Tenacious D and Puddles Pity Party at the Warfield in San Francisco

In the spirit of “the show must go on,” Tenacious D miraculously orchestrated a relocation of their Palo Alto show as a local wildfire impacted electricity to the Frost Amphitheater. With short notice, The D split their one Bay Area show into a Friday show in San Francisco at the Warfield and a Saturday show at the Mountain Winery in Saratoga, each serving ticket holders on a first come basis.

With doors opening at the Warfield at 6 pm for an 8 pm show, whether this would prove to be an epic save or colossal shitshow was no doubt top of mind for attendees trying to make sense of the last-minute change of plans but by 7 pm the Warfield was packed to the rafters and outside there was a nervous mass of folks on the sidewalk looking hopeful that somehow, they could get squeeze in.

The switcheroo most definitely worked in the favor of opener Puddles Pity Party who took the stage to an absolutely packed house, the better part of which had been spending the last hour or two availing themselves of the Warfield bar (notably killing a few taps before the Puddles set even ended). With a few cocktails down, the San Francisco crowd was clearly stoked for 45 minutes of sad clown cover songs which included some elegant mashups of Metallica/Celine Dion and The Who/Johnny Cash (twice!).

Those that managed to upgrade their GA lawn ticket at the Frost Amphitheater for a spot on the rail were chomping at the bit with signs and official Tenacious D c*m rags in hand (“because everything else is just a c*m rag”). And when The Big D took the stage at 9:15 and launched into “JB JR RAP,” the Warfield completely lost its shit.

Tearing through the catalog, Tenacious D stuck with the irreverent antics that built a rabid fan following … Kage usually playing the straight man to Black’s manic zaniness. But this night’s show was much more than a band performance, it was a participatory event and at times the crowd’s singing nearly matched the volume of the band.

Talk about a diving save, Tenacious D somehow managed to pull off a last minute venue change and still deliver an epic performance without missing a beat!

Tenacious D

Puddles Pity Party