We’re in prime summer concert season, and the Central Coast is delivering with a ton of great shows. For starters, Good Vibez presents Old 97’s at the Fremont Theater on Thursday, Aug. 6 (doors at 7, show at 8 p.m.; all ages; $33.96 at prekindle.com).
This killer alt-country act started as a Dallas bar band in 1992 and now—32 years later—has 13 studio albums, two EPs, and a live album to their credit, not to mention a few collaborations. Singles include the relentlessly infectious “Timebomb”: “I got a timebomb, in my mind Mom/ I hear it ticking but I don’t know why/ I call the police, but they don’t like me/ I hear ’em whispering when I walk by.”
Super cool band, and North Carolina singer-songwriter River Shook opens.
Also from Good Vibez at the Fremont, see Rocky Mountain High Experience—A John Denver Tribute on Friday, July 31 (doors at 7, show at 8 p.m.; all ages; $25.72 to $60.74 at prekindle.com). Rick Schuler is a shoo-in for Denver in both looks and sound. He was 13 “when a pair of round glasses revealed a striking resemblance to Denver—and sparked a lifelong passion,” his bio explained.
Hear “Sunshine on My Shoulders,” “Thank God I’m a Country Boy,” “Rocky Mountain High,” “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” and more.
Massive attack
Numbskull and Good Medicine have bunch of shows all over the Central Coast this week staring with LA club band Starcrawler at Club Car Bar on Friday, July 31 (doors at 7 p.m.; all ages; $24.41 at goodmedicinepresents.com). They’re known for their explosive live shows and their swaggering frontwoman Arrow De Wilde. They live their own version of Hollywood Babylon and list X, The Go-Go’s, The Distillers “and some Rolling Stones sleaze” as inspiration. Sluttony opens.
New Zealand indie rock quartet The Beths and Chicago indie-pop trio Beach Bunny share the bill at the Alex Madonna Expo Center on Tuesday, Aug. 4 (doors at 6 p.m.; all ages; $49.13 at goodmedicinepresents.com). The Beths’ 2025 release Straight Line Was a Lie made year-end “Best Of” lists in Rolling Stone, Consequence of Sound, Slate, and more. Wishy opens.
Singer-songwriter McKinley James plays Club Car Bar on Thursday, Aug. 6 (8 p.m.; all ages; $15.66 at goodmedicinepresents.com). He’s touring in support of his debut album, Working Class Blues, that mixes rock, soul, and raw R&B sounds.
Meanwhile down in Santa Maria, Thee Sinseers and The Altons play Presqu’ile Winery on Thursday, Aug. 6 (8 p.m.; all ages; $47.07 at goodmedicinepresents.com). The LA bands share some members and deliver “souldies,” soul, R&B, and more. Introverted Funk opens.
The great outdoors
This week at Concerts in the Plaza, hear the coastal folk of Graybill at 5 p.m. on Friday, July 31, in Mission Plaza. If you dig Jack Johnson’s sound, Graybill delivers a similar vibe with the hooky, melody-driven songs. He’s followed by ’80s pop, rock, and dance cover act The Molly Ringwald Project at 6 p.m. Expect a lot of familiar hits. It’s free, it’s fun, and it’s a party
Reap the whirlwind
Populated by a trio of veteran Central Coast musicians, Froglicker is a band “that believes that polar bears have a right to exist on Earth and that humans should not dominate or harm them. Left-wing wackos? Maybe. A power trio looking to dare the fun-licking gods into action, jumping from town to town and garage to garage to try to entertain the folks on the Central Coast? Absolutely!” said the band.
See them at the Olde Ale House this Saturday, Aug. 1 (6 p.m.; all ages; free), with another local band, Rewild.
Everything but Country Dick
The Siren’s got a bevy of shows lined up, including The Beat Farmers on Wednesday, Aug. 5 (7:30 p.m.; 21-and-older; $33.29 at tixr.com). Back in the day, this was the hardest drinking, loudest playing cowpunk bar band in all the land.
