Welcome to Big Week, our weekly guide to cool things to do, put together by our expert critics and writers. If you are looking for some Big Bang this 4th of July Weekend, our friends at FuncheapSF always have a terrific list of fireworks displays around the Bay Area.
GENERAL ARTS
Marke B. keeps an eye and ear out.
THU/2-JULY 25: GRAPHIS BEST100 If you are a graphic design freak like me, you will be freaking out about this free show at the Cannery, featuring some of the best contemporary work—”100 most outstanding pieces selected from thousands of entries worldwide, spanning design, advertising, photography, illustration, and new talent from schools and emerging professionals. Think of it as a curated snapshot of where visual culture is headed, by the people actually pushing it.” The Cannery, SF. More info here.
FRI/3 + SAT/4: UGHMERICA THE “BEAUTIFUL” 4TH OF JULY CLOWN CABARET “Does the thought of a performative celebration of patriotism in the face of American decline make your head feel like bursting? Does the fanciful frivolity of a firework show feel a bit out of place this year? Do you feel less like celebrating our nation and more like screaming into the void until your throat bleeds? Spare yourself the spectacle of the state and join us at Church of Clown for an evening of satire, absurdity, and resistance. These strange, funny, heartfelt, messy, musical, confrontational and beautifully unhinged clown acts will explore politics, patriotism, power, protest in cutting commentary on our American Circus.” 8pm, Church of Clown, SF. More info here.
SAT/4: GOLDEN GATE PARK BAND: HAPPY 250TH AMERICA! The most wholesome way to spend the Fourth is to plop yourself on a sunlit bench for 90-minutes this Saturday afternoon, listening to the 144-year-old Golden Gate Park Band play hoary chestnuts of American Empire (including a Star Wars medley?) while soaking up the beauty of our fabulous park, one of the true gifts of this god-forsaken political system. There will also be a patriotic dog costume contest! 1pm-2:30pm, Golden Gate Park Bandshell, SF. More info here.
SAT/4 + SUN/5: FILLMORE JAZZ FEST One of the modern dilemmas of being a San Francisco arts lover is presented in full force by this always terrific fest and 40-year-old landmark of local culture. When the festival announced it was closing down last year due to lack of funds, conservative billionaire Chris Larsen stepped in to save it, and it was a glorious weekend. Can you enjoy this Black cultural bounty that supports tons of local businesses while knowing an anti-union, Republican-backing, surveillance-state mogul is behind it? I will wrestle with that morally while bellying up to the BBQ, as a host of local jazz legends let it rip. Noon-6pm, Fillmore District, SF. More info here.
SAT/4-SUN/12: FUTURE OF US FESTIVAL I am trying to wrap my head around this sprawling fest, which simultaneously celebrates 250 years of the US while “experimenting with what civic culture could look like if we balanced corporate innovation with collective imagination, integrated art and science in civic life, and made a lot more space for a lot more people to co-imagine the futures they actually want.” Fifty-plus events with “20+ collaborating organizations including SFMOMA, the American Indian Cultural District, and the San Francisco Environment Department.” There’s art, interaction, “economic soul mapping,” “cultural cartography,” and inspired-sounding re-imaginings galore, centered around The Pearl venue in Dogpatch. More info here.
MUSIC
Hit up John-Paul Shiver’s Under the Stars column for great tunes and shows every week.
THURS/2: DESTINY MUHAMMAD TRIO Fellow harpist Brandee Younger told Smithsonian Gateways a while back that “people often associate the harp with Celtic or Western European classical music, but it’s one of the world’s oldest instruments, and its presence spans the globe.” Jazz harp player and soul-powered vocalist Destiny Muhammad espouses the philosophy that the harp can and should be a contributing or headlining force in pop, R&B, soul, and jazz—any arrangement that embraces flight. In addition to her many accolades, Muhammad is a current YBG Festival Seed Commission Artist, but give her an hour this Thursday, and you’ll be a believer too. 12:30pm-1:30pm, free, Yerba Buena Gardens, SF. More info here.
THURS/FRI/SUN: JULY 2, 3 & 5: WORLD CUP SOCCER AT CURIO & THE CHAPEL FIFA’s new mandatory hydration breaks—three-minute pauses midway through each half—are radically altering the flow, momentum, and tactical landscape of World Cup matches. So keep your drinks, bites, and delight coming at Curio and The Chapel, which will be showing Switzerland vs. Algeria in Curio on Thursday. Argentina vs. Cabo Verde on The Chapel’s Big Screen Friday and the resulting matches on Sunday. Admission is free on all dates. Treat your hydration seriously. Times and schedules here.
SAT/4: SWEATER FUNK Wanna celebrate America’s 250th B-day, in rhythm? Let the iconic San Francisco party that celebrates boogie, two-step, and modern funk—strictly on vinyl, mind you—be the lighthouse at the end of your July 4th festivities. Fresh off its tribute to Luther Vandross a couple of weeks ago, this collective has made SF a destination for record diggers and those in search of that elusive dance party, where, depending on the night, three or 17 DJs will show up with record bags and blow your mind. Five bucks at the door gives you entry to a place where rare record labels and all vinyl selections let you work off that final burger at the BBQ you should have passed on. 10pm, The Knockout, SF. More info there.
