Cheap Trick in a casino ballroom: Better than at a zoo, but not as good as at the fair. I’ve seen these dinosaurs about eight times since 1992, in all sorts of venues (including, yes, the Milwaukee Zoo), and Saturday night’s venue, Talking Stick Resort, was pretty terrible. I was hoping…
Shawn Anderson has quickly become one of the best concert photographers in town.So it’s totally fitting that Anderson, who shoots concert photos for local music blog Electric Mustache — and, full disclosure, sometimes for us — gets the gallery treatment tonight. The show is 7-10 p.m. at SuTRA Midtown Yoga…
I have a vague recollection of always wanting to go to Warped Tour when I was in middle school. It was just a few years after it had begun, and it was the first time in my life that punk rock could have made sense to me, as I was…
The plan was to write a good old fashioned concert review of Shapiro’s show at Yucca Tap Room last night.But sometimes promoters have babies — congrats to Ami Johnson and Matthew Reveles by the way — and can’t make all the normal arrangements for a touring act coming through on…
It’s easy for the music scene to forget that Modified Arts is not, in fact, now a Waffle House. It is, last I heard, an art gallery, presumably filled with art. And, from time to time, with a little experimental-leaning music.Shane Kennedy’s project Towncraft certainly qualifies. It’s improvised instrumental “Americanoir”…
It’s been my experience that many times fans of a particular band tend to have a propensity to take after the band that they love. Whether it’s their general attitude, the way they dress, the way fans (particularly male fans) subconsciously copy the hairstyle of the lead singer, or even…
“Feeling the west coast pull. One week left of tour,” Damien Jurado wearily tweeted on the 27th, and pulling into the Rhythm Room’s parking lot, I witnessed the singer/songwriter sprawled out on the hot pavement behind his van — a clear sign that the road was taking its toll.But despite…
If you’re heading to the Vans Warped Tour at Cricket Wireless Pavilion today and are a little overwhelmed by the array of band choices in front of you, newbies We Are the In Crowd might be worth a listen–especially if you’re a fan of female-fronted groups with catchy pop hooks…
This is part of a series of reviews of bands who play weekly at local bars. The show: Stan Sorenson Trio at Sacred Grounds in Scottsdale. The look: Your standard church social hall. The smell: Coffee. If my olfactory sense serves me correctly, a dark roast. The taste: Church cookies…
It’s hard to believe it’s only been a year since the King of Pop’s untimely death. Today marks the anniversary of the sad occaision and a few DJs in the PHX are marking the occaison with tribute nights and mixes. William Fucking Reed and the rest of the Sticky Fingers…
On paper having Erykah Badu and Janelle Monáe on the same tour is an interesting pairing. On the one hand you have Badu, the experienced neo-soul songstress who has been making hits since the late ’90s. On the other hand you have Monáe, the up and comer who has managed…
“This place is crazy,” the tour manager tells me on the phone, and, indeed, the Clubhouse in Tempe is crazy-packed for Tuesday’s sold-out performance by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes. Before the opening act – Dawes, a folk-rock foursome that reminds me strongly, and pleasantly, of Wilco – finishes…
“How much can you know about yourself, you’ve never been in a fight? I don’t wanna die without any scars. So come on; hit me before I lose my nerve.” – Tyler DurdenConfession time: I’m in my dirty 30s and I’ve never been in a real fight. Sure, I’ve gotten…
Fresh off a successful run on the AP Tour this spring, Scottsdale pop rockers the Summer Set are not slowing down. The band returns to the road this week as part of the annual Vans Warped Tour. The genre-bending mega-festival kicks off this Friday in Carson, Calif. and makes a…
To some, the Vans Warped Tour is heaven — dozens of pop, rock and punk bands on multiple stages and tons of young, scantily clad people reveling in the sweaty, fun mess of dancing and moshing. And to others, Warped Tour is hell. Besides the 100-plus degree heat, there…
This is part of a series of reviews of bands who play weekly at local bars. The show: Running From Bears at the Lost Leaf. The look: Like an New York jazz club underground, but with more space and above ground. The smell: Light perspiration and aluminum. The taste: Savory,…
When “alternative rock” radio debuted in the early ’90s — displacing stations spinning hard rock, classic rock, hair metal, or ’80s college rock — it seemed to be a format designed to evolve. At least to a middle-school me, who imagined it to be fresh, vital, and destined to change…
Apparently, the Lakers-Celtics game wasn’t enough to keep droves of people from attending Iron Maiden at Cricket Wireless Pavilion last night. According to fans who Tweeted their mini-reviews of the show after the concert, the crowd was filled with quite a few young’n’s, and everyone got to witness the legendary…
British hardcore punk rockers GBH name stands for “grievous bodily harm”. While attendance at any punk show poses some threat of injury, what with mosh pits, angry teens, spiked belts, and extreme mohawks, the risk at last night’s GBH show was a little higher.Locals Casket Life and Glass Heroes opened…
As far as I know, my review of Miniature Tigers’ new record Fortress is the first professional piece printed on the formerly-of-Phoenix band’s sophomore effort.I would have waited a few weeks to run it, actually, but for the fact that singer Charlie Brand is playing a solo acoustic show at…
The name The Wailers conjures our best thoughts about reggae. As well it should: Not only was Bob Marley in the group, it also served as springboard for the arguably equal Peter Tosh.So, yeah, the Wailers name is strong enough to tour on 30 years after Marley’s death. The Original…
I’m not generally a fan of angular haircuts or leering, dramatic promo photos, but in the case of a band like Portland-via-Omaha-via-Saint Joseph band The Prids, it’s easy to push at that superficial stuff to the side and just focus on the goods: smart, guitar-driven pop music, with sexy boy-girl…