They still play a ripping mix of roots rock, country rock, blues, rockabilly, folk rock, and just plain rock ’n’ roll. In their heyday, founding member Country Dick Montana was known for his deep voice and novelty songs like “Happy Boy,” “Baby’s Liquored Up,” and “King of Sleeze.” He died onstage in 1995.
Other core songs include “God Is Here Tonight,” “Riverside,” “Blue Chevrolet,” and “Gun Sale at the Church,” and the current band includes surviving members Jerry Raney, Joey Harris, and Rolle Love, along with drummer Joel “Bongo” Kmak. If you’re up for some irreverent fun, this is your band. The Centuries open.
Also at The Siren, Bay Area party band The Cheeseballs play on Friday, July 31 (7:30 p.m.; 21-and-older; $23.77 at tixr.com). From ’60s Motown classics to ’80s new wave, from ABBA to Bruno Mars, they play it all.
Tribute bands Nearvana and Everything Zen pay homage to Nirvana and Bush, respectively, on Saturday, Aug. 1 (7:30 p.m.; 21-and-older; $18.48 at tixr.com). Soak up your grunge nostalgia.
Two more tribute bands, Sweet Revenge and Forever Sevenfold,pay homage to My Chemical Romance and Avenged Sevenfold on Sunday, Aug. 2 (7:30 p.m.; 21-and-older; $18.47 at tixr.com). Sweet 2000s nostalgia.
Jazz, please
Attic Jazz continues their Wednesday night residency at Sidecar this Wednesday, Aug. 5 (8:30 to 11:30 p.m.; 21-and-older; free).
“Our trio, Attic Jazz, will have been playing weekly at Sidecar for three years in September,” drummer Aaron Kroeger explained. “It’s developed into a nice little scene. We play a mix of classic tunes by John Coltrane, Herbie Handcock, Antônio Carlos Jobim, and Joe Henderson and more modern tunes by Joshua Redman and Robert Glasper. When Poly is in session, we get a lot of college and post-college students, and it can be hard to find a seat some weeks. It chills out a little during the summer, but the vibes are still good.”
The group also includes Jacob Cherdak on guitar and Dylan Johnson on bass.
Sizzling hot
The Hot Club of San Francisco brings their Django Reinhardt-inspired Gypsy jazz to Anderson Social on Thursday, Aug. 6 (doors at 5, show at 7 p.m.; $39.34 at my805tix.com). These musicians are amazing, and this music is fantastic! The sound grew out of the creatively fertile Paris of the 1920s and ’30s, and The Hot Club re-creates this amazing early time in the formation of jazz music.
Since its inception in the early 1990s, the band has featured their original tunes along with Reinhardt standards and “Djangofied” interpretations of songs by the likes of Lennon and McCartney. Their most recent album is 2024’s Original Gadjo.
“I’ve made two HCSF albums of all originals, but this is the first time we’ve got the whole band contributing tunes,” guitarist Paul “Pazzo” Mehling said in press materials. “From the beginning our mission statement was not just to preserve this music, but to pursue the intriguing question: What would Django do if he were still alive? And after 35 years of chasing that sound, this album embraces our identities as gadjos, aka outsiders and Americans who were drawn to Django’s sound but were not born to it.”
Kind of sold out
Nederlander Concerts is bringing Death Cab for Cutie to Vina Robles Amphitheatre on Friday, Aug. 7 (doors at 6:30, show at 8 p.m.; all ages), but it’s basically sold out. All that remain are some verified resale tickets starting at $109.48 up to $702.10 at ticketmaster.com.
If you’ve “got to” see them and have deep pockets, here’s your chance. They’re touring in support of their 11th album, I Built You a Tower, with songs inspired by frontman Ben Gibbard’s dissolving marriage. The record reached No. 80 on the Billboard 200, No. 14 on the Billboard Independent Albums Chart, and No. 89 on the U.K. Albums Chart.
Lala Lala opens. ∆
Contact Arts Editor Glen Starkey at gstarkey@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in July 30- August 6, 2026.