MON/6: DIRECTIONS IN STEREO RADIO SHOW KXSF 102.5 FM Is your weekend a holdover or a new week reset? You make the call and let this be a two-hour, human-curated, free-form radio show featuring DJ Circuit 73, spinning all genres and styles, from the past to the present, including guest interviews and new music drops. Settle into your new place to discover artistry, share experiences, and make those connections around the sounds from Fog City and beyond. 10pm-12am, KXSF 102.5 FM, tune in here.
FOOD & DRINK
Tamara Palmer’s weekly Good Taste column tells you where to stick your fork.
FIELD TRIP TO STANFORD SHOPPING CENTER There is still a daily line at the almost three-month old Ralph’s Coffee that’s adjacent to the Ralph Lauren store in the Stanford Shopping Center, but it moves fairly fast. The cutely preppy café has surprisingly good coffee and vanilla soft serve (rich and thick) and a well-balanced, high-end lemonade. It was too late in the day to try the actual coffee on my first visit, but their signature blends are produced by crowd-pleasers La Colombe. LA’s Sushi Roku and Zaytinya (the latter helmed by World Central Kitchen’s philanthropic chef Jose Andrés) are also in the outdoor mall and worth checking out for a fancified lunch or dinner. 383B Stanford Shopping Center, Palo Alto. More info here.
STAGE
Charles Lewis III checks out theaters and performance spaces every week in the Drama Masks column.
SAT/4 THROUGH SEPTEMBER 7: SF MIME TROUPE’S WRECKAGE–A MUSICAL TRAGICOMEDY It wouldn’t be the 4th of July without a satirical songbook by the city’s silly Socialists. This time, the performers weave a story about AI and oligarchs run amuck in a certain City by the Bay. How will the people take back what’s rightfully theirs? You’ll have to head to a nearby park to find out. 4th of July show 2pm in Dolores Park, SF. Subsequent shows at various Bay Area parks. More info here.
THROUGH 7/26: CIRCUS BELLA’S AH HA! The beloved Bay Area big-toppers may not be the most overtly political troupe, but their 2026 show wholeheartedly embraces the idea of joy as an act of rebellion. Abigail Munn’s usual performers are once again joined by clown Didi (Tristan Cunninham) for a wild, wacky hour of family-friendly fun. Various Bay Area parks. More info here.
FILM
Dennis Harvey’s long-running Screen Grabs has tons more flicks to recommend.
THU/2-JULY 30: LIMITLESS FILM SERIES A month-long film series in dialogue with the groundbreaking exhibition UNBOUND: Art, Blackness, & the Universe at MoAD, this series showcases award-winning films from filmmakers across the African Diaspora. Including John Akomfrah’s stunning and prescient musicological masterpiece Last Angel of History, Kahlil Joseph’s poignant BLKNWS: Terms and Conditions, and Elena Guzman’s recent Oriki Oshun, “the series offers an invitation to embrace expansive thinking and imagine new possibilities beyond constraint.” Select screenings will include conversations with guest filmmakers and scholars. MoAD and SFMOMA, more info here.
NOW STREAMING: SHE’S THE HE Siobhan McCarthy’s comedy has what sounds like a horrendous premise: Two high school boys are so inseparable, their classmates assume they’re a gay couple, so to quash that notion and hopefully attract hot girls… they decide to pretend they’re both trans. That somehow does rivet the attention of the hottest mean girl and her clique, who’ve decided having a trans bestie or two is the coolest accessory a trend-conscious teen can boast today. This starts out as an update on the crass queer youth comedy template of Another Gay Movie, becomes more like Superbad, then gets semi-serious. The writer-director and her able cast mostly manage to successfully walk a high wire between grounded emotions and cartoonishly absurd situations, making for a movie with surprising heart as well as some hilarious moments. More info here.
NIGHTLIFE
Marke B. usually knows what’s up.
FRI/3: GLITCH.BASS WITH ITERATE, RËIA, WARBLE, AGATRON, DJ BINX OK, sorry, cannot resist this one: “DJ BINX is 6 years old and attempting a Guinness World Record for youngest female club DJ. The night blends glitch bass, robot dance performance (Agatron, who appeared in Kendrick Lamar’s “Alright” video), Bass Dragon Qigong, and a cyberpunk tea lounge. Presented by Tea Tribe at the regenerating Mabuhay Gardens. All ages, kids free. 7pm-1am, Broadway Studios, SF. More info here.
SAT/4: TODD TERJE I don’t have a lot of bragging rights, but this Norwegian disco revivalist playing my birthday in a little sailor suit at the old Rawhide II is definitely one of them. That was before he entranced the world with his epic “Inspector Norse” banger—and last time I saw him at Public Works (then courtesy of the As You Like It crew) there were inflatable palm trees and a white grand piano iirc. Todd’s always worth it. 9pm-late, Public Works, SF. More info here.
SAT/4: PAN-POT Just awesome techno always from these two Berliners who rode the minimal wave of the 2000s with their own crash-bang attitude that elevated the subgenre into whole body feels. Decades on, they’ve kept the ravier options on the tables. 10pm-late, Halcyon, SF. More info here.
