LIVE near WWDC 2025

May 30, 2025

It’s that time of year where rumors fly in anticipation of another WWDC keynote.

Meanwhile across multiple timezones, Breakpoints are rehearsing nights and weekends getting ready to perform LIVE near WWDC once again.

For 2025, the show returns to The Art Boutiki—a funky San Jose gem of a venue and self-proclaimed “Geekeasy”.

(Being a sucker for a nice pun, when scouting venues last year, they pretty much had me at “Geekeasy” before I even walked in the door.)

Carrying on what has become a yearly tradition, this year’s show poster is inspired by vintage National Parks posters of the 1930s. It leans into the theme of the venue and the name of the show, with a Tiki outpost near, but not at WWDC, with Apple Park in the distance.

The poster art was created a talented artist at the legendary Iconfactory. They were a pleasure to work with as we iterated on the design, moving from a truly terrible rough concept sketch and a few pages of notes I provided to the finished artwork. I am very happy with how the poster turned out and am looking forward to hanging it on my wall.

Show posters (11” x 17”) will be on sale at the event with all proceeds going to Techtonica. If you‘re a VIP ticket holder, we already have you covered, one is included with your ticket.

You can get tickets to the show as well as full details (date, time, venue address, etc.) at livenearwwdc.com.

Tickets are still available but they have been going quickly.

Every year I hear from people who waited to buy tickets and then were disappointed that the show was sold out. If you are planning on coming to the show, I encourage you to get your tickets now to save yourself a lifetime of regret. ;)

Introducing A New Song

At the end of April, at the Deep Dish Swift conference, I performed a new song as a work in progress. I had arrived in Chicago on Saturday afternoon with a partially-written song with a chorus and bridge but no verses at that point. By noon on Monday, I had a completed draft of the full lyrics and melody. Between conference sessions I would rush back to my room to rehearse the new song for our Breakpoint Jam on Tuesday afternoon.

Because it was brand new, there wasn’t time to have the other performers learn it, so it was just me singing and playing ukulele. On stage, I called it the TestFlight version of the song because just like an app in TestFlight, it wasn’t the final version and the entire thing could potentially come crashing down at any moment.

We’ve been working on the arrangement for the full band and are really looking forward to sharing it everyone live at the show.

The Band

Speaking of the band, as in past years, we have an eclectic group of musicians ranging from the core band of drums, bass, rhythm and lead guitars to violin, banjo, saxophone, Croatian tamburica—and of course: slide-advance keyboard; additional vocalists round out the sound.

At present about 18 different musicians are expected to perform, arriving in the Bay Area from various locations around the globe. The exact lineup is always subject to change right up until showtime. This year, we have a mix of longtime Breakpoints as well as some folks performing LIVE near WWDC for the first time.

I am incredibly grateful to everyone who lends their time and talent to the show. This includes all of the musicians as well as folks volunteering to do operations like working the door and the merch table, photographing the show, and producing on the livestream.

For me, one of the greatest joys of this band has been the number of people I have had the chance to meet, get to know, and perform with over the years at various LIVE near WWDC shows and Breakpoint Jams. This community has so many wonderful, talented people and it has been a true honor to have so many join me on stage.

A Big Night During A Big Week

WWDC25 is promising to be an exciting week full of announcements and almost certainly some surprises.

And for Wednesday, June 11th, we‘ve been working on a show we hope you’ll really enjoy.

Once again, all of us are incredibly excited and grateful to be able do this show again; happy to be supporting Techtonica; and very thankful for the support of our sponsors.

We all hope you can join us on Wednesday night for LIVE near WWDC 2025! •

You can always find the latest news about LIVE near WWDC at https://livenearwwdc.com.

And speaking of sponsors—our sponsors make this show possible. Everyone involved in this event, from planning to performing, sends an enormous thank you to our sponsors for their support. Please support our sponsors by clicking through the links below and checking them out!