The Tanahill Weavers
It’s been seven years since the Tannahill Weavers celebrated its 50th anniversary — and Scotland’s longest-lived Celtic music group is still going strong, with European and U.S. concert tour dates that stretch into next March.
This would be a heady achievement for any band, let alone one whose 1968 formation in the Scottish town of Paisley predates by at least a dozen years the start of the Los Angeles-based Paisley Underground scene that saw the rise of The Bangles, The Dream Syndicate and other like-minded young acts greatly inspired by the rock music of the 1960s.
The Tannahill Weavers also draw inspiration from a bygone era, more specifically, the 1600s, which is when such proto-Celtic music songs as “An Tuagh — Song of Amergin” first became staples of the OG (Original Gaelic) repertoire.
Inducted into the Scottish Traditional Music Hall of Fame in 2011, the Tannahill Weavers released its most recent album, “Solstice,” last year. While the band has had at least 16 different lineups since its inception in 1968, two of its — guitarist and lead singer Roy Gullane and flutist, tin whistle player, singer and percussionist Phil Smillie — have been on board since 1970.
Gullane’s 2022 memoir, “Goulash Soup and Chips: The Reminiscences and Occasional Rantings of an Aging Folk Singer,” chronicles the band’s evolution nicely. (In a 2018 San Francisco Examiner interview, Gullane downplayed his group’s 50th anniversary, saying: “Maybe if we hadn’t told anyone, no one would have noticed. But we never set out to be some hip commodity… so we just keep plugging away.”)
Between them, the four of the Tannahill Weavers play more than a dozen acoustic instruments. They are equally skilled performing hushed laments and stately airs as they are dance-happy jigs, reels, waltzes and strathspeys. Their repertoire mixes weathered Celtic music standards with original compositions that celebrate and extend the traditions the Tannahill Weavers have championed for more than half a century.
Their riveting ballad, “At the End of a Pointed Gun,” remains the only song I know of — in or out of Celtic music — about the Israeli athletes who were taken hostage and murdered at the Munich Olympics in 1972.
7:30 p.m. Saturday. Pilgrim United Church of Christ, 2020 Chestnut Ave., Carlsbad. $20-$25. sdfolkheritage.org
Silas Short
Milwaukee-born, Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter Silas Short was exposed to a national film audience last year, thanks to the Oscar-winning film “A Real Pain.” It features his terrific version of “My Conversation,” a 1968 proto-reggae gem by Jamaica’s Slim Smith & The Uniques.
Short’s biggest challenge now will be bringing the 12 songs on his arresting debut album, “Lushland,” to life on a concert stage and matching the quality he achieved in the recording studio.
Released April 25 by the indie label Stones Throw, “Lushland” is a lovingly crafted, emotionally vulnerable work that would be impressive from a far more seasoned artist.
Short, 28, doesn’t disguise his creative inspirations, which range from Prince, D’Angelo, The Smiths and Erykah Badu to The Roots, System of a Down, Maxwell and Pablo Picasso’s masterful 1921 Cubist painting, “Three Musicians.”
But the unexpected twists and subtle turns in Short’s songs are all his own, and he builds irably on his influences rather than simply mimicking them. He’s also a distinctive guitarist with a less-is-more style that suits his songs well.
7:30 p.m. tonight. Soda Bar, 3615 EL Cajon Blvd., City Heights. $15.97 (must be 21 or older to attend). sodabarmusic.com
Cheap Trick
It’s been two years since Cheap Trick celebrated its 50th anniversary and nine years since this Illinois-bred quartet was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
A new album, tentatively titled “All Washed Up,” is nearing completion and the band’s biography, “American Standard,” was published last fall.
Cheap Trick’s farewell tour of Japan — where the band broke through in the 1970s before making it big in the U.S. — is planned for later this year. Whether a U.S. farewell trek is also in the works remains to be seen.
Either way, Cheap Trick is now a quintet whose multigenerational lineup includes the sons of not one, but two, of its original . And the band’s concerts still regularly ignite with “Dream Police,” “I Want You To Want Me” and other rock-solid songs that have been staples for five decades.
8 p.m. Saturday. Viejas Resort & Casino Concerts in the Park, $73.50-$228 (must be 21 or older to attend). ticketmaster.com
The Damned, with TV Smith
In 1976 The Damned became the first British punk-rock band to release a record (the high-octane single, “New Rose”), beating the Sex Pistols to the punch by 13 months.
The Pistols imploded in 1978, just 26 months after its debut performance, then reunited in 1996 and again in 2002, 2007 and a few times since. Three of the Pistol’s co-founders are now on tour with Frank Carter replacing the litigious Johnny Rotten on vocals. (The Rotten-free band’s 2025 U.S. tour skips San Diego but includes an Oct. 16 date at the Hollywood Palladium.)
The Damned also crashed and burned early on, just two years after forming, but reunited less than a year later and soldiered on until 1989. The band reunited again in 1991 and has performed, with a dizzying succession of lineups ever since.
The current iteration of The Damned features three original — guitarist Captain Sensible, drummer Rat Scabies and lead singer Dave Vanian (whose wife, Patricia, was the band’s bassist between 1996 and 2004).
The Damned last year concluded was billed as its “final” tour of Australia. The band’s future on other continents is unclear, but its Saturday concert here at the Observatory should be worth celebrating.
There’s at least a mild curiosity factor regarding the name of opening act, TV Smith. He co-founded The Adverts, a British punk band that formed in 1976, imploded in 1979 and never reunited. Two of its four original are deceased, while a third — bassist Gaye Black — can no longer play her instrument because of her arthritis.
That leaves guitarist Smith, who in recent years has periodically led a band billed as T.V. Smith’s Adverts. When The Damned announced its 2025 U.S. tour last November, The Adverts — not T.V. Smith’s Adverts — was billed as the opening act. As recently as last week, the website for the Observatory listed The Adverts as the opening act for The Damned’s Saturday concert here. That billing has now been changed, perhaps for legal reasons, to TV Smith.
7 p,m, Saturday. The Observatory North Park, 2891 University Avenue, North Park. $59.50. livenation.com
