Bay Area arts: 10 cool shows and concerts to catch this weekend

From a onetime boy band superstar to a Native American comedy tour and free festival of Indian classical music, there is a lot to see and do this weekend in the Bay Area. Here is a partial roundup.

One Direction singer has ‘The Show’ for you

Niall Horan is inviting you to The Show.

So, if you’re free on Friday, July 26, then you might consider joining the famed pop star — who first rose to prominence as a member of the multiplatinum-selling boy band One Direction in the early 2010s — as he brings The Show: Live on Tour to Shoreline Amphitheatre at Mountain View.

The trek supports the 2023 album of the same name, which is the star’s third full-length solo studio outing to date and his first since 2020’s “Heartbreak Weather.”

The record has done good business on the charts, hitting No. 1 in eight countries (including Horan’s native Ireland) and climbing as high as No. 2 in the U.S.

The album features the singles “Heaven” and “Meltdown.”

The setlists that we’ve seen from this tour have found Horan drawing fairly equally from all three of his solo studio albums in concert. For example, in Minneapolis, he reportedly played seven songs from “The Show,” five from “Heartbreak Weather” and six from the 2017 debut “Flicker” (according to setlist.fm).

Details: 7:30 p.m.; tickets start at $32 (subject to change); livenation.com.

Laugh it up at the Bruns

If you’ve seen Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon,” you might recall Tatanka Means playing a federal agent investigating the 1920s murders of Osage Nation people (a performance one gossip site deems “incredibly hot”).

Well, on Saturday fans can see Means embrace his other passion — being funny — at the California Shakespeare’s Good Medicine Stand-Up Comedy show, an evening of entertainment from talented Native American comedians hailing from all over North America.

Means will headline the show that includes other big names on the scene, including Jackie Keliiaa, Brian Bahe and Dakota Ray Hebert . There will be a Native artisan market as well as food and drink vendors, and a post-show dance party hosted by DJ Interval. Note that the event takes place at an open-air amphitheater in the woods, so wear comfy shoes and bring layers. Blankets are available to borrow, or you can bring your own.

Details: Show starts at 8 p.m. (doors at 6 p.m.); Bruns Amphitheatre at Cal Shakes, 100 California Shakespeare Theater Way, Orinda; tickets start at $33.38; calshakes.org.

— John Metcalfe, Staff

Classical picks: Bach Soloists, Music@Menlo, Cabrillo

Special guests at American Bach Soloists, chamber music at Music@Menlo and the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music highlight this week’s classical music events.

Handel and More: Two outstanding vocalists — soprano Maya Kherani and mezzo-soprano Sarah Coit — are set to sing Handel’s always-thrilling cantata, “Agrippina,” when American Bach Soloists presents its July program, titled “Theater of Fate.” Jeffrey Thomas conducts the evening performance, which also includes works by Vivaldi and Corelli.

Details: 7:30 p.m. July 28; St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, San Francisco; $49-$111; americanbach.org.

Chamber Music intensive: With dozens of events on the calendar, Music@Menlo’s annual chamber music festival is back for its 22nd season, with in-person and many live-streamed performances. This week’s highlights include a “Vienna to Paris” concert with festival founders cellist David Finckel and pianist Wu Han joining 12 additional artists in music by Haydn, Mozart, Ravel and others. On Sunday, award-winning French pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet makes his Festival debut with Ravel’s complete works for solo piano.

Details: “Vienna to Paris,” 7 p.m. today and Friday; Bavouzet recital 4 p.m. Sunday; Menlo-Atherton School, Atherton; $60-$85, $25 under 30; music@menlo.org.

Celebrating the new: The Cabrillo Festival returns this week for its 62nd season with a bold focus on innovation. Under music director Cristian Măcelaru, America’s longest-running festival of new orchestral music has 15 resident composers including Clarice Assad, Lembit Beecher and Pierre Jalbert; guest artists include soprano Miriam Khalil, amplified cellist Gabriel Cabezas, and violinists Leila Josefowicz and Philippe Quint.

Details: Through Aug. 11, Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium, Santa Cruz; $30-$82 single, $295-$360 subscriptions; 831-426-6966; cabrillomusic.org.

— Georgia Rowe, Correspondent

Hungry? 626 Night Market is back

Did you miss May’s market, or are you hungry for more?

If so, you’re in luck: the sprawling 626 Night Market is making its way back to the Bay for the last time in 2024.

The market, inspired by Asian nighttime bazaars, began in 2012 and circles between several California locations. The market last visited the Alameda County Fairgrounds this spring, and the action is back this weekend. 626 Night Market is the largest Asian-inspired night market in the United States, featuring scores of food and merchandise vendors, arts & crafts, games, music, and more.

Visitors can feast on mouthwatering international eats and browse and shop for merchandise and crafts from hundreds of vendors. Then stick around to take in performances from local musicians. And if you’re looking to sample all the art, food and drink, pick up a discounted three-day pass ($10.02) for a full weekend of wandering.

