Joe Nichols has a self-imposed duty to uphold. That is not a self-aggrandizing statement, nor is it overwrought hyperbole for his role in country music. Rather, Nichols is a modern artist who places importance on traditional country music, the same vein he’s been working as no less than five of…
This Easter weekend was filled with 10 bands and 10 hours of music as Tempe Beach Park hosted Lucky Man’s festival of punk-rock and post-hardcore bands. Tempe Beach Park Festival (the unofficial name for the event) made use of some big name acts like Offspring, A Day to Remember, and…
At first, Dick Dale peeks his face around the corner of the stage door, grinning, being coy, but then he marches onstage, guns blazing, his golden guitar already screaming. He’s looking limber, arching in his New Balances, all smiles. He was a tailor, already sewing into us, then cutting us…
It was only a mere six months ago when I last saw Exodus on stage, opening for Suicidal Tendencies and Slayer. The latter can easily outshine an array of legendary bands, but not the thrash titans known as Exodus. They never cease to amaze me with their tight, unexpected sets…
Here are our picks for this weekend. Be sure to check our comprehensive concert calendar for more options…
Love & Theft are growing up. In a literal sense, Stephen Barker Liles and Eric Gunderson, the singing and songwriting country duo at Love & Theft’s core, have both gotten married and started families in recent years, seen Top 40 success on a handful of occasions, and found traction on…
McDowell Mountain Music Festival is Phoenix’s Most Cohesive Festival. I’ll leave the designation of “best” music festival for the voters to decide when the Best Of issue comes out later in the year. But I feel completely confident is saying MMMF is by far the most cohesive. The bands on…
William Kenneth Alphin is 15 years old and picking up a girl on a first date. It is 1978 and Kenny, as he’s known to friends and family, has been granted his driver’s license early on account of his status as a volunteer firefighter in the tiny agricultural town of…
Scoff all you want at country radio today, but Dustin Lynch knows damn well what listeners want, and he gives it to them three and a half minutes at a time. Unlike some country artists who complacently churn out radio-ready singles, Dustin Lynch also has an approach and a perception…
At the end of day one of McDowell Mountain Music Festival 2015, I questioned the promoters’ abilities to pull off a third-straight spectacular festival in the heart of downtown Phoenix. By the end of day two, I realized that they just might know what they are doing, and at the…
McDowell Mountain Music Festival 2015 hit its stride on day two with a stellar lineup that combined a big group of acts that don’t really go together at all to make for an eclectic and fun festival Saturday. I arrived in the middle of Pretty Lights protege Break Science’s set,…
McDowell Mountain Music Festival has consistently been my favorite musical event of the year since I first went in 2013. Of all the metro Phoenix-based festivals, it feels the most like a legitimate national level festival — and, really, with this year’s lineup, it just about is one. MMMF really…
Here are our picks for this weekend. Be sure to check out our comprehensive concert calendar for more options…
Downtown Phoenix’s Margaret T. Hance Park will become something of a hallowed ground for music fans this weekend. Over three straight days, a couple of acres of grass will be transformed into an outdoor temple of sound during the annual McDowell Mountain Music Festival featuring some rather godlike deities from…
Phantogram has been making the big-time festival rounds over the past half-decade or so, and even though it isn’t really a jam band, the group will stop at this weekend’s McDowell Mountain Music Festival. The fest isn’t really a stretch for the Bonnaroo veterans, but suffice it to say, four…
Long before the Valley of the Sun was boasting multiple major music events, as seems to be the rage these days, McDowell Mountain Music Festival stood alone as the premier metro Phoenix outdoor music festival. And arguably, the Valley’s homegrown Bonnaroo is still the best music festival in town. Before…
As the sunset, shadows of buildings crawled through the empty streets of downtown Phoenix on Sunday, transitioning the city from day to night, from weekend to work week. You would never guess from the quiet and calm streets that the world’s number one ranked DJ — at least according to…
Be sure to check out our comprehensive concert calendar for more options…
Brian Whelan isn’t a snob when it comes to a good song. “I have never gave a shit if it’s a pop thing or a lo-fi indie thing, I don’t care,” Whelan says over the phone from the South By Southwest festival in Austin, speaking over the blunt din of…
If you somehow missed the festivities last weekend, when Viva PHX and Pot of Gold Music Festival dominated Phoenix and Tempe, respectively, don’t feel like you’ve lost your only shot at good music. There might be only one outdoor festival this weekend — an EDM one, Phoenix Lights — but…
The four-day Pot of Gold Music Festival, a celebration of music, beer, and a holiday many don’t fully understand, ended Tuesday night with a mixed night of hard rock and metal. Korn returned to the valley on Tuesday at Tempe Beach Park to finish off the music event that brought…
Remember that one line in “Still Dre” where Dr. Dre tries to establish his credibility and continued relevance after a few years out of the spotlight by stating that his last album was The Chronic? Or that part in “The Takeover” where Jay-Z is ripping apart Nas’s somewhat mediocre output…
