Elton John Curebound ‘Concert for Cures’
The announcement in late February that Elton John will perform Friday night at Petco Park surely came as a surprise to anyone who recalls that he concluded his “Farewell Yellow Brick Road: The Final tour” in July 2023 — and that the legendary singer-songwriter vowed it would be the final tour of his illustrious, record-breaking career.
Elton John made his ‘Farewell Yellow Brick Road’ concert at Petco Park a night to
But the legendary singer-songwriter has kept his word.
He hasn’t toured since then and his concert here is a one-off performance, not part of a tour. And it’s for a very good cause.
John’s return to Petco Park, where his farewell tour included a terrific show in late 2022, is a benefit for Curebound, the San Diego nonprofit that since 2021 has funded more than $45 million in cancer research for 140-plus study grants for more than 20 types of pediatric and adult cancers.
Elton John at Petco Park: 13 tips if you are going to Friday’s San Diego concert
John is himself a cancer survivor — he was treated for prostate cancer in 2017 the year before he embarked on his extensive, worldwide farewell tour. Since retiring from the road, he has done only a handful of concerts and most of them have found him delivering just a handful of songs.
That should make his full-scale performance with his band at Petco Park all the more special, especially since he has announced no other concerts for 2025. Moreover, it will be John’s first U.S. concert since the March release of his absorbing new album with Brandi Carlile, “Who Believes In Angels?” (For good measure, John also appears in the movie “Spinal Tap II: The End Continues.”)
Despite having last year lost all of the sight in his right eye and some in his left eye, John has not lost his ion for making music, even if his touring days are behind him. Expect Friday’s concert to be poignant and then some.
8 p.m. Friday. Petco Park, 100 Park Blvd., downtown. $42.70-$5,000. curebound.org/concert-for-cures
Outlaw Music Festival, with Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan, Billy Strings & Sierra Hull
This is the 10th anniversary of Willie Nelson’s Outlaw Music Festival — and the second consecutive year he and Bob Dylan are coheadlining the tour here at North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre.
Review: Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan provide stellar night at San Diego concert
This time around, Nelson and Dylan will be preceded on stage by mandolin wiz Sierra Hull and acoustic guitar star and jam-band favorite Billy Strings. While both merit arriving early to hear, either of the main attractions is worth the price of ission on their own.
Nelson, who turned 92 on April 29, has released a dizzying 10 albums since 2020 and performed constantly. The newest, this year’s “Oh What A Beautiful World,” is the 154th album of Nelson’s storied career and finds this timeless troubadour performing a dozen songs written or cowritten by fellow Texas troubadour Rodney Crowell.
The title track is a gently captivating ode to life from a man who has lived and thrived longer than many of his now deceased peers. Like the rest of the album, it exudes the musical charm of an artist who loves nothing better than digging into a song as only he can.
Dylan, who turns 84 on May 24, has not released an album of new music since 2020’s epic “Rough and Rowdy Ways.” But he dominated music headlines last year in a big way, thanks to Timothée Chalamet’s Oscar-nominated portrayal of him in the Dylan biopic “A Complete Unknown.”
For me, the film was flawed in many ways, be it through major omissions, glaring historical inaccuracies or how it conflated different events, misrepresented others, and greatly downplayed how important the young Dylan’s New York girlfriend, Suze Rotolo, was in expanding his world view. What the film got mostly right was Dylan’s often transcendent music.
Will that be enough to lure droves of Chalamet fans to check out the real Dylan? We’ll soon find out.
4 p.m. Thursday. North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre, 2050 Entertainment Circle, Chula Vista. $25-$238. livenation.com
Diana Krall
The top selling jazz singer of the past 30 years, Diana Krall can be credited with introducing a new generation of listeners to classics from the Great American Songbook. A svelte singer and a sparkling pianist, she is a master of nuance who is able to make any song her own, be it George Gershwin’s ” ‘S Wonderful” or Buffalo Springfield’s “Mr. Soul.”
She does exactly that on her new album, the 11-song “This Dream of You.” It finds Krall deftly juxtaposing the whisper-soft Bob Dylan-penned title track with such chestnuts as “Just You, Just Me” (a song first heard in the 1929 film musical “Marianne”) and “Don’t Smoke in Bed” (which was recorded by Peggy Lee in 1947 and Nina Simone in 1958).
Krall scores very well in every instance, adding her own mark of distinction while remaining true to their original spirt. Three of the standout musicians on the album — guitarist Anthony Wilson, bassist John Clayton and drum ace Jeff Hamilton — have toured with Krall for years. They will be with her for her Tuesday concert at Humphreys, a venue Krall has memorably performed at dating back to her debut there in 1998.
7:30 p.m. Tuesday. Humphreys Concerts by the Bay, 2241 Shelter Island Drive, Shelter Island. $134.80; ticketmaster.com
Los Mirlos, Chicha Libre, La Diabla, and DJ Strange Bouquets.
Formed in 1973, Los Mirlos made history last month when it became the first Peruvian act to ever perform at Coachella in that landmark festival’s 26-year history. It was a heady accomplishment for the band, which pioneered Chicha music, a unique blend of Columbian cumbia, twangy surf-rock, Andean folk styles and psychedelia that is also known as cumbia Amazónica.
Led since its inception by guitarist and organist Jorge Rodríguez Grández, Los Mirlos is named after Peruvian jungle blackbirds. The subject of the 2022 film documentary “La danza De Los Mirlos,” the band also features Grández’s sons, Jorge and Roger. A third son, Javier, is the group’s manager.
Los Mirlos recently sold out its Los Angeles concert at The Roxy and was scheduled to perform last night at Black Box in Tijuana as part of its ongoing “Ayahuasca Tour.” The concluding date will take place Sunday at Quartyard in downtown San Diego. The band’s debut here should be a dance-happy Mother’s Day concert to .
5 p.m. Sunday. Quartyard,1301 Market Street, downtown. $22-$39.19; eventbrite.com
