At the end of a month that brought Pearl Jam back to a Seattle stage for the first time in half a decade and had Mudhoney and the Fastbacks playing excellent free sets at SPF30, catching a venerated local band—a quintessential Northwest band—may not seem worth it. But the Sonics are in many ways the quintessential Northwest band. 

Over fifty years ago, the Sonics tore through amps and speakers with gleefully overdriven songs about Satan and drinking strychnine, and in doing spawned the affable, hook-addled aggression you can hear in local bands from Mudhoney to Bikini Kill to Naked Giants.

The Sonics have been playing locals shows since rebanding in 2007, but they haven’t played in Tacoma—their actual hometown—since 2012. And this Sunday night show is at Alma Mater, a huge multi-use performance venue that arrived in Tacoma recently. It was formerly the Carpenters Building, where the Sonics played gigs in the 1960s. So if you want the Northwest equivalent of seeing, I don’t know, the Beatles playing in Liverpool, then get yourself to Tacoma on Sunday. Oh, and perhaps the best reason, as you can see from their 2105 show at Easy Street Records: The Sonics are still great. 

The Sonics with Acid Tongue
Aug 26, Alma Mater (Tacoma), $35