Top shows of 2022

1. Harry Styles 11/15/2022 @ The Forum 

Harry Styles 11/15/2022 @ The Forum 
photo by Nikki DeMartini

Harry Styles released Harry's House, his third solo album last Spring to whichto a very warm welcome. Then the sprightly British musician/actor/heart throb took his show on the road, spreading his love to everyone, everywhere.
What's not to love about that?!

Hands down, Harry Styles' Love on Tour show at The Forum on November 15th, 2022 is the number one best show I saw last year.

 11/15/2022 @ The Forum 
photo by Nikki DeMartini

I couldn't believe and still can't believe that I managed to get up close (and I wish personal) in the pit. I had already seen him perform "As It Was" at Coachella so I wasn't heart broken that I missed it that night and I spotted Olivia Wilde in the midst of adoring fans!

The crowd engagement!
The stage design!
The band!
Harry's swiveling hips!
He played everything I could have wanted to hear from the new album as well as his first two albums.
Seeing Harry Styles live on his Love on Tour tour was everything you could imagine it would be, tenfold.

 11/15/2022 @ The Forum 
photo by Nikki DeMartini

The only thing I would have changed is the thousands of screaming fans drowning out his singing.

2. Yeah Yeah Yeahs 10/6/2022 @ The Hollywood Bowl 

As soon as I found out the Yeah Yeah Yeahs were playing The Hollywood Bowl on about this show I had to be there and thanks to a co-worker friend for hooking it up I was! 

Yeah Yeah Yeahs @ The Hollywood Bowl 10/6/2022
photo by Nikki DeMartini

Karen O looked and sounded stunning and it was so good to see the three of them back on stage again. We got closer and closer and closer still as the show went on and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs played all of the hits we were dying to hear.

 

Yeah Yeah Yeahs @ The Hollywood Bowl 10/6/2022
photo by Nikki DeMartini

The opening acts that night, The Linda Lindas and Japanese Breakfast, rounded out an all Asian female line up which was pretty fucking cool. 

Hopefully the trend setting Yeah Yeah Yeahs front woman spawned another trend there. We guessed that they'd have more on store for us this year and we were right, Yeah Yeah Yeahs 2023 tour dates have been annouced!

3. Lady Gaga 9/10/2022 @ Dodger Stadium 

From her gaggle dancers and choreographed dancing, to all of the costume changes and stage changes, pryotechnics and routaiting vibes as one album to the next came to life on stage. 
 Did it feel like she was phoning it in? A little but it's Lady fucking Gaga. 

Little monsters and their insurmountable energy filled dodger stadium with wigs, eye catching lewks, love and excitement. Cuties around me belted along with "Born This Way" which moved me to happy tears and I wouldn't want it any other way.

4. Florence and The Machine 10/14/2022 @ The Hollywood Bowl 

Florence and The Machine  @ The Hollywood Bowl 10/14/2022
photo by Nikki DeMartini

While I do love seeing me some Florence and the Machine live I have come to realize I am captivated more so by her than by her music. Florence did not disapoint night one of two at The Greek. They closed out their 2022 tour with two sold-out shows at The Greek Theater. On night one I was surprised and delightedthat  "Dog Days are Over" was played early on.  

 

She emerged to stage covered with white and black chandelers in one of her now signature, long, flowy frocks and long flowing red hair and the crowd lost it.

 AND THAT VOICE.

Florence and the MAchone @ The Hollywood Bowl 10/14/2022
photo by Nikki DeMartini

Before the third song she had already got off of the stage and onto the walkway that goes through the pit and seated area. She put on a flower crown a fan handed her as she passed, undoubtedly making their day as well as everyone else's who she sauntered past that night

Florence and the Machine @ The Hollywood Bowl 10/14/2022
photo by Nikki DeMartini

5. The Kills 6/6/2022 @ The Mayan 

The Kills @ The Mayan 6/6/2022
photo by Nikki DeMartini

Last year Jamie Hince and Alison Mosshart of The Kills played shows for the first time since 2019. After opening for Mosshart's Dead Weather bandmate Jack White in the greater Bay Area on June 5th they headed to LA for two shows at The Mayan on June 6th and a second show added by popular demand on June 7th before going on to play a couple shows in New York.

