Starcrawler, Niis and The Vaxxines at The Chapel in San Francisco

The mighty Starcrawler returned to San Francisco on their “Welcome to Fabulous Starcrawler” Tour, headlining a packed house with local opener The Vaxxines and direct support by Niis for a packed night of rambunctious rock.

No stranger to Bay Area gigging, The Vaxxines clearly had some fans in the house as they ripped into their 30 minute set fronted by their latest singer Chelsea Rose who officially joined the band only three weeks prior. Hopefully the band’s quest for the right singer has finally ended because Chelsea absolutely crushed the material like a pro!

There seemed to be as much anticipation in the room for Niis as there was for Starcrawler and the band did not disappoint their fans and family. They ripped through their generous 40 minute set without holding back a single f-bomb in deference to vocalist Mimi Doe’s younger siblings and mom watching from the front. Heavy, manic, ferocious, sometimes melodic and simply crushing. Niis is back in the Bay Area with Slaughterhouse on July 13 just down the street from the Chapel at Kilowatt, this band is not to be missed.

Finally Starcrawler took the stage and launched right into “Lizzy” off of their 2019 release, Devour You. Guitarist Henri Cash was absolutely explosive, all over the left side of stage while vocalist Arrow de Wilde carved out a center swath for herself, leaving Tim Franco (bass) and Bill Cash (guitar) crammed into the right corner. While it’s easy to chalk the cramped quarters up to the small Chapel stage, anyone that’s seen this band knows that there’s really no stage that can contain them.

Despite a more straight-up rock and roll sound than the openers, the crowd opened up the floor with some dancing making de Wilde’s persistent goading seem a bit unnecessary but one can’t fault her for exploiting San Francisco’s long-standing rivalry with Los Angeles. Of course “I Love LA” just poured a bit more fuel on the already rowdy pit!

The San Francisco crowd stuck it out, many risking missing the last BART train out of the city to catch the entirety of Starcrawler’s set, knowing that this was likely going to be their last chance to catch the band in a venue of this size.

Starcrawler

The Vaxxines