The Blunt Club – Thursday, September 10 – Valley Bar There’s typically plenty of swagger to be found at your average edition of The Blunt Club, probably because the renowned local hip-hop night boasts more than few claims to fame under its belt. Not only does it feature some of…
I’ve been to a lot of concerts in my life. I actually kept count in 2013, when I attended 126 shows. In all the concerts I’ve seen, I never once have fallen asleep. Until Wednesday night’s Lenny Kravitz concert at Comerica Theatre. I dozed for awhile at Bonnaroo 2011 during…
Don’t let the catchy melodies fool you — Wavves is anything but happy. Well, the California band is happier now than it has been since it began juicing — kind of. “I mean a little bit — I have a blender,” says Wavves bassist Stephen Pope about his NutriBullet. “I…
More than any particular era or style, the music of Nicki Bluhm and the Gramblers sounds like pure California. The Bay Area band blends folk, rock, and country, and in the years between 2013’s self-titled debut and this spring’s Loved Wild Lost, has forged a timeless, unmistakable sound that places…
Talking after a long day of recording, Megafauna’s Dani Neff is upbeat about the progress her band is making on its untitled third album. Reflective and enthusiastic, Neff touches on the still difficult-to-define Megafauna sound, the new direction her songwriting is taking, and the challenges of keeping one foot rooted…
If you’re an electronic dance music fan with a ticket for Zedd’s performance on Saturday at Mesa Amphitheatre, there’s been a slight change in plans. Don’t worry, the show’s still going to happen as planned, only at a completely new venue. Live Nation, the co-promoter of this weekend’s gig by…
It’s Labor Day, which means that basically all the concert promoters in town are giving their staffs the day off Monday. That means that while most everyone doesn’t have to work today, there’s not much to do tonight, at least not musically. That doesn’t mean the rest of the week…
I was trying to remember the last time the Trunk Space was this packed. Perhaps when Kimya Dawson played the Indie 500 in April, but probably not even then. At any rate, the very first show for Okilly Dokilly, the “metal” band themed after the bug-eyed neighbor from The Simpsons,…
Here are our co The Donkeys – Friday, September 4 – Valley Bar The Donkeys, not to be confused with the late-’70s power pop band from West Yorkshire or the Japanese noise rock outfit, have a solid fan base in Phoenix, prompting these Californians to visit about once a year…
For the first time in nearly two decades, Garth Brooks is playing a concert in Phoenix. The singer’s triumphant return to town will take place at US Airways Center (which by the time of the concert will be known as Talking Stick Resort Arena) on Friday, October 23, and Saturday,…
So when did metal bands decide it was a good idea to have a DJ? Who decided that since metal was cool and funk was cool, they would be twice as cool when you put them together? And why did so many angry young dudes relate to this thinking so…
There are very few performers whose musical and visual qualities have firmly established them atop the Rushmore of Hard Rock, like Heart. Its climb up the majestic mountain of success and enduring relevancy can only be matched by the likes of Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, The Who, to name a few…
It been a helluva two weeks for the local metal-playing Ned Flanders aficionados in Okilly Dokilly. It’s not too often a band goes viral in the way they have. What started as a joke in line at the grocery store has grown into a worldwide point of interest, and now…
The Slipknot show on Saturday night at Ak-Chin Pavilion was far from your normal metal concert. It was more of a changing of the guard, and there were plenty of underlying themes and realizations to accompany the best heavy show of the summer. Of course there was enough pyro onstage…
Here are our picks for live music this weekend. For more options, visit our comprehensive calendar. Jill Scott – Friday, August 28 – Comerica Theatre R&B artist Jill Scott went from speaking her heartfelt thoughts to singing them, after she was discovered by Questlove from The Roots at a poetry reading…
Kid Rock is getting old. And he seems fully immersed in the phase where he really wants to explore his aging. If there was a pervasive sentiment to Wednesday night’s jam-packed show at Ak-Chin Pavilion, it was the idea that time changes a person. No earth-shattering news there, but at…
You can take one look at California band Mystic Braves and see the 1960s oozing from its members — from their shaggy bangs to their fashion sensibilities, which include everything from colorful striped pants to swirly paisley and floral-print shirts. The look is surely what helped inspire their landlord to…
A love letter to pop music was belted from the diaphragms of some seriously talented, fun-loving musicians Tuesday night at Ak-Chin Pavilion. Arizona welcomed America’s sweetheart, the original American Idol, and very pregnant Kelly Clarkson as well as Pentatonix, who won The Sing-Off a cappella competition in 2011 on NBC,…
January marked one of the hardest moments of Luna Aura’s life: the tragic passing of the singer’s 15-year-old brother in an accident at a boys’ camp in northern Arizona. Instead of paying tribute to her sibling mournfully, the 22-year-old pop singer released an upbeat song she says her always-happy brother…
When a band loses its last original member, it’s typically the signal for the remaining members to call it quits. In the case of Yes, which began in 1968, the musical legacy outshines the sums of its parts. Yes is a band that was always destined to continue after Phoenix…
Here are our concert picks for this week. Check out our comprehensive concert calendar for more options. Roar – Crescent Ballroom – Monday, August 24 Changes are incoming for the band New Times awarded Best Local Band in our 2013 Best of Phoenix issue. Longtime bass player Aaron Burke is leaving…
Metal is a way of life that isn’t suited for the average radio listener. It’s a genre that, more often than not, is in your face and relentlessly assaulting your ear-drums from the beginning of an album to its conclusion. Metal can be violent with its lyrical content and in its live…
