Pink — Curebound Concert for Cures
As of this writing, pop vocal powerhouse Pink has only two public performance on her calendar this year, one in San Diego and the other in New York City. Both promise to be memorable, albeit in very different ways.
Before she hosts the 79th Annual Tony Awards on June 7 in the Big Apple’s 6,000-capacity Radio City Music Hall, Pink will perform here May 15 at the significantly larger Petco Park at the 2026 Curebound Concerts for Cures fundraising concert.
It is now Pink’s only scheduled concert anywhere this year, following the sudden cancelation in early March of her sold-out April 26 shows at Mexico City’s 65,000-capacity GNP Seguros Stadium, where she was also set to perform April 27. Several other spring concerts by other artists at the same Mexico City stadium were also canceled, due to what the promoter has described as “complications arising from an unforeseen circumstance that affects the logistics of the event… beyond the control of the artist, the promoter, and the venue.”
Whatever the reasons, Pink’s three 2026 concerts have now been reduced to one and that should make her Petco Park concert here next week all the more special. It will also put her in a very exclusive class of musicians — specifically, Elton John, Ed Sheeran and Alicia Keys. They performed at the first three benefit concerts here for Curebound, the San Diego-based nonprofit that has invested $51.5 million in cancer research, supporting 170 innovative studies across 23 types of adult and pediatric cancers that have generated $161 million in follow-on funding.
Elton John scored big at his San Diego Curebound Concert For Cures in Petco Park
Cancer is personal for Pink, whose Vietnam War veteran father died of the disease in 2021.
“Cancer has touched all of our lives unfortunately,” Pink said, responding to email questions from The San Diego Union-Tribune.
“We need to help in any way possible our scientists and doctors end this cruel disease. I’m very grateful that what I’ve chosen as my path in life can help people.”
Asked what message she would like her Curebound concert attendees to take away with them, she replied: “My message is always: ‘Connect to your truth, accept yourself and love so you can love others. We have the capacity for so much. Let’s use our superpowers for good.”
Pink’s own superpowers may be on display at Petco Park, where the singer — long noted for her high-flying acrobatic stage shows — will perform for the first time since undergoing two-level cervical disc replacement at the start of the year. It will also be her first performance since she was her name appeared this year for the first time as a nominee on the ballot for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
8 p.m., next Friday, May 15. Petco Park, 100 Park Blvd., downtown. $56.50-$615.50. ticketmaster.com
Award-winning blues guitarist Laura Chavez will celebrate the release of her terrific debut solo album with a May 12 concert at the Belly Up. (Alejandro Tamayo / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Laura Chavez, with The Sleepwalkers
In 2023, San Diego guitar ace Laura Chavez became the first woman in the history of the the prestigious national Blues Music Awards — formerly the W.C. Handy Awards — to win top honors as a guitarist in the then-44-year-old history of the event. Previous winners have included as Derek Trucks, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, Sonny Landreth and the late Luther Allison.
Chavez, who rose to prominence as a key member of San Diego singer Candye Kane’s band, tours an average of 250 days a year. Her most notable collaborators have included everyone from North Carolina singer Nikki Hill and Philadelphia saxophonist/singer Vanessa Collier to Mitch Ryder and San Diego’s Chickenbone Slim.
Intriguingly, Chavez may well be the first guitarist, male or female, to have won the Blues Music Award without having any solo albums to her credit.
Happily, she has finally remedied that situation with the release of her long-overdue debut, “My Voice.” Released by Germany’s Ruf Records, the 10-song collection showcases her six-string prowess without any bells and whistles, and is all the better for it.
Chavez is a terrific guitarist who never plays too many notes, but makes everyone of them count. Her vocal-free album finds her soulfully singing through the strings of her instrument with admirable fire and finesse on five arresting original songs and five inspired covers, including The Blasters’ “So Long Baby, Goodbye,” Booker T. & The MGs’ “Chinese Checkers” and Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Born On The Bayou.”
Her touch and tone on guitar are matched by her ability to play with both taste and bite. Expect Chavez to sizzle here at her album-release concert.
7 p.m. Tuesday, May 12. Belly Up, 143 South Cedros Ave., Solana Beach. $20-$35 (must be 21 or older to attend). bellyup.com
Drum great Tyshawn Sorey will make a rare San Diego concert appearance Friday at Lou Lou’s as member of trumpeter Peter Evans’ trio. (Nina Westervelt/The New York Times)
Peter Evans, with Tyshawn Sorey and Nick Jozwiak: This is likely the sleeper concert of the month, if not the year, for fans of intensely edgy improvised music and envelope-shredding jazz.
Trumpeter Peter Evans counts Anthony Braxton, John Zorn and Mary Halvorson among his collaborators, along with such past and present San Diego innovators as Pauline Oliveros, George Lewis and Steve Schick.
Using extended techniques, Evans — who also plays keyboards — expands the range of his chosen instrument with sometimes startling results. He leads an innovative band that, in previous decades, would surely have performed here under the auspices of Bonnie Wright’s sadly defunct Spruce Street Forum concert series.
In drummer and composer Tyshawn Sorey, Evans’ group features of one the most acclaimed, forward-looking and singularly talented instrumental talents of his generation.
The rare opportunity to hear and see him up close here is tantalizing — and frustrating, at least for me. Sorey’s performance here Friday with Evans and bassist Nick Jozwiak is the same night Pat Metheny’s Side-Eye III+ band, featuring San Diego singer and percussionist Leonard Patton, is playing at Humphreys Concerts by the Bay. Decisions, decisions!
8 p.m. Friday, May 8. Lou Lou’s, 2223 El Cajon Blvd., North Park. $42-$54 (must be 21 or older to attend). loulousclub.com
Tito Puente Jr. will perform Saturday May 5, at Lou Lou’s in North Park. (Michael Hixon/SCNG)
Tito Puente Jr. and the San Diego Latin Jazz Collective
As the son of one of the most famous Latin-jazz musicians of all time, timbalero Tito Puente Jr. has a daunting legacy to try and match.
Fortunately, he has the same instrumental command and charisma as his legendary father, who was hailed as “El Rey” (or “The King”) and died in 2000 at the age of 77.
The younger Puente’s concert here this weekend with the talent-rich San Diego Latin Jazz Collective should be a dancer’s delight.
8 p.m. Saturday, May 9. Lou Lou’s, 2223 El Cajon Blvd., North Park. $46.55 (must be 21 or older to attend). loulousclub.com