I’m adding a new venue to my list of favorite places to experience live music in the Bay Area. Added bonus: It’s an outdoor spot — which is definitely my favorite kind while we’re still dealing with the ugly reality of the pandemic.
It’s HopMonk Tavern. There are three in the North Bay, but the one I’m recommending for music fans is in Novato. (Although I’m sure the locations in Sonoma and Sebastopol, as well the associated Twin Oaks Tavern in Penngrove, are all worth visiting as well.)
I’ve wanted to visit HopMonk ever since meeting KC Turner, who books shows there, about six months ago. Yes, I met this concert promoter at a time when basically no concerts were taking place. Ironic, right?
Turner — a man who David Lowery, of the rock band Cracker, calls “literally the nicest concert promoter in the United States” — found a way to continue staging shows even mid-pandemic through his backyard/driveway concert series, where he brought artists right to fans’ homes. I went to a few of Turner’s backyard gigs, including X icon John Doe at a San Francisco home, and Lowery playing a house gig in Campbell.
Once things began to open up again, I jumped in the Mustang and headed for Novato to see a KC Turner Presents show at HopMonk — featuring Lowery and Cracker at the venue. Once in Novato, I initially thought my GPS had misled me. As I neared my “destination” at 224 Vintage Way, I looked at all the buildings around me. Hmm, wasn’t expecting to see a Petco. And there’s a Target.
I was in the midst of a shopping center — a pretty nice one, mind you, but one seemingly more suited for a Red Lobster than a hip music venue. (Not that I’m knocking Red Lobster and its amazing Admiral’s Feast.)
But there it was, just across the parking lot from the Nordstrom Rack store: the HopMonk Tavern.
What I found inside, however, made the trip up from my San Jose home feel well worthwhile (and made me momentarily forget about needing to pick up some new khakis at the nearby Banana Republic Factory Store).
HopMonk Novato offers a lovely setting for live music. The venue is cozy, comfortable and intimate, holding as many as 350 fans in a little amphitheater/beer garden area that gently slopes down from a small hill to the stage area. People bring low-back chairs and kick it on the grass or hang out at the tables in the back while eating burgers and other snacks. There’s dancing and rock ‘n’ rolling at some shows. Others are more mellow, with people taking it all in from their blankets and chairs.
The vibe is tremendous. You have the impression that you can catch basically any act there and have an enjoyable evening.
Cracker isn’t just any act, though, and they proved it once again at the Sept. 10 gig at HopMonk. Lowery and guitarist Johnny Hickman — whose birthdays were both celebrated that evening — led the group through such rocking favorites as “Mr. Wrong,” “Low” and, best of all, “Teen Angst (What the World Needs Now).”
It was a great show by a band that, sadly, rarely gets its due.
Lowery is one of the most underrated songwriters in rock history, and Hickman is an unsung guitar hero of the highest order. Seriously. I don’t know what you happen to be listening to right now, but turn it off and listen to Cracker instead.
I love that my inaugural trip to HopMonk ended up being for a Cracker show, but I don’t plan to wait for Lowery and Hickman’s return to make another visit to this cool tavern, which opened in 2012. I hope to put HopMonk Novato in my regular concert rotation and I recommend you do so as well.
HopMonk also has an indoor dining area, where folks can enjoy fish tacos, samosas and other treats, and performances are held in that space as well. Find more information at hopmonk.com.
Upcoming shows include John Doe (of X) Oct. 15-16; Graham Parker Oct. 22 (indoor show); Cherry Poppin’ Daddies Oct. 24; and Cheryl Wheeler with Kenny White Nov. 5 (indoor show).