Jake shimabukuro - 9/30/25 - fresno, ca- tower theater

Jake Shimabukuro is a professional in every sense of the word. From his attire to his stage presence to his super cool background video showing a sunset on a beach in Hawaii, every aspect of his show seemed finely tuned and well thought out. He's been performing for a while, including six years as Jimmy Buffet's ukeleleist, and has put all that experience to good use by building and perfecting his show.

But don't let that impression of Jake throw you off. His shows are polished but not formulaic. His stage presence is professional but not boring or mechanical. He's funny, he tells jokes, he engages with the audience, and most of all he is an incredible musician.

I did not know anyone played ukelele like this before I saw Jake. Some of his songs had the typical ukelele sound of soft, pleasing strumming that makes you think you're on a warm beach somewhere with a gentle breeze and not a care in the world. But he also played his ukelele like, as Brad Nowell would have put it, a motherfucking riot. During some songs his strumming hand was moving so fast that I literally could not see it, it was just a blur.

He mixed his own original songs in with covers from various genres, including Jimmy Buffet, Queen, and the Dead, and he executed everything flawlessly. In another instance of 'oh my god he's doing this with a ukelele?!?' he built songs using a looper pedal one phrase at a time.

Apparently he has family in Fresno, which is why he performs here semi-regularly, and I'm happy about that because I want to see him again in the future.