The Rosewood Thieves Shake Up The Lost Leaf

Imagine, if you will, stepping into a friend’s house… Except it’s filled with people you don’t know (yet), and this friend built a bar around his kitchen, and set up track lighting and a half-dozen hightop tables in the dining room. That place would be Downtown Phoenix’s The Lost Leaf,…

Black Moth Super Rainbow at Rhythm Room Saturday

Western PA indie act Black Moth Super Rainbow will the Rhythm Room Sunday night — and I promise my late mention of this show has nothing to do with my feelings about Pittsburghers.BMSR’s hazy and experimental indie rock is often farcical (just look at the band roster for their stage…

Detroit Cobras at The Rhythm Room: Nix Don’t Dance No Mo

, and more like a few minutes of sustained cheering, chanting, whistling, screaming, catcalls, and clapping actually summoned throaty singer Rachel Nagy from the parking lot to belt out “Weak Spot.”Either way, The Cobras, who we hyped a lot last week, were fantastic, and it was our pleasure to get…

Half The Format Still Pretty “fun.” At The Clubhouse

It’s the one moment where nearly every eye in the sold-out and gooey-hot Clubhouse was turned toward the stage. No chatting, no sipping, no texting, just singing, clapping, and screaming as “fun.” the Brooklyn-based project of former Format frontman Nate Ruess, played his old band’s biggest hit, “The First Single.”…

Taylor Swift Sweet as Sugar at Glendale Show

Country star Taylor Swift has to be the coolest 19-year-old who admittedly didn’t have any friends in junior high. Now, she has famous friends like Garth Brooks and Miley Cyrus define the word “fearless” — also the title of her latest album — in a pre-show video. She rocks the…

Star Swim Returns This Saturday: Win Tickets!

Last summer, one of the coolest (and indeed, hottest) places to be seen was at the Hotel San Carlos for the weekly Star Swim pool party. An absolute throng of hundreds of hepcats and kittens crowded the tiny swimming area at the vintage auberge in downtown Phoenix for several weekends…

Freebird & Monkey Sex: A Night With Flight of the Conchords

Though music and comedy may seem suitable bedfellows, the marriage of the two is often a mangled mess of bad puns and crappy guitar playing. One concept is, more often than not, more polished than the other — the comedian sucks at playing guitar or the musician tells super lame…

Kings of Leon Cocky and Sloppy at Mesa Ampitheatre

If the George W. Bush presidency taught us anything, its that uppity rednecks are bad for America. Not that I want to compare last night’s Kings of Leon concert at Mesa Amphitheatre to the national nightmare that was Dubya’s reign — exactly. But the cockiness of these two Southern-bred powers…

Isis at Clubhouse Music Venue

They stood speechless and unmoving, breaking their silence only in those brief moments when the performers had finished one song and moved on to another. There were few claps. There were few shouts. There were a few hundred people enthralled by the melodic incantations of L.A. art metal band Isis.Plenty…

Jimmy Buffett Pleases Parrotheads in Parodise

Jimmy Buffet is a bizarre cultural force. His had-to-be-damn-close to sold out show at Cricket Wireless Pavilion was quite a spectacle to be seen. While it is hard not to be aware of the phenomenon that is Buffett and his Parrothead followers, it is another thing to see it. I…

Examining Why We Go Absolutely Nuts for Certain Musicians

For those of you living under a rock or just emerging from a coma, Jimmy Buffett will be playing tonight at Cricket Wireless Pavilion, much to the delight of seemingly tens of thousands of Valley Parrotheads. I must admit — the number of my friends attending tonight’s show is shockingly…

Lucero Live: Why Country Music Needs Some Punk Blood

I love discussing music with our new Music Editor, Martin. More often than not we basically agree on most things. But I could not disagree more with his review of the Lucero show last night at the Rhythm Room. The first of my complaints is when talking about how the…

Lucero Live: Moshing to Pedal Steel

Dear ex-hardcore kids,Please stop ruining roots music.Look, I get it, you’re pretty much aged out of hardcore shows, but you’re covered in tattoos and have plugs in your earlobes, and it’s hard to find a scene. Every band you’ve ever liked seems to be starting a folkie side project so…

Concert Calendar for This Weekend

[jump] FRIDAY, MAY 8: Above & BeyondWith DJ Soloman, Spencer Thomas, DJ Breez, & more[trance/electronica]9 p.m., $10-$20Myst, 7340 E. Shoeman Ln., Scottsdale, 480-970-5000. The Color TurningWith Yellow Red Sparks, Nobility Obliged, & Tugboat[rock/indie/folk]7 p.m., $10Modified Arts, 407 E. Roosevelt St., Phoenix, 602-462-5516. HemlockWith From Dark, FoulMouth, Hellen, Archaic Cessation, &…

Dave Matthews at Cricket Wireless Pavilion: Observed

A collection of observations from the Dave Matthews Bands’ performance at Cricket Wireless Pavilion, time-stamped by solo:Time: First violin solo (presumed)As DMB hit stage promptly at 8 p.m., the ticket line is not moving. The reason? A graying gentleman with a backwards Callaway ballcap, sunglasses perched on it even though…