Y&T comes home to Cornerstone

Oakland's long-running hard rock band plays Berkeley's Cornerstone this Friday, with no new album on the way and no need for one.

Some bands come through the East Bay. Y&T come back to it. On Friday, November 6, the Oakland hard rock band plays Cornerstone in Berkeley, with doors at 7pm and the show at 8pm, according to the venue's ticketing page on Prekindle. Cornerstone holds about 500 people standing, which puts a band that has played much bigger stages in a room where you can see the fretboard from the bar.

Cornerstone's music room isn't at the Shattuck Avenue address the beer hall uses. The venue and box office are around the corner at 2110 Durant Avenue. It's standing room with a little bench seating and a mezzanine for VIP tickets, it runs a JBL line array, and it doesn't allow outside food or drink. Check Prekindle for tickets and whether the show has sold out before you head over.

If you're new to the band, the short version is this: Y&T started in Oakland as Yesterday & Today and shortened the name in 1980. They're one of the Bay Area's own early hard rock bands, and they've kept going for five decades. Dave Meniketti, the singer and guitarist, is now the only surviving member of the original lineup. The current band behind him is John Nymann, Aaron Leigh and Mike Vanderhule.

So what are they working on? Not a new record, at least not yet. Y&T's last studio album is still 2010's *Facemelter*. In an April 2026 interview with Metro Silicon Valley, Meniketti said new music is "absolutely a possibility," but he also said that new releases don't drive ticket sales or income for a band like his anymore. He has said before that he'd like to make another Y&T studio album. For now, the band's work is the same as it's always been: getting on stage and playing the songs. In 2025 that meant a fall run through Europe.

That steady roadwork matters more given the last few years. Prostate cancer forced Meniketti to cancel a 2022 European tour, and in 2023 he announced he was in complete remission. Every hometown show since then has felt a little less like a given.

For a band this rooted in the East Bay, a 500-capacity room in Berkeley is close to home turf.

Our records show Y&T have played Oakland and the East Bay more than any other market we track, 31 shows. That's no surprise to anyone who grew up on them. This is a band whose crowd knows when to sing the chorus back and when to just let the guitar go. A Friday night at Cornerstone means hearing a guitar player of Meniketti's standing from a few yards away, in a room built for loud bands.

Go for the solos and stay for the encore. Somebody next to you will have a story about the first time they saw this band, and there's a decent chance it happened a few miles from where you're standing.

Sources: Y&T at Cornerstone (Prekindle) (prekindle.com); Cornerstone - Venue Info (cornerstoneberkeley.com); Cornerstone - FAQ (cornerstoneberkeley.com); Cornerstone - Event Schedule (cornerstoneberkeley.com); DAVE MENIKETTI: New Music From Y&T Is 'Absolutely A Possibility' (Blabbermouth) (blabbermouth.net); DAVE MENIKETTI Would Like To Make A New Y&T Studio Album (Blabbermouth) (blabbermouth.net); Y&T Announces Fall 2025 European Tour (Blabbermouth) (blabbermouth.net); Y&T - Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)