Coachella Day 1: Vampire Weekend, La Roux, Imogen Heap, and The Specials Despite major difficulty actually getting in to Coachella this year, the 2010 festival launched on Friday, April 16 full of great performances and over-sized art installations. Check out shots from Ra Ra Riot, Imogen Heap, La Roux, Vampire…
Let’s get one thing straight: If you were one of the 75,000 or so people who attempted to get into Coachella on Friday, you were frustrated. In fact, chances are you were probably also tired, hot and certainly waiting in a long line either in your car or on your…
The blessing of Arizona’s spot at the proverbial Kiddie Table is the huge number of shows we get by bands looking for a layover, or a warm-up, on their way to Sunny California. In recent years we’ve even seen California-based bands like Metallica travel out to the desert to warm-up…
I walked into the Rhythm Room on Thursday evening for the Yeasayer show and surveyed the crowd. Immediately, I saw signs of potential trouble: The joint was lousy with hipsters. There were three Ben Gibbard look-alikes within 10 feet of me, and between them, they’d consumed enough PBR to drown…
You know what? We shall overcome this banality. There are plenty more shows that have just been announced for The Valley, including Jack Johnson, Chris Isaak, Athlete and Matt Pond PA. Read the entire list after the jump…
Vampire Weekend’s 19-song set at Marquee Theatre Tuesday was totally devoid of riffs or deviations from their studio versions — the crowd couldn’t have cared less.In fact, the crowd knew every vocal and instrumental cue so well that, had the band gone off-script at any point, they may not have…
It’s going to be a busy week for local music lovers. As we get closer to Coachella we can expect a slew of bands from all over to make a pit stop in The Valley before heading to Indio, CA. We’ve already had performances from day 2 headliners Muse as…
[jump] Thom Yorke and the Atoms for Peace don’t have any recorded music to their name, so their open-ended set could evolve into something rather interesting. Enjoy playing to a very, very sparsely attended set, Yann Tiersen. This is why I love Coachella, though — being able to go from…
Muse and Silversun Pickups at US Airways Center You guys saw that, right? You watched the veils drop on the three towers revealing all three members of British arena rockers Muse as they ripped into “Uprising”? You saw them perched over 20 feet high on their respective stages, the lights…
Say what you will about will about Minnesota synth-pop outfit Owl City. None of it seems to bother Owl City vocalist and mastermind Adam Young or his fans. And man does this guy have fans. Most of whom showed up last night at the Marquee Theatre as Owl City played…
You guys saw that, right? You watched the veils drop on the three towers revealing all three members of British arena rockers Muse as they ripped into “Uprising”? You saw them perched over 20 feet high on their respective stages, the lights shining bright on them as the crowd went…
When an artist’s repertoire is as wide and varied as Elvis Costello’s, it’s hard to know exactly what one will get when attending his concert. Last night’s show at Scottsdale Civic Center Amphitheater had all the trappings of a toned-down affair: The amphitheater’s lush lawn was covered in blankets and…
Candye Kane is a flamboyant, unabashed, over-the-top blues singer with bright costumes and a vibrant, extroverted personality.She’s well known among her fans not only for her voice, but also for her style. They love going to her shows for all sorts of different reasons, but they’ll all tell you that…
You can’t listen to more than 30 seconds of Sand Rubies’ 1990 single “We Don’t Do That Anymore” before it become obvious that the Gin Blossoms weren’t the first Arizona band doing the jangle-pop thing.Tucson’s Sand Rubies — originally called The Side Winders before a North Carolina cover band sued…
Cypress Hill, Passafire, Annuals, Patti LaBelle and Michael Bolton (yep, Michael Bolton) round out the rest of this week’s show announcements…
Remember the good ol’ days, when area indie rock festivals were “Presented by Such-and-Such” or “The Such-and-Such Company’s Festival/Throwdown/Party/Show”?That’s apparently old and busted. The new hotness? Suitefest: Presented by Campus Suites.How’s that for branding, marketing majors?I won’t pretend to understand much about Tempe’s Campus Suites student-oriented housing. I imagine it…
First Friday: April 2010 Phoenix’s monthly celebration of music, art and over-sized street hot dogs took off in grand style on Friday, April 2. See the shots from the rafters of Lost Leaf to temporary stages erected on Roosevelt in these photos…see photos Spring Fling at The Sail Inn The…
Hard rock/metal band 16 Second Stare just released a new record and are out on tour in support of it. The new album is way heavier than their debut, and the band promises to pack the punches live and in person. Guitarist and singer Angry Tim just got out of…
It’s hard to believe that the Black Eyed Peas who performed last night at Jobing.com Arena once started out as a little known hip-hop group out of Los Angeles.A lot has changed since the band released their first album Behind the Front back in 1998. The addition of Stacy Ferguson,…
WrestleMania XXVI at University of Phoenix Stadium More than 72,000 rowdy wrestling fans packed into University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale to watch an afternoon of chaos and carnage as World Wrestling Entertainment presents its biggest sports entertainment spectacular of the year on Sunday, March 28…see photos Also see: WWE’s…
After nearly a half century in the spotlight, it’s surprising to see Paul McCartney do much of anything new. How about two new things in a single night, as McCartney did while kicking off his Up and Coming Tour with a stellar sold-out show at Jobing.com Arena? Maybe I’m amazed.The…
For those used to the Tom Green who puts his bum on things, orders naked statues for his parents’ front lawn and sings about his testicular cancer, his show at the Tempe Improv Friday, March 26 was no disappointment.But the original jackass (who hosted a robot walk earlier this week)…
