There is a certain electricity backstage before a Stick Men show. Not the arena kind, not the over-rehearsed pop kind. This is the quieter voltage that comes when three musicians, each capable of bending the rules of physics, walk toward a stage intent on reinventing something. You hear the tap of fingertips on a Chapman Stick, the low machinery hum of a touch guitar warming up, and the rustle of Pat Mastelotto’s hybrid drum kit shaking the rafters like it’s daring gravity to speak up.
This is not a nostalgia act. This is not a reunion. Stick Men walk out like explorers returning to a coastline they discovered yesterday and will rediscover tonight. The upcoming show at The Bornemann Theater, presented with Concerts Cafe and Music Store Live, is the next stop in a story that keeps rewriting itself in real time.
And this time, they are bringing that electricity to The Bornemann Theater in San Marcos on Sunday, December 14th, 2025 from 5 PM to 8 PM PST, presented with Concerts Cafe and Music Store Live. Doors at 4:30. One night only.
TONY LEVIN: THE QUIET ARCHITECT OF MODERN ART-ROCK
You can’t talk about Stick Men without talking about Tony Levin. He is one of those rare musicians whose fingerprints are everywhere but whose ego is nowhere. Levin has played on so many records that the phrase “legendary bassist” doesn’t do the man justice. He’s a pioneer of the Chapman Stick. He helped shape the sound of Peter Gabriel’s most iconic records. He held down the bottom end for John Lennon, Lou Reed, Pink Floyd’s live tours, and hundreds more.
TONY LEVIN Photo by Andrew Banks
And then there is King Crimson. Levin entered that world in the 1980s, anchoring Robert Fripp’s explosive reincarnation of the band with a mix of discipline and danger that made him, in many fans’ minds, the definitive Crimson bassist. In 2021, he described that journey as something instinctive and alive:
“When King Crimson is really ripping… it’s like riding a train. You just grab on and try to make it to the next station.” (Something Else Reviews, 2021)
With Stick Men, Levin is not merely riding the train. He is conducting it.
A BAND BUILT ON FEARLESSNESS
Stick Men formed in 2008 when Levin and Mastelotto, longtime collaborators and veterans of Crimson’s rhythmic overhaul, joined forces with touch-guitar innovator Markus Reuter. Thirty seconds into any Stick Men performance, it’s obvious this band didn’t form to re-live the past. They formed to keep the spirit of musical risk alive.
MARKUS REUTER Photo by Andrew Banks
Reuter’s self-designed touch guitar isn’t a novelty. It is an orchestra in a single instrument. His lines weave through Levin’s Stick, producing a sound that can swing from cathedral-sized ambience to razor-sharp riffs. Mastelotto, meanwhile, plays like he’s hybrid-wired into every rhythmic possibility at once. Acoustic drums, electronics, textures, pulses. He is the wild card that still never strays off the path.
A reviewer once wrote that Stick Men “don’t sound like anything else” and that is exactly right. Their concerts move like weather fronts: moments of thunder, moments of clarity, and long stretches where the instruments seem to be listening to each other more deeply than most bands ever do. Premier Guitar captured it perfectly: “There’s an indeterminacy to Stick Men, a sense that anything can happen, and usually does.” (Premier Guitar)
STICKMEN by Andrew Banks
THE PAST IS PROLOGUE, BUT TONIGHT IS WHAT MATTERS
PAT MASTELOTTO Photo by Andrew Banks
Stick Men bring the entire lineage of progressive rock with them. King Crimson’s shadow is there, but so is a wide-open frontier of new ideas. In a 2017 PhillyBurbs feature, Mastelotto noted how much the band relishes that freedom:
“We like to mix things up. Nothing is ever played the same way twice.” (PhillyBurbs, 2017)
That ethos defines the band. This is not a setlist-driven show. This is a living organism on stage.
And that is why this upcoming concert matters. In a world overflowing with safe choices and predictable tours, Stick Men stand out by refusing to stop searching. They play as if the future of progressive music still needs to be written and they’re taking first crack at the draft.
THE BORNEMANN SHOW: WHY YOU NEED TO BE THERE
This performance at The Bornemann is a chance to see three of the most daring musicians alive do what they do best: explore. For musicians, it’s a masterclass. For fans, it’s a pilgrimage. For anyone who has ever pressed play on a King Crimson record hoping to be transported, this show is the continuation of that journey.
You’ll hear Tony Levin coax entire worlds from the Stick. You’ll see Mastelotto blend machine precision with human unpredictability. You’ll feel Reuter reshape melody into something cinematic and new. And you’ll remember why live music matters.
The lights are about to dim. The crowd is settling in. Three silhouettes walk to their stations, plug in, and wait for the room to inhale. Stick Men are about to begin again.
Concert Information
Event: Stick Men with Openers: Tom Griesgraber, joined by guitarist Andre Cholmondeley of Project/Object
Date: Sunday, December 14, 2025
Time: doors open at 4:30 PM Show at 5:00 PM PST
Location: The Bornemann Theater, San Marcos
Presented by: Concerts.Cafe and Music Store Live
Tickets: https://events.humanitix.com/stick-men-returns
The Bornemann at the TERI Campus of Life 555 Deer Springs Rd, San Marcos, CA 92069, (760) 532-1160
Band Website: https://stickmenband.com/
