From Bruce Springsteen’s return to a San Jose stage production based on an eventful train ride, here are cool shows to catch in the Bay Area

Springsteen brings Hope and Dreams to Bay Area

The Boss is on his way.

So, let the countdown begin in earnest, as fans from all over the Bay Area and well beyond await the return of Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band. The iconic rock outfit takes over the Golden State Warriors’ Chase Center in San Francisco on April 13, as part of Springsteen’s Land of Hope and Dreams American Tour.

“We are living through dark, disturbing and dangerous times, but do not despair — the cavalry is coming!” Springsteen said in a news release.

Tom Morello, the phenomenal guitarist who rose to fame as part of Rage Against the Machine, will be joining The Boss onstage for select songs during these shows. And we’re absolutely willing to bet that at least one of those will be the pair’s phenomenal version of Springsteen’s own “The Ghost of Tom Joad.”

“We will be rocking your town in celebration and in defense of America — American democracy, American freedom, our American Constitution and our sacred American dream — all of which are under attack by our wannabe king and his rogue government in Washington, D.C.” Springsteen said in the news release. “Everyone, regardless of where you stand or what you believe in, is welcome — so come on out and join the United Free Republic of E Street Nation for an American spring of Rock ‘n’ Rebellion! I’ll see you there!”

Details: Showtime is 7:30 p.m.; tickets start at $218; ticketmaster.com.

— Jim Harrington, Staff

Classical picks: SoundBox, Quatuor Danel, more

The April calendar comes to life with music full of adventure — including new works at San Francisco Symphony’s SoundBox, performances around the Bay by Quator Danel, and a visit to Stanford by two acclaimed Danish groups.

Always something new: You can count on it when the San Francisco Symphony’s SoundBox opens its doors. Presented in a cool club atmosphere near Davies Symphony Hall, the action onstage is always hip and innovative. This month, expect a new program curated by Gabriella Smith featuring another surprising lineup of music for adventurous music lovers.

Details: 8:30 p.m. April 10-11 (attendees must be 21 and older); $80 general; sfsymphony.org.

Quatuor Danel: The French/Belgian quartet is getting to know the Bay Area — and we’re getting to know them. Presented by Chamber Music San Francisco, the group established in 1991 is here to play programs from a wide repertoire of string quartet cycles that include works by Beethoven, Franck, Haydn, Schubert, and Shostakovich.

Details: Concerts are 2:30 p.m. April 11 at Lesher Center, Walnut Creek; 3 p.m. April 12 at Herbst Theatre, San Francisco; and 7:30 p.m. April 13 at Oshman Family JCC, Palo Alto ; mkiartists.com.

Welcome Danes: The Grammy-nominated Danish String Quartet and Danish National Girls Choir join forces at Stanford Live to perform a concert ranging from traditional works to new music by Caroline Shaw and David Lang, whose “in wildness” was co-commissioned by Stanford Live. Come early for a pre-concert talk.

Details: 7:30 p.m. April 15, Bing Concert Hall, Stanford University; $28-$70.20; livestanford.edu.

— Georgia Rowe, Correspondent

Poppy Jasper back with indie treasures

The Poppy Jasper International Film Festival marks its 20th anniversary with another impressive slate of indie films from across the globe. The festival runs through April 15 with screenings held in Morgan Hill, San Martin, Gilroy, Hollister, and San Juan Bautista.

The fest will also continue its popular tradition of holding a Mexico y Tú Day on Monday. This year, writer and director Rick Najera and Grammy-nominated musician and artist Eugene Rodriguez, founder of Los Cenzontles Mexican Cultural Arts Center in San Pablo and a member of its namesake band, will be presented with the PJIFF Icon Award. Filmmaker Luis Valdez will be the keynote speaker while the Granada Theatre in Morgan Hill will screen a program of Latino films.

Here are three films in this year’s lineup we’re eager to see:

“Censurada”: Director Mario Garza’s queer-themed drama follows a relationship between a dyslexic teen and another teen whose mother is setting her up to get married. Set during the Franco era in 1969 Spain, it captures what was then considered a forbidden romance. Details: 7 p.m. April 12 at Morgan Hill Community Playhouse.