I had to be at one of these shows.

 

The Kills @ The Mayan 6/6/2022
photo by Nikki DeMartini

It was my first time at The Mayan and nearly five years since the last time I saw The Kills live. I could hardly wait for them to take the stage.   Sharing the same sentiment, they expressed gratitude for being back playing live shows not just for fans but with fans post lockdowns. 

There were a couple technical hiccups and rusty performance moments where you could tell the duo was getting back in the groove of live shows again. It was a reminder that rockstars are human too and they rocked! 2022 Marked the twentieth anniversary of the release of their second album, No Wow and they played at least one song from all of their five albums. 

Is more coming from The Kills this year?

6. Sylvan Esso @ Electric Forest 2022

Last year saw the return of a festie favorite, Electric Forest in Rothbury Michigan. The String Cheese Incident, Griz and Clozee brought the wook-ery while Sylvan Esso brought the indie-dance vibes. The dreamy electro-pop duo stayed busy during the pandemic releasing new music then promptly going on  tour as soon as things started to re-open. They seemed a little burned out on stage, Amelia mustering some of her signature wiggles and kicks here and there while Nick stayed hidden in fog machine fog. 

Sylvan Esso @  Electric Forest 2022
photo by Nikki DeMartini

I found myself closer than the fans riding the rails, alone in the photo pit dancing my heart out with my co-workers who got stopped by security watching me go.
It was like a private Sylvan Esso show just for me. 

Sylvan Esso @  Electric Forest 2022
photo by Nikki DeMartini

In true Electric Forest fashion, it was magical. 

7. Elton John 11/20/2022 @ Dodger Stadium

November 20th, 2022 Elton John played his final show in the US at Dodger Stadium.  If I'd have seen more of the show it'd be higher on my list but alas work kept me from seeing most.  I heard it though. The top of the set was filled with hits: opening with "Bennie and the Jets" he kept the party going with "Philidelphia Freedom", "Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues", "Tiny Dancer" and "Rocket Man". Being a long time fan of Marilyn Monroe and her story myself, when his tribute to the misunderstood beauty "Candle in the Wind" being able to catch him perform it was perfection. 

There was an abundance of feather boas, sequence and oversized bedazzled sun glasses in the crowd at the sold-out stadium show, the same stadium he played back in 1975 with that infamous rhinestone encrusted Dodgers uniform. Hits also closed the show with hits of course, including "Crocodile Rock" and "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting". The last song of his final show in the US on his Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour was of course, "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road".

8. Dua Lipa @ Firefly 2022

It's a rare occasion if a whole team at a music festival can watch a set together but me and the hospo crew made it a point to watch Dua Lipa close out Firefly 2022 in Dover Delaware. If there's one thing I love more than a team photo it's a team outting at a show and this is one of the best fest sets I've ever seen. 

Dua Lipa @  Firefly 2022
photo by Nikki DeMartini

 Dua didn't need extra thrills to spice up her set. Surrounded by an army of male and female dancers, she performed all of her hits with a graceful swagger and uber confidence that carried the show and made you want to keep watching. The big moon balloons that got tossed around during Levitate and blasts of confetti that showered the crowd to end the festival were added bonuses. There is no denyinh that Dup Lipa is hot and her shining genuineness through out her perfmance made her and her set to close out Firefly 2022 even hotter. 

9. Bikini Kill 4/26/2022 @ Pappy & Harriet's 

Bikini Kill @  Pappy & Harriet's 4/26/2022
photo by Nikki DeMartini

Between working Coachella and Stagecoach last year, I got a last minute invite to Bikini Kill at Pappy and Harriet's in Pioneertown. Not only had I been wanting to see Bikini Kill, seeing a show at Pappy and Harriet's was high on my list, too plus there was an extra ticket and it'd be with great company. So a show between shows? Yes please.
Arriving fashinably late, we went in through the back entrance and headed toward the noise and the crowd.

