D-Constructed

White has won 12 Grammy Awards across his work as a musician, songwriter and producer for artists including Loretta Lynn and Neil Young. (David James Swanson) The hoopla surrounding Jack White’s performance at The Sound on Sept. 30 began outside the Del Mar Fairgrounds concert hall. The Detroit-based guitar virtuoso, formerly one-half of The White Stripes, offered local students $20 all-in tickets at the box office two hours before doors opened.

For more than seven decades, gospel, soul and R&B singer and civil rights activist Mavis Staples has used her unmistakable voice to tell it like it is. And at 87, she isn’t stopping now. The legendary performer, who rose to fame in the 1950s as a member of her family’s gospel group, The Staple Singers, is bringing her honest yet hopeful perspective on a divided world to the Poway Center for the Performing Arts Sept.

Agent 51 step it up with some fresh singles and a new brew. (Alex Middleton) The San Diego Brewers Guild’s flagship beer festival is returning to downtown’s Broadway Pier, where it was last held in 2017. Now known as the Capital of Craft Beer Festival, the Sept. 19 event will feature unlimited sampling of more than 65 local craft beers, food vendors, an arts and crafts marketplace and live music from Poway punkers Agent 51 and 80s Resurrection, a new wave cover band presented by Dead Man’s Party.

Anger is an energy, but camaraderie is what keeps PiL together. ‘We’re a gaggle of mates, plain and simple,’ frontman John Lydon, right, said. (Paul Heartfield) Contrary to most bands that have been around for nearly five decades, Public Image Ltd (PiL) isn’t trying to sell seats on its current North American tour by calling it a farewell.

Muse made the most of its scaled-down stage design. The band reportedly wants to build a UFO for the tour’s UK leg next year. (Photo by the author) Few bands can get away with performing five songs from their newest album without disappointing concertgoers. Typically, hearing “And here’s a new one” from the stage cues a bathroom break. Yet, that’s exactly what Muse did when the English power trio brought “The Wow! Signal Tour” to North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre in Chula Vista on Aug. 29.

Surf’s Up! The Tourmaliners keep on cruisin’. (John Gianini) Deven Berryhill, founder and guitarist of Pacific Beach-based surf rock band The Tourmaliners, can probably thank a local photographer and the owner of a Linda Vista bar not only for his group’s name but perhaps even for launching its career. As one might expect, the quartet — performing this Saturday, Aug. 22, at Cutwater’s Tiki Takeover: Beach Bash — took its name from PB’s popular Tourmaline Surfing Park.

Storming more than 4,000 stages across the globe, Night Ranger returns to San Diego. (Photo by the author) It didn’t take long for Night Ranger frontman Jack Blades to address the elephant in the room when he greeted the grandstand-filled crowd at the San Diego County Fair on June 17, opening for headliner Bret Michaels. “We played here in 1984 and 1987.

Zinadelphia has opened for Teddy Swims and Tori Kelly, among others. Now she’s headlining her own shows. (Photo by the author) Tucked in the belly of the elegantly restored Lafayette Hotel on El Cajon Boulevard, you’ll find one of San Diego’s most historically significant jazz clubs. And yet, many might not realize that it’s still a thriving music venue today. Built in 1946, the North Park hotel, then known as Imig Manor, became a retreat for Hollywood’s elite.

This year’s fest is expected to attract 12,000 attendees over four days. (Brad Elligood) Each May, Mission Bay trades flip-flops for two-steps as Gator by the Bay rolls in with its signature mix of zydeco, blues and crawfish. For the first time in its 23-year history, the festival is adding a free Cajun Kickoff Party, giving the community an early taste of the sights, sounds and flavors that define this Mardi Gras-in-May tradition.

St. Paul preaches to his flock. (Photo by the author) St. Paul & The Broken Bones delivered a powerful message the day before Easter, filling The Sound on April 4 with one of its fullest houses in recent memory. From the opening chords, the eight-piece band tapped into a higher power, and it clearly resonated with the crowd. After an extended instrumental jam, the first of several throughout the night, frontman Paul Janeway emerged in a white suit, black shirt and eye-catching sequined slip-ons.