FILE: Michael Rother (L) and Hallogallo perform on stage during the Edge Festival at The Picture House on August 17, 2010 in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Last week, it was as if Mayor Daniel Lurie had used his newfound powers to crank the knob on San Francisco’s weather machine, clearing the city’s skies and briefly heating the sidewalks to a balmy 75 degrees. (This couldn’t happen everywhere. Unlike Oakland, San Francisco has a strong mayor system.)

San Francisco’s weather machine may not exist, but the bitter March nights have thankfully passed. This week was a packed slate of all-star San Francisco events — the sort of cultural magic that we aim to capture with SFGATE’s weekly Fogcutter column, published every Sunday as a tidy journalistic bouquet.

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In this edition, senior culture editor Dan Gentile hits a trio of weeknight events, copy editor Antonio Bayucan catches Nintendo tunes at Grace Cathedral and culture reporter Timothy Karoff takes advantage of Lurie’s weather machine.

Most people might not consider 1970s Germany a musical hotbed, but if you’re a serious music nerd, it’s likely that at some point, you’ve gone down the krautrock rabbit hole. A loose term for the experimental wave of artists coming out of Germany in the late 1960s and ’70s, some of krautrock’s biggest bands include Can, Tangerine Dream, Cluster and Kraftwerk (before they traded their flutes for synths). It’s an expansive genre that mixes guitar virtuosity, meandering soundscapes and a decidedly German stoic lack of lyrics.

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The survivors of this ragtag group of guitar heroes are few and far between, and they’re the type of artists that you may only get one opportunity to see in your lifetime. Last Monday was one such event, with Neu! and Harmonia guitarist Michael appearing at Gray Area.

Michael Rother of Neu! and Harmonia appears with his band at Gray Area in San Francisco on March 24, 2025.

Now 74 years old, Rother looked and sounded as fresh as ever, playing a selection of tunes from his heyday, the type of emotive instrumental guitar songs that seemingly could only be written in ’70s Germany. Backed by the rock-solid drumming of original Neu! member Hans Lampe plus two young guns on guitar and electronics, the group brought songs like “Neuschnee” to life for an audience who never thought they’d hear them in person. A true bucket list night. — Dan Gentile, SFGATE senior culture editor

The night after Rother’s guitar heroics, I headed to the Chapel to see up-and-coming songwriter Emile Mosseri. I’ll be honest — up-and-coming songwriters aren’t typically on my normal live-music menu of Balearic DJs, electronic music producers and canonized college radio station heroes. But it was an important reminder to 1) take recommendations from people you trust and 2) remember that the power of a great song trumps all.

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