With nine albums since his breakthrough LP, Mellow Gold, Beck’s biggest song still has to be 1994’s “Loser.” So what better way to kick off Saturday’s hometown show at the Hollywood Bowl than with that track, pre-empting the potential exodus of fair-weather fans who only came to hear the songs they knew.

If those “fans” did hit the exits, they missed “Girl,” “Devil’s Haircut” and other radio hits the eclectic rocker has racked up in the past 15 years. They also missed a melancholy-but-moving eight-song set with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra’s string section, led by the singer’s dad, David Campbell. The performance marked the first time the father/son duo have hit the stage together. The instrumentalists gave Beck’s slower songs — like “Modern Guilt,” the title track from his latest album, and Guero’s “Missing” — a shot of emotional depth and an instantly richer sound (or, as the guy behind me put it, the strings were “pretty tight”). Read more…

While much of America basked in the laziness of Labor Day weekend with hot dogs and beers, a few thousand in Los Angeles hit the streets with water bottles and running shoes. It was all part of Nike’s Human Race — a 10k race held in major cities all across the world on August 31.

Waiting for the runners at the finish line was fully rigged stage, where 12,000 participants were treated to a concert by Kanye West. While the show was scaled down from his Glow in the Dark Tour, Kanye didn’t fail to hype the crowd. A sea of red shirts and shutter shades (provided by Nike) greeted the rapper as he took the stage just after 10 p.m. Kanye’s DJ teased the crowd with snippets of “Stronger” before launching into the first part of his set, which included “Flashing Lights” and “Homecoming.”

It was a perfect setting for an end-of-summer show. The stage was nestled just outside of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, right under the Olympic flame. And the cool August night provided the perfect climate for the thousands who had spent the previous few hours running on the streets of Los Angeles.

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Coachella has the desert, Bonnaroo has the country, Lollapalooza has the Chicago skyline, and now San Francisco has Golden Gate Park to claim for its very own bona fide music festival. Sure, the city jumped into the summer fest smorgasbord in recent years with the Treasure Island music fest, but that lineup has always been ho-hum.

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[Ed. note: Earlier this month, Radiohead also won over You R Here user swick at Lollapalooza. Got your own Radiohead epiphany story? Share it on yourhere.mtv.com!]

I went into Outside Lands with one very clear idea: “Radiohead are overrated. There is no way they are as good as everyone says they are. I refuse to conform to the music-snob masses.” After seeing their set I stand totally corrected. The hype is true. They are one of the best live shows around.

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What do you get when you combine a whole bunch of big-deal bands, hippies, soggy pretzels and foggy weather? The Outside Lands Musical Festival. San Francisco’s inaugural music fest in the heart of Golden Gate Park was completely characteristic to the city. Like most of summer music festivals, its lineup of headliners — Radiohead, Beck, Tom Petty and Jack Johnson — had a little something for everyone.

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On the night of October 1st, 2005, I found myself inside the Hollywood Bowl enjoying one of my favorite bands, Queens of the Stone Age, as the main support to Nine Inch Nails. As smoke from the rampant forest fires across the Southland choked the autumn air, I witnessed a quick and clever set from Queens. It was also the only time I would see keyboard player Natasha Shneider perform in any capacity.

Natasha lost her battle with cancer on July 2nd of this year. To honor her memory and help recover some to the expenses from her fight, Queens of the Stone Age, along with some very special friends, put on a one-of-a-kind memorial Saturday night in Hollywood.

During the two-hour wait between doors and show, we were entertained by a DJ spinning rock over some European cinema. A common idea amongst the crowd was the idea that the film may have been a favorite of Natasha’s. Shortly after 9 p.m., we were greeted by the acoustic comedic heavy metal duo Tenacious D. The D played a very loose set, which lead axe slinger Kyle Gass dubbed their “Bonnaroo set.” With no planned set list, the five -song gig featured classic D songs like “Kielbasa,” “Wonderboy” and “F— Her Gently.”

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Dear members of Skeletonwitch, Early Man & Valient Thorr,

On behalf of the City of Angels, I feel it is my duty to apologize to all of you. I apologize that this city is filled with stupid scenesters who would rather act cool than be cool. Friday night, you came to the corner of Doheny and Santa Monica to share with us your various takes on the art of heavy metal. While some were thankful, most stood and looked on like a dog who was just shown a card trick. Even I was somewhat guilty of being one of these tools on this hot August night. What can I say? Even I sometimes fall victim to group think.

Now guys, I am the first to admit that I don’t know much about your bands. The little I do know was quick research done on the Internet during my last few hours of work. You see, one of my music-biz pals suggested to this movie-studio cubical warrior that we should celebrate the end of a long work week getting sloppy at your party.

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Is it rock? Is it techno? Does their recent departure from the indiest of labels, Saddle Creek, mean anything for their “new” sound? For the Omaha born and bred dance-rockers the Faint, a lot has been up in the air in anticipation of their newest album, Fasciinatiion, which dropped last week.

And naturally, there’s been a huge amount of speculation regarding their current tour. Well, all those fleeting thoughts were put to rest this weekend when the Faint took the stage, including frontman Todd Fink rocking a lab coat and goggles, bearing a strange resemblance to Doogie Howser. But I digress.

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A Tribe Called Quest, the Pharcyde, De La Soul. The date is … last Saturday?!

The 1994 — excuse me, 2008 — Rock the Bells Tour is well under way, and I was there at the Los Angeles installment to catch up with a truly epic bill of hip-hop greats, both old and new. This year’s lineup is no joke, combining the aforementioned, fully reunited legends with contemporary, sure-to-be-hall-of-famers like Nas and Mos Def, and of course several up and coming “kids” (Kids in the Hall and Cool Kids, to be exact) to form a monumental trifecta of hip-hop’s past, present and future. Laugh it up, you lucky New Yorkers, but the rest of the country will be just fine without Jay-Z.

Hip-hop artists are genuinely the hardest workers in showbiz, as every artist we spoke with had all sorts of projects in the works. Expect more from Murs, Rakim, De La Soul, Method Man, Ghostface and Raekwon (but don’t let all the other reunions get your hopes up for catching a glimpse of Wu-Tang).

And of course, A Tribe Called Quest performed as if they hadn’t taken a day off since their last show four years ago, and Nas’ new album — not even a month old — still had the entire crowd singing along. But it was the Pharcyde who impressed me most; having not performed with all four original members since the mid-’90s. It was clear they had put their troubled past behind them and were genuinely eager to make music again.

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Conor Oberst is a true blue rock star. He has sold out shows for tens of thousands of fans across the world and is the indie poster child on the mainstream charts. So what does a rock star do on the night of his first major solo album’s release, arguably 10 years in the making?

Does he throw a huge album release party? Nah, that’s not Oberst’s style. Does he enlist the Los Angeles Philharmonic to orchestrate a performance for nearly 20,000 fans? Please, that was so last fall. Instead, indie rock’s poet laureate turned album release traditions on their head, as mere hours after Conor Oberst hit store shelves he performed at the tiny Troubadour nightclub in West Hollywood, capacity 320.

Tension filled the room before the show. One question was on everybody’s lips: Will he play any Bright Eyes songs? Don’t worry, I won’t keep you in anticipation like Conor did to us — the answer was no. But with that being said, I feel like it only made the show better. It was like one of those rare first-show experiences where a brand new artist blows you away, but still had the familiarity of an old friend.

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