Pierce the Veil leads the week’s entertainment with sold-out concert

Pierce the Veil is all about taking chances with its career.

After all, not every band would support a new album by playing the thing in its entirety each night for a full run of shows. That’s what Pierce the Veil did on its spring tour.

“You feel like a brand new band,” says Jaime Preciado, who plays bass for popular San Deigo four piece, which plays a sold-out show Saturday, Oct. 15, at the Rainbow Ballroom.

“There’s no muscle memory,” he says.

Pierce The Veil has been touring fairly non-stop since it released “Misadventures” in May. It’s at the end of the U.S. leg of its Made to Destroy tour, with Michigan rock band I Prevail and the Welsh pop punk group Neck Deep.

This being a major headlining tour, the band has upped the production values and will be pulling out songs not only from “Misadventures,” but from the three albums as well.

“Having a new arsenal of songs to put in the set list is cool,” Precidao says.

So, far, the tour has pretty much sold out every market, including Fresno – its second-to-last stop. The final show is at Hollywood Palladium on Sunday and the band will have a quick five days off before heading to Europe and the United Kingdom. That tour will take them through the end of the year and already has more than a few sold-out dates.

After spending so much of 2016 in the studio finishing the album, being out in front of the fans is welcomed relief, Preciado says.

“We’ve been so going crazy, finishing the record,” he says. “Now, this is fun.”

Pierce the Veil last played Fresno at the Rotary Amphitheater in 2014 on its The World tour.

Details: 6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 15, Rainbow Ballroom, 1725 Broadway St. This show is sold out. 805-987-2026, www.numbskullshows.com

Be a tastemaker

The event: The Tastemakers Emerging Artists Music Festival marks it third year at Visalia’s Rawhide Ballpark.

The draw: An off shoot of the Sound N Vision Foundation, the Tastemakers festival is a snapshot of the Valley’s music, beer and food scenes. So along with the bands (Slow Season, Mystic Braves, Battlehooch, Zeek Will and Kam Cooks, Hate Drugs, The Faculty and Wee Beasties) there will be several local eateries (Pita Kabob, Cafe Tommy, Chapala Grill and Alejandras) and breweries (House of Pendragon, Tioga Sequoia and Sierra Nevada).

Tioga-Sequoia will have an exclusive Tastemakers brew at the event.

Proceeds from the festival will go back to the SNV Foundation, which provided free, year-round youth art classes and promotes concerts at the Cellar Door.

Details: 6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 15, at Rawhide Ballpark, 300 N Giddings St., Visalia. $8-$25. www.tastemakersfestival.com

Crawl with a zombie

The event: The Fresno Zombie Crawl infects the Tower District for another year.

The draw: As pop-cultural fads go, this fascination with the walking dead is really dragging on. The Fresno Zombie Crawl has been happening for the better part of a decade and saw more than 3,000 zombies last year. As the name implies, this is a grown-ups costume party crossed with your more traditional pub crawl. More than a dozen Tower District hot spots will be part of this year’s event, which will also feature a midnight costume contest for best male female zombies.

Details: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 15. Meet at Bank of America parking lot on Wishon Avenue. $10. 21+ only. @zombiesociety on Facebook

Happily Laughter After

The event: Comedian Chonda Pierce stops at the People’s Church on her Happily Laughter After tour.

The draw: When the Recording Industry Association of America honored Pierce as the best-selling female comedian of all time, she was shocked. So was the RIAA.

“They said, they ran the numbers twice,” says the Nashville comedian, who got her start at a theme part doing Minnie Pearl impressions. She would add in her own jokes when she got bored.

Pierce is not your typical stand-up. She’s not big on club gigs or angling for a TV sitcom. Still, she’s kept busy for 20 years playing the church circuit – though she does her share of theater shows, too. She’s also picked up several day Emmy nominations and released a documentary of her life last year.

“Surprisingly, and tenderly, it has been a huge surge for what I do,” Pierce says.

She is working on a follow-up called “It’s a Girl Thing.”

Details: 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 15, at People’s Church, 7172 N. Cedar Ave. $25-$45 VIP. 800- 965-9324, www.iTickets.com

This story was originally published October 12, 2016 at 11:50 AM with the headline "Pierce the Veil leads the week’s entertainment with sold-out concert."