12 October 2025

Ty Segall at The Regency | San Francisco | 10.11.25

ARTICLE CONTRIBUTED BY GABRIEL DAVID BARKIN | PUBLISHED ON October 12, 2025

My brother likes to say, “I never left the ‘70s, and I never plan to.” Listening to Ty Segall’s latest album Possession leads me to believe he may have adopted the same motto. The tracks on this 2025 release harken back to the days of ‘70s power pop-rock bands like Big Star and T. Rex. Throw in a healthy dash of Spirit’s Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus and a few lumps of Todd Rundgren’s Utopia oeuvre for good measure, and you’ve got the recipe.

Segall was born in Southern California in 1987. Where he got his affection for fuzztone guitars and glam rock vocals will have to remain a mystery until I can ask him someday. Suffice it to say, he has earned a de facto PhD in the genre with the release of this record.

Despite Segall releasing 17 albums since 2008 (averaging one every single year, an impressive feat), I had never heard of the guy until I caught wind of his 2025 release Possession. It’s a captivating album with pschepopadelic hooks and power chords that earwormed their way into my brain.

There are a number of songs on this record that sound like they were written after Segall injected himself with a needle full of the entire Magical Mystery Tour album mashed together with some serious “Bang a Gong (Get It On)” pixie dust from Mark Bolan’s secret stash. And I mean that in the best possible way. Far out, man. One of my favorite records of the year.

Segall has had a lengthy career as a member of numerous bands and exploring many different styles on all those solo records. Wunderkind engineer Steve Albini (The Pixies, Nirvana, PJ Harvey) contributed to some of those productions, lending his imprimatur to Segall’s prodigious output. These days, he mostly records and tours with The Freedom Band.

Despite my prior ignorance, Segall’s 2018 hit “My Lady’s on Fire“ has a respectable 29 million plays on Spotify. No doubt, some of his streaming audience were in the crowd on Saturday night at the Regency in San Francisco. I had high expectations going in.

It was a fun show, but the performance did not reflect the 1970s glam’ishness of Possession. Rather, it was something of a grunge guitar god shred fest. Not saying it was bad – in fact, it was pretty darn good. It just wasn’t what I expected.

Segall and The Freedom Band did throw in a few of the new cuts. The title track was lively and matched the energy and ambiance of the recording. “Buildings” was reimagined to fit the heavy rock motif of the evening. Most of the set, however, drew from Segall’s vast catalog with a focus on the guitar solo’y stuff.

Segall stood on one end of the stage facing his bandmates rather than turning to the audience for most of the night. He played the guitar deity role well, bobbing and throwing his blonde locks back as he attacked the strings. Segall does have a distinctive tone and melodic style. He’s not a bad fit for the part.

At one point he told the crowd he likes to reveal one personal fact every night on stage. Tonight, that fun fact was, “I think milk is fucking disgusting.” With no elaboration as the audience cheered (I’m sure there were numerous vegans in the San Francisco crowd), he launched into another song. A small but vibrant mosh pit in the middle of the crowd slammed gleefully, perhaps to express their agreement with Segall’s anti-dairy sentiment.

There were a few moments of spacey slow jams that brought to mind “Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun,” stuff like that. But mostly it was a 90s-inspired rock show reflecting Nirvana and Soundgarden sensibilities rather than Mark Bolan and Todd Rundgren.

Just goes to show, you never know until you know.

Pink Breath of Heaven opened with a set of ethereal psychedelic pop. Singer and guitarist Liv Field channeled Mazzy Star and My Bloody Valentine with shoegaze aplomb. The San Francisco band is touring in support of their debut album Colors Make a Sound.

Props to PBOH for having a member of their band play nothing but a well-shaken tambourine for the entire set. Seriously, as tambourine players go, she was pretty good.

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