There’s something inherently incongruous about the serene, relentlessly thoughtful music U2 made at its creative peak and the stadium-sized spectacle that came to Glendale last night. Sure, the band has been one of the few extant rock acts capable of (nearly) selling-out football fields for two decades, but I still…
The International Horror & Sci-fi Film Festival at Madcap Theaters Hard to believe the International Horror & Sci-fi Film Festival has terrorized the Valley for five years now. To our delight, the three-day affair returned to its original location this year, right in the heart of ASU student nightlife’s portion…
Hard to believe the International Horror & Sci-fi Film Festival has terrorized the Valley for five years now. To our delight, the three-day affair returned to its original location this year, right in the heart of ASU student nightlife’s portion of the Mill Avenue District. What once was Harkins Centerpoint…
“Oh yeah,” Nathan Williams of Wavves leered as I introduced myself last night at The Rhythm Room. “You’re the guy who wrote the article with the ‘Wavves spits on a guy’ headline.” That wasn’t the headline, exactly, but the article he was referring to clearly set the stage for an…
Third Thursday in Scottsdale proved a massive mish-mash of ages, scenes and reasons for attendance. Matt and Kim played a free gig for FM 103.9’s free concert series, Sean Kingston was at Venue of Scottsdale, plus, there was that whole art walk thing. The Brooklyn-based duo Matt and Kim took…
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BY MIKE ESCOTO If you were a music fan in Phoenix on Wednesday night and looking to hit up a concert you had plenty of acts to choose from. The obvious choices were Yo La Tengo at Marquee Theatre or Ghostface Killah and Mayer Hawthorne at The Clubhouse. With two…
It’s been a pretty solid year to be a Yo La Tengo fan. The Hoboken-based indie-rock institution (25 years and running) didn’t just release one new album this year, they released two. Their latest, Popular Songs finds the band exploring their entire stylistic breadth, indulging in the orchestrated pop, Motown…
The Vivs sweet brand of Motown girl group pop shoved through a pure punk filter, a sort of freaked out Bangles sound, blared through Modified Arts last night. Reverb-ed vocals left the Urban Outfitted trio’s harmonies sounding like calls from the bottom of a well, and, humorously, made between song…
Tour de Fat at Tempe Beach Par New Belgium Brewing maintains that Tour de Fat is a bike festival first and a beer festival second. To prove it, they got a Tempe citizen to donate his car and agree to utilize only a bike he received at Tour de Fat…
Wanda Jackson has been dubbed many titles, most of which are some play on “The Queen/First Lady of Rock/Rock n Roll/Rockabilly.” This year she finally got that official recognition when she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as an “Early Influence.” Last night, a 71-year-old Jackson…
It’s been something of a packed Saturday, what with Tour de Fat, the Tiki Throwdown, Oktoberfest, and various and sundry other weekend events happening around the Valley. If you’ve still got some energy and cash left, jump in your ride and head for Grand Avenue in downtown Phoenix, where the…
For the past three decades, the “Great Bearded One” has been on a Jedi-like quest to separate Star Wars fans from their paychecks by any means necessary. His unabashed over-licensing has even exceeded Krusty the Clown-like levels of hucksterism at times, as evidenced by such WTF? merchandise as green-friendly organic…
Portland indie-electro outfit Starfucker are at a crossroads. They’ll soon change their name to cope with their more widespread popularity — no doubt possible with their accessible, fresh music. Despite all that potential, last night’s show at Phoenix’s Modified Arts was more of a testament to the band’s dedicated fans,…
By Frances Michelle Lopez The throngs of excited First Friday goers seemed to have been M.I.A at the Trunk Space Friday night for the One AM Radio, Former Ghosts, Knesset show. Having had a late start to my night, I wasn’t able to catch much of the Los Angeles-based One…
It’s hard to believe ASU’s Gammage Auditorium has never hosted a hip-hop show — even for ASU, that’s pretty whitebread — but organizers of this weekend’s Civil Disobedience Part Wu, are claiming the concert, a charity event for the Crisis Nursery of Phoenix featuring Gza of the Wu-Tang Clan, and…
BY LINDSEY HOLDER Think Bon Iver is too mellow and folksy to rock? Well, they’re not. At the Mesa Arts Center last night, they transformed their normally minimalist folk rock into a booming, volcanic eruption of a show that hypnotized the audience from the opening strum to the final trailing…
Say what you want about Insane Clown Posse: Never before in the history of popular music has a band created so complete a lifestyle for its fans. The Dead, Buffet, and Slipknot don’t even come close. No, the Detroit-based rap duo’s concert at Tempe’s Marquee Theatre last night wasn’t much…
This show was supposed to be two shows. But, going up against Bon Iver in Mesa, promoters wisely combined the two very different sounds of !!! and The Cave Singers. In the end, !!! took the stage at Rhythm Room around midnight, following a long, long line of acts: Lightning…
Tonight is a huge night for Phoenix shows. Not only are !!! and The Cave Singers combining their shows at Rhythm Room, Bon Iver is nearly sold out at Mesa Arts Center, Creed is selling $10 tickets at Jobing.com and Insane Clown Posse is coming to Marquee Theatre.For me there’s…
There is no better group of Indie Rock impersonators than The Killers. Last night’s sold-out show at Dodge Theatre demonstrated that clearly, as the band’s Fabulous Las Vegas Indie Rock Revue brought down the house, showing the band is, however improbably, one of the biggest acts to emerge in the…
Concert Review: The Get Up Kids at The Clubhouse in Tempe There was something very telling about the two songs The Get Up Kids chose to open their encore at last night’s packed Clubhouse Music Venue show in Tempe. On one hand, it was odd to hear covers of The…
