hand in This” is the question bass-baritone Davóne Tines and the early music ensemble Ruckus will be putting to the audience in the Herbst Theatre on Feb. 7 night as they present a San Francisco Performances program inspired by the upcoming 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Ruckus, a group that has been described as “the world’s only period-instrument rock band,” and the singer will cross multiple musical boundaries in a program that includes works as diverse as “Why Do the Nations So Furiously Rage” from Handel’s “Messiah” to the late R&B and soul singer Sam Cooke’s “A Change Is Gonna Come.” Tines’ own “What Is My Hand in This” and his arrangement of the traditional hymn “Be the Lover of My Soul” are also on the program, as are John Dickinson’s “The Liberty Song,” Stephen Foster’s “Beautiful Dreamer”and Benjamin Carr’s “The Federal Overture.”
Details: Performance time is 7:30 p.m.; $45-$65; sfperformances.org.
— Bay City News Foundation
Originally published at Randy McMullen