“American Comic”: In this acclaimed mockumentary from Daniel J. Clark, two stand-up comedians (portrayed by Joe Kwaczala, the screenwriter, and Hayley McFarland) go on the comedy circuit. Patton Oswalt is featured. Details: 6 p.m. April 9 at District Theater in Gilroy.

“Honeyjoon”: Lela (played by Amira Casar) and her daughter June (Ayden Mayeri) find themselves in the thick of honeymooning couples while on a trip to the Azores, timed a year after the death of Lela’s husband and June’s father. A hot tour guide (José Condessa) gains the attention of June in Lilian Mehrel’s frisky and funny debut feature. Details: 11 a.m. April 12 at The Barn at Mission Farm, San Juan Bautista.

Details: For tickets and full lineup, visit pjiff.org.

– Randy Myers, Correspondent

Time for SmackDown in San Jose

Bay Area sports fans have been busy this year, taking in a Super Bowl and Sweet 16 NCAA men’s basketball games, all the while looking forward to the arrival of the World Cup in June.

So, that’s something for football fanatics, hoops heads and soccer aficionados.

But what about something for the wrestling devotees?

Well, they’re about to get their turn as WWE Friday Night SmackDown comes to SAP Center in San Jose on April 10.

The star-studded card for this event includes the current undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes, WWE Women’s Champion Jade Cargill, legendary WrestleMania headliner Randy Orton, former WWE United States Champion Carmelo Hayes, current WWE United States Champion Sami Zayn, seven-time SmackDown Women’s Championship winner Charlotte Flair and two-time SmackDown Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss.

Other names on the bill include NXT North American Championship winners Solo Sikoa and Damian Priest, as well as WWE Women’s Tag Team Champion Nia Jax (who shares the title with her wrestling partner Lash Legend in the team known as The Irrestible Forces). And many other WWE stars will also compete in the event.

Details: Friday Night SmackDown begins at 4:30 p.m.; tickets start at $56; sapcenter.com.

— Jim Harrington, Staff

Weaving is believing at Cantor

As a kid, Jeremy Frey learned how to weave natural baskets from his mother and grandmother, members of the Passamaquoddy Native American tribe in Maine. His basket mastery has since taken him so far, he’s exhibited in museums across the U.S., won a 2025 MacArthur “genius” fellowship and now has a fantastic-looking show at the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University.

“Jeremy Frey: Woven,” organized by the Portland Museum of Art in Maine, arrives at Stanford for its last stop on a nationally touring exhibit. Running until July 20, 2026, the survey presents some of Frey’s most crucial work from the last 25 years — more than 30 baskets, prints, video art and a large-scale woven sculpture.

The craftsmanship relies on turning materials like sweetgrass, black ash, spruce root and porcupine quills into curvaceous, geometrically astounding baskets. The artist himself has described the survey as “thousands of years in the making,” paying tribute to generations of Passamaquoddy who call the art form a cultural language. As the show’s organizers write: “His work demonstrates that there is no substitute for the human hand and the power of reclaiming a tradition to create new futures for inherited knowledge.”

Details: Open 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday and Friday, 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Thursday and 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday-Sunday (closed Tuesday-Wednesday); 328 Lomita Drive, Stanford; free admission, museum.stanford.edu.

— John Metcalfe, Staff

A momentous train ride in San Jose

Playwright Keith Bunin was born in Poughkeepsie, New York, and might be affiliated most closely with the non-profit New York City stage company Playwrights Horizons, which has staged three of his works. But he has a special connection to the Bay Area, where his most recent work, “The Coast Starlight,” is getting presented this month by San Jose Stage.

In an interview with The Lincoln Center, Bunin says he came up with the concept for the unique work while traveling in the Bay Area. “Initially, I was staying at a Hyatt House in Emeryville,” the playwright said. “The hotel was right next to the Amtrak station, and Emeryville is a stop on the Coast Starlight. That’s when the idea for the play began to take shape.” The Coast Starlight, as rail fans know, is a famed Amtrak route from Los Angeles to Seattle. Bunin’s play focuses on a particular ride on the route and upon six passengers whose lives become interconnected during the course of the journey. “There’s something about being on a train – about being between destinations – that allows people to open up in ways they might not otherwise,” Bunin adds. “The play is really about connection, and the moments when strangers suddenly see each other clearly.” For San Jose Stage Artistic Director Randall King, “there’s something special about presenting a play in the region where its story first began to take shape.”