Bikini Kill @  Pappy & Harriet's 4/26/2022
photo by Nikki DeMartini

Pappy and Harriet's has two stages, one indoor and one outdoor and Bikini Kill was playing outside. We caught a couple songs of their regular set before playing some songs for their encore, saving the best for last, their most well known single, "Riot Girl". If there's one song to see Bikini Kill play live it's "Riot Girl" and we saw it! First time seeing Bikini Kill as well as the first time at Pappy and Harriet's made for a great night even if we only caught the tail end of the show. 

10. Pussy Riot 8/7/2022 @ Outside Lands 2022 

Day three of Outside Lands welcomed Pussy Riot to the Panhandle stage at Outside Lands last summer. It was a beautful sun shiny day in Golden Gate Park when Pussy Riot took the stage. The righteous feminist activist group from Russia has windeled down from 11+ members to a solid handful with Nadya Riot at the helm. 

Pussy Riot @  Outside Lands 2022
photo by Nikki DeMartini

Pussy Riot @  Outside Lands 2022
photo by Nikki DeMartini

Bandmates donned the signature Pussy Riot ski masks while Nadya's long Billie Eilish-esque locks blew in the Summer breeze. The front lady of the provocative punk band wore arosing fishnets, thigh high pink leather boots and an oversized T-shirt which she later shed on stage to reveal a more revealing outfit, if you can call it an outfit. While shedding said T-shirt she made it clear that it stated Free Brittney Griner. A protest of you will and very apropos. 

Her vocal range from modestly incocent singing to diaphragmatic scream sining was surprisingly impressive. Ski masked dancers suggestivly danced on either side of her as she worked the crowd with silky movements, death stares and dominating attention from the crowd like a domanatrix with props like a long red whip. And of course there was political banter. Aside from freeing Brittney Griner, Nadya Riot also comented on Russia's attacks on Ukraine and a woman's right to choose in the US. 

Pussy Riot @  Outside Lands 2022
photo by Nikki DeMartini

It wouldn't be a proper Pussy Riot show without some political banter, right? Nadya Riot delivered on all fronts. 

As 2023 tour annoucements and fesival line-ups keep coming we're looking forward to a year full of live music. What's on your must see list this year? 

Strawberry Matcha cupcake from Cakegirl

 Cakegirl is a little bakery tucked in a corner store in East LA that serves all vegan, gluten free, soy free and for the most part peanut and nut free sweet treats. And yes, it is owned and operated by a girl. 

Strawberry Matcha cupcake from Cakegirl 
photo by Nikki DeMartini

This wasn't my first time having a Cakegirl cupcake but it was my first time visting. It was for a special occassion, my birthday and since I too, am a cake girl there was really no other place to get my celebratory cupcake. 

The Strawberry Matcha cupcake won me over not only with the unique flavor combo: matcha is a popular flavor as is strawberry…put them together and oh my yum and flamingo pink frosting didn't hurt either. 

Strawberry Matcha cupcake from Cakegirl 
photo by Nikki DeMartini

The cupcakes at Cakegirl are the size of homebaked cupcakes and for being free of all of the food allergies mentioned above $4.50 is a pretty reasonable price. 

The strawberry frosting is as fragrant and flavorful as it is pink. It even has a buttercream texture. 

The matcha cake is strikingly green and slaps with the beloved earthy flavor. For as popular as matcha is not all baked good deliver the true essence of the flavor but Cakegirl does. One might think that the robustness of the two flavors is too much for one little vegan cupcake but again, Cakegirl works their magic. 

The complex, grassy, nutty, bitter notes of matcha are carried gently by the sweetness of the strawberry frosting, highlighting one another in a marrying of flavors that serendiputiously bring this cupcake to life. I kept forgetting that it was vegan because the cake was pretty buttery for being dairy free and it's cakey bouancy didn't scream gluten free like so many gluten free treats tend to do. 

Strawberry Matcha cupcake from Cakegirl 
photo by Nikki DeMartini

Strawberry Matcha cupcake from Cakegirl 
photo by Nikki DeMartini

If I hadn't have known that this cupcake, or the other cupcakes I've had from Cakegirl were vegan and gluten free I'd never would have even thought that they are. That's how good they are.

We love you so matcha, Strawberry Matcha cupcake from Cakegirl!

Strawberry Matcha cupcake from Cakegirl 
photo by Nikki DeMartini

Cakegirl is open today, Valentines Day and every Monday - Saturday.