Ronnie Blaze

Following the end of the pandemic, Ronnie Blaze emerged onto the San Francisco Bay Area club and open mic circuit. Happily paying his dues in half empty dive bars and supper clubs as a sideman to Mike Dingle and his Third Thursday Band, he marinated in one of Rock and Roll’s most storied cities. These experiences have left him well seasoned and hungry to prove himself, which he does on his debut single named after that city by the bay: San Francisco. 

Yet, while Ronnie is excellent on record, it’s the stage where he really shines. No matter the size of the audience, O Blazinho (as he’s oft referred to by his devotees, the Blazeheads) carries himself like he’s playing a sold-out show at the Superdome. The man has no doubts about the fact that he’s a star, so when the lights go down and the guitars turn up he does his best to prove what he already knows to the audience.

But the Ronnie Blaze experience isn’t merely an exercise in self-deification. Above all the Ronnie Blaze band believes that the audience should be having a good time. The set is full of crowd pleasers. Chappell Roan and Taylor Swift covers are mainstays, often medleyed with Metallica and Sabbath riffs. And that mix of reverence and irreverence is exactly what makes a Ronnie Blaze show so electric. It’s all delivered with a wink, a grin, and the kind of charisma you can’t fake. O Blazinho isn’t just paying his dues anymore, he’s cashing them in. And for him and all those who’ve been there since the beginning, it feels like it’s all starting to go according to plan.