Details: Directed by Rebecca Haley Clark, “Coast Starlight” plays San Jose Stage, 490 S. 1st St., San Jose, through April 26; tickets are $34-$84; thestage.org.

— Bay City News Foundation

Albee’s classic comes to Berkeley

 There are a few reasons why Edward Albee’s Tony- Award-winning, Pulitzer-Prize-finalist play “The Goat: or Who Is Sylvia?” is the right play for right now. Written 25 years ago, long before “Goat” emerged as an acronym for “Greatest of All Time,” Albee’s stage drama/tragedy uses a surreal setting as the foundation for examining some of society’s most time-honored staples – family, morality, love, societal expectations, gender norms, and more. It revolves around a seemingly typical family – a loving couple and their teenaged son – that falls apart when the husband/father falls in love with a goat. Albee constructed the one-hour, 45-minute production like a Greek tragedy, and he invites (maybe demands is a better word for it) audiences to examine their own feelings and judgments about the shocking turn of events. Berkeley’s Shotgun Players is currently presenting the play at its Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave. Directed by Kevin Clarke and starring William Giammona as the husband/father, the production just got extended through May 3.

Details: Tickets are $40-$80 and going fast; go to shotgunplayers.org. 

— Bay City News Foundation

Here are your freebies of the week

 The Bay Area had a profound effect on the development of two distinctive pop music genres – psychedelic rock and punk – and this weekend you can celebrate that history with two free events in San Francisco. From noon to 4 p.m. April 11 at the famed concert Bandshell in Golden Gate Park, which hosts more than a hundred free shows each year, you can catch the San Francisco Neo Psych Fest, featuring the popular Bay Area band Bolero!. The band is known for its “freak-flag music,” a potent blend of Latin bolero riffs and psychedelic rock. Also on the bill are the Spiral Electric, another Bay Area-based psychedelic band that describes its sound as “a mixture of roaring guitars and orbiting synthesizer not heard this side of the galaxy since HAL 9000 dropped acid with Brian Jones and Tony Iommi in the windmills of your mind.” More info on the concert is at illuminate.org.

Meanwhile, a concert billed as a celebration of the 50th anniversary of punk music unfolds at The New Farm communal performance space at 10 Cargo Way from 3 to 10 p.m. April 11. Performers include such classic Bay Area punk outfits as No Alternative, The Sleepers, Society Dog, The Dead Sailor Girls and many more. More information is at sf.funcheap.com.

A pianist nonpareil in SF

San Francisco Performances is delighted to welcome back Richard Goode, the American-born pianist of incomparable talent who was the first keyboardist from this country to record the complete cycle of Beethoven’ s 32 sonatas (frequently referred to as “the new testament” of the piano repertoire), which netted him a Grammy nomination. And a Beethoven selection is one of the two monumental works on the program for Goode’s 7:30 p.m. April 10 recital at the Herbst Theatre, in the form of the Variations on a Waltz by Diabelli, This massive work the composer labored over for several years, published in 1824, has been compared in its breadth and difficulty to Bach’s famed Goldberg Variations. Franz Schubert’s Piano Sonata in B-flat Major, the final work in a trilogy the composer completed two months before his death, comprises the other half of  the evening’s program.

Details: Tickets, $65-$85, are available at sfperformances.org.

— Bay City News Foundation

A well-timed debut at SFS

Less than a full week after the actual holiday, the San Francisco Symphony, under the baton of guest conductor Bernard Labadie, renders its first performance of Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Easter Oratorio,” a dramatic, narrative-driven work that, unique among the composer’s oratorios, contains no Biblical text and no Evangelical narrator. It does, however, employ the talents of soprano Joélle Harvey, countertenor Hugh Cutting, tenor Andrew Haji, baritone Joshua Hopkins and the full complement of director Jenny Wong’s award-winning San Francisco Symphony Chorus. The vocal soloists are also featured in the performance of Bach’s “Magnificat,” and the composer’s Sinfonia to the cantata “Wir, danken dir, Gott” is also on the program.

Details: Following an open rehearsal at 10 a.m. April 9 in Davies Hall, the three full performances take place at 7:30 p.m. April 9-11. Tickets are $55-$175, available at sfsymphony.org.

— Bay City News Foundation