The Best Music Events in San Francisco This Month: What’s Actually Worth Your Night Out

Music events in San Francisco are having a bit of a moment. You can feel it on the Muni home from work: everyone’s scrolling lineups, DM’ing links, and trying to convince three different group chats to buy tickets to three completely different shows. This week alone, more than 9,000 people are already circling or committed to music nights around the city, which is very on brand for a town that loves to claim it’s “over going out” and then sells out a Thursday in ten minutes.

Right now, the best music in San Francisco this month is a very SF mash-up: there’s a full-on Tribute Festival rolling into town, the nostalgia-dripping SUNSET ARCADE: REUNITED pulling in people who miss the days of actual quarters and sticky joysticks, and gloriously unhinged alt-rock with Alice Donut and Steel Pole Bath Tub for the folks who still think the 90s never really ended. Add in a Russian pop institution with Группа "СЕКРЕТ" touching down in SF, a brass-fueled, dance-till-you-sweat lineup at Rickshaw Stop with MISSION DELIRIUM, Miss Hits, and The Cheetah Boys on Friday 2/27/2026, plus a brainier, political-leaning evening with Ukrainian journalist Віталій Портников — and you’ve got a week where your only real problem is picking a lane.

The venues are classic SF, too. Pier 80 is doing its usual thing: giant waterfront energy, the kind of spot where a Tribute Festival becomes an all-day situation and you forget how cold the bay breeze actually is until after dark. Down in the Mission, the 777 Valencia crowd is more your in-the-know, community-heavy scene — the kind of place where you’ll run into someone you know from a co-op, a tech job, and a band, all at the same time. And The Castro Theatre? Still one of the city’s most unforgettable rooms, where a show feels less like a concert and more like a full-on event, especially when a cult band or international act rolls through.

If you’re trying to decide what to hit right now: the Tribute Festival at Pier 80 is your big-night-out, text-everyone-and-make-a-plan move. SUNSET ARCADE: REUNITED is the one for people who secretly love a theme and want to lean into the retro vibes. Alice Donut / Steel Pole Bath Tub is for the lifers and noise-rock weirdos (said lovingly), while MISSION DELIRIUM at Rickshaw Stop is the sweatier, dance-in-a-small-room option that’s perfect if you hate giant crowds. Группа "СЕКРЕТ" and Віталій Портников skew more niche and international — ideal if you want something that feels different from the usual SF routine and you’re okay being the only one in your friend group who knows what’s going on… for now.

This is what discovery looks like in San Francisco right now: a little chaotic, very opinionated, occasionally in Russian or Ukrainian, and absolutely worth leaving the couch for if you pick your night carefully.