Details: 3-11 p.m. Friday, 1-11 p.m. Saturday and Sunday; Alameda County Fairgrounds, Pleasanton; $5.90-$6.93, parking $15; www.626nightmarket.com.

— Cameron Duran, Staff

First-rate fun with Second City

The three-man, three-woman touring branch of Chicago’s storied Second City comedy troupe now playing a brief run at Berkeley Repertory Theatre has it all: quick wit, physical dexterity and great comedic chops. These performers also play so well together that you’d be hard-pressed to choose a star among them.

Not that it matters. In a 90-minute show plus intermission, “The Best of Second City” mixes some improv (mostly based on audience suggestions) with sketches creating such characters as a gleeful horror-addict tourist on a guided tour of the UC Berkeley campus; an awkward art teacher; a dangerously overzealous tennis player and a hyper-energized corporate speaker.

The humor ranges from mild sexual innuendo to equally mild scatological quips to what is these days a practically mandatory artificial intelligence sketch, and there’s a zany full-group interpretive dance about . . . fossil fuels.

In all, it’s a night of easy-going humor with the material out-ranking the performers. Whether the next Joan Rivers or John Candy or Stephen Colbert (all Second City alums) will emerge from this talented troupe, who knows?

Details: Through Sunday; Berkeley Rep’s Roda Theatre; $22-$81;  at berkeleyrep.org.

— Jean Schiffman, Bay City News Foundation

A free festival of Indian music

Freebie of the week: Fans of Indian classical music, or those who want to see and hear what it is all about (for free), should check out the Yerba Buena Gardens Festival in San Francisco on Saturday. From noon to 5 p.m., the concert series hosts the Color Your Mind Festival, featuring several acclaimed musicians bent on taking the genre in new and contemporary directions. The festival is curated and spearheaded by renowned Oakland-based percussionist, bandleader and composer Sameer Gupta, known for his intense musicianship and for his melding of Indian classical music with improvisational jazz. As many have discovered, the two genres fit together in sublime ways. Gupta, a San Francisco native who’s back in the Bay Area after spending a decade or more based in New York, might be best known as the co-founder of the influential Brooklyn Raga Massive, a collective known for furthering the development and evolution of Indian classical music. Also performing Saturday are Adam Khan, a master of the sarode, a stringed instrument elemental to Hindustani music (he’s the son of legendary sarode player  Ali Akbar Khan); versatile Carnatic singer Roopa Mahadevan, who’s known for incorporating jazz, R&B and soul into her otherworldly delivery. Each of these musicians will deliver a solo set, and the festival also features performances by the Leela Dance Collective, an outfit specializing in kathak dance. A variety of arts and crafts displays will also be on hand. In all, Color Your Mind promises to be a fun, melodic, family-friendly affair.

Details: Noon-5 p.m.; Yerba Buena Gardens Great Lawn, on Mission Street, between 3rd and 4th streets; free; ybgfestival.org, coloryourmindfestival.com.

— Bay City News Foundation

Classic rock + classic art

Redwood City’s Courthouse Square should be a fun place to hang out on Friday – especially if you like classic rock acts like Steely Dan and Chicago. The city’s Music on the Square free concert series, which runs 6-8 p.m. Fridays through Aug. 30, this week features one of the Bay Area’s best and most popular tribute bands, Aja Vu. The longtime Bay Area group has for years been known as a topnotch purveyor of Steely Dan’s eclectic repertoire (and as any Steely Dan fan knows, those songs are not easy to perform), and have recently added Chicago’s catalog to their offerings. (Some listings refer to the outfit now as STEEL n Chicago, although the band’s website still trumpets the original Aja Vu moniker.) In any event, you’ll be bound to hear a terrific mix of ‘70s and ‘80s classic rock staples at Courthouse Square Friday. And as if that wasn’t enough, Redwood City’s Art on the Square will be going on at the same time (5-8:30 p.m.) – so you can check out works by dozens of Bay Area artists and crafts makers while you listen to the band. There will also be lots to eat and drink in the vicinity as well.

Details: Both events are free. 2200 Broadway, Redwood City; www.redwoodcity.org/residents/redwood-city-events.

— Bay City News Foundation

A musical partnership

Longtime collaborators Sarah Hong and Makiko Ooka, on piano and cello respectively, together form Le Due Muse, and they will be making a return appearance on the Old First Concerts lineup to perform “Le Due Muse – NEOCLASSICAL” at 4 p.m. Sunday in Old First Church at 1751 Sacramento St. in San Francisco. On their program are Maurice Ravel’s “Sonata posthume” and “Piéce en forme de Habanera,” Frank Bridge’s Cello Sonata in D minor and selected songs by Benjamin Britten as well as his five movement Sonata in C for cello and piano.

Details: Tickets available for in-person performance or live-stream ; free for those 12 and under, $25-$30 for adults, suggested $20 for the virtual recital; register at www.oldfirstconcerts.org.

— Bay City News Foundation