The Aggrolites at Sail Inn Last Night

The AggrolitesNovember 12, 2010 Sail Inn Despite the chilly autumn air outside, the Aggrolites warmed up the Sail Inn with the sounds of summer last night. It was one of those shows where everyone checked their worries at the curb, knowing the Aggrolites’ feel-good vibe would make caring about anything else…

Metalstock Cancer Benefit To Feature 24 Bands, No Cover

Two dozen bands. Nine hours. Two stages. One good cause. No cover.Oh yeah, and no moshing.This weekend’s Metalstock show is almost a dream come true for Valley metalheads, if only Club Red would do away with that pesky “no moshing” policy. Metalstock organizer Tad Zaccard has assembled quite a line-up…

Zoe Boekbinder Brings Vaudeville-Style Music to The Trunk Space

The Trunk Space may be one of the best places in town to catch an intimate vaudevillian-type show. Just last week, the downtown Phoenix spot hosted the sideshow variety act the Squidling Bros. Circus Sideshow, and this Saturday, November 13, vaudeville music takes over The Trunk Space stage when Zoe…

Bad Religion at Marquee Theatre Last Night

Bad Religion Marquee Theatre 11/9/2010 Old age is Hell. Especially if you’re punk rock icons who are looking as long in the tooth as Greg Graffin and the other members of Bad Religion did last night during their show at the Marquee Theatre in Tempe. Sadly, for bands like this…

Best Coast at Rhythm Room Last Night

Best CoastRhythm Room, PhoenixNovember 9, 2010A comment left on my Facebook check-in at last Night’s Best Coast concert at Rhythm Room:”Good luck listening to the same song with different lyrics over and over!”The friend who left that is half right about the LA-based garagey, surfy, lo-fi indie pop band in…

Must-Read Best Coast Feature from LA Weekly

Last week Phoenix New Times ran a big ol’ story on Best Coast in our print edition. We were topped by our sister paper in LA that same day, however.Gustavo Turner, the Weekly’s music editor, had a 6,000-word cover story on the band’s main lady Bethany Cosentino which might just…

Delorean at Rhythm Room on November 8, 2010

Delorean Rhythm Room 11/8/2010Hey — do you like dancing? Who the hell doesn’t? Do you also like to party like it’s Monday? Well then Delorean’s show at the Rhythm Room was where the action was last night. Spanish indie/electronic foursome Delorean kept the beat strong last night with their European-influenced stage…

Joanna Newsom at Orpheum Theatre Last Night

Joanna Newsom Orepheum Theatre 11/07/2010 If there is one word that best describes Joanna Newsom’s latest album, Have One On Me, it’s “ambitious.” Honestly, is there any other way to describe a triple album? In a lot of ways that ambition makes the record a tough listen. That’s not a…

Elton John and Leon Russell at US Airways Center Last Night

Elton John November 6, 2010 US Airways Center Elton John and Leon Russell let their fingers do the talking at last night’s show at the US Airways Center. John was, of course, the main attraction and the singer’s solo set was hit after hit, satisfying a crowd full of people…

A Perfect Circle at Marquee Theatre Last Night

A Perfect Circle Marquee Theatre November 4, 2010 There was a palpable sense of excitement in the air before A Perfect Circle took the stage at a sold-out Marquee Theatre last night. It’s not often you go to a concert and feel like you’re part of a rare and significant…

Deerhunter at the Clubhouse on 11/3/2010

Deerhunter Clubhouse Music Venue November 3, 2010 Since releasing their fourth album in September, Atlanta band Deerhunter has earned some high praise from a few folks here at Up on the Sun. And with good reason. To put it simply, the band’s latest album, Halcyon Digest, is really, really good…

Jimmy Eat World at Marquee Theatre on 10/30/10

Arizonans often don’t have much to root for. Most of the time our state is an afterthought, or the butt of jokes about immigration policy and home foreclosures. For many years, the Cardinals, the Sun Devils, and the Wildcats have been mediocre. We’re lucky to still have a hockey team…

Snoop Dogg at Arizona State Fair Last Night

Snoop Dogg Veterans Memorial Coliseum at the Arizona State Fair Friday, October 29, 2010 Snoop Dogg gave the audience at Veterans Memorial Coliseum everything they wanted to hear (and then some) during his Arizona State Fair performance on Friday evening. Tha Doggfather busted out with all of his signature hits…

LIGHTS at the Nile Theater Last Night

LIGHTSOctober 27, 2010Nile TheaterIt’s got to be tough for a petite young lady to fill the Nile Theater stage, especially when your band has only three people in it.But Canada-based LIGHTS managed to hold her own at last night’s show, as the electro pop singer energized the room with her…

Gorillaz at Comerica Theatre Last Night

Gorillaz Comerica Theatre 10/26/2010 Twelve years ago Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett decided to create a cartoon band. The concept was to separate celebrity from pop music. This was the perfect vehicle for someone like Albarn, who is probably best known as the front man for Brit pop legends Blur…

Built To Spill at Marquee Theatre Last Night

Built To Spill Marquee Theatre, Tempe Tuesday, October 26, 2010 Built To Spill’s Tuesday show at Marquee Theatre was one for the die-hards. While the hips kids paid upwards of $100 to watch Damon Albarn’s Gorillaz cartoon/art-rap spectacular down the theater formerly known as Dodge, a crustier sort gathered to…

Foxy Shazam at the Rhythm Room Last Night

Foxy Shazam October 25, 2010 Rhythm Room Foxy Shazam left the crowd buzzing about a performance they’ll be discussing for days after an exciting, action-packed show at the Rhythm Room last night. Singer Eric Nally came out spinning in circles with a huge grin while wearing face-eater sunglasses. The timid…

Indie Bowl 3: Day Drinking and Kegling

It was the day-drinkin’-est Independents Bowl yet. By noon on Sunday, an hour before the 1 p.m. first roll, Let It Roll Bowl’s bar was already filled with hipster bowlers knocking back $2.50 PBR tallboys and ordering pitchers of Miller Lite. You had to feel a little sorry for the…