The last time I saw Wu Tang Clan was possibly the most disappointing concert-going experience of my life. I was in high school when the boys from Staten Island stopped by Cleveland to open for Rage Against The Machine. It was awful. They were over an hour late — O.D.B. having gotten arrested…
DJ Deadmau5 is scheduled to spin tonight at Myst in Scottsdale. While we’re sure most of you are gonna be heading out west to the Cricket Pavillion to check out tonight’s mega-sized Phooson shindig, there’s more than just that concert going on this weekend. Here’s our weekly rundown of the…
It may just be the concert that originated the phrase “Big in Japan,” and it’s coming to Surprise (as in: “Surprise! People live this far west!”) Thursday. Cheap Trick at Budokan, the movie, is showing at Ultrastar Surprise Pointe Cinema (as in: Surprise! We have movie theaters this far west!)…
Whoa! A little turkey and merriment and next thing you know it feels like months since we were hitting the blogosphere full force with all the music, arts and culture it can handle. We’ve got a lot to catch up on: Night Train Up on the Sun is counting down…
See more shots of Deerhunter in our slide show.By Michael Brooks CryerWatching Deerhunter’s bassist, Josh Fauver, stare into the audience is like watching Donovan have a dream about bemusement. Of course, Deerhunter isn’t trying to confuse – they’re trying to transcend. Saturday’s show at Modified did exactly that. It didn’t…
See more shots in our Dir en Grey slide show.By Jonathan McNamaraMarquee Theater wasn’t at its most packed on Friday, November 28. Lines to the entrance were relatively short despite the routine bag checks. Inside, a crowd of fans clad in Dir en Grey shirts hung close to the barrier between them…
By Martin Cizmar If you like Joan Jett – and judging by every karaoke night I’ve attended in the last year, you do – you might want to check out Girl in a Coma, coming to Hollywood Alley on December 3. Hailing from San Antonio (I’ll do it for you,…
By Jonathan McNamara Headed out to Coldplay tonight? Before you drive out to Jobing.com arena, arm yourself with some Coldplay criticism courtesy of our sister paper OC Weekly. OC Weekly Music Editor Albert Ching says:”What might surprise the Coldplay haters is that, in concert, the band actually kind of rocks. Hits…
Suicidal Tendencies, Yeasayer, Deerhunter, Dash Berlin, Mushroomhead, Times New Viking, Thanksgiving
By Martin Cizmar Maybe it’s the holiday spirit, but I’ve had a lot of people pitching charity concerts to me in the last couple weeks. “Do you like beer? Do you like charity? Do you like bikes?” my friend Candace asked, not intentionally sounding like an Amway rep. Anyway, there’s…
By Martin Cizmar st1:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } It was a bold move, putting Dry River Yacht Club on right before Black Carl. Here you have two of the biggest female voices in the Valley’s indie rock scene — Emma Pew of BC and DRYC’s Garnet — back to back. But, hey, when you’re talking…
Sometimes, we do things we don’t want to do because the people we love want to do them. Such was the case with me attending the Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert last night at Jobing.com Arena in Glendale. I hadn’t planned to attend the show, but I couldn’t refuse in the face of my girlfriend’s unbridled enthusiasm.
By Michael Lopez Calling the crowd that made it out to the Celebrity Theatre Wednesday night receptive would be selling them short by a mile. Every song played by Mexican alt-rockers Café Tacuba whipped the crowd into an absolute frenzy that didn’t die until the house lights came on. I…
By Martin Cizmar
Q-Tip is a perfectionist. Or so he said Monday night as he derailed his show one song in, taking a five-minute interlude to adjust the sound. “Any of ya’ll bloggers out there? Any bloggers?” he asked. “So when you blog about this, just be a little gracious.”
By Jonathan McNamara The Nintendo Experience Mobile Tour I want to be the kind of Nintendo fan that happily shrieks at the chance to play mini games. I wish that I didn’t mind waiting three months between releases for another game worth playing. I’d like to embrace casual gaming as…
If you’re not attuned to such things, you might be surprised to know how big a niche there is for bands interested in playing covers of classic Nintendo game soundtracks in today’s geek-friendly world. At comic, gaming, and computing conventions bands like The Advantage and Phoenix’s own Minibosses can draw pretty well covering classic Castlevania songs. As any bar band will tell you though, doing originals is always harder, which is why sBACH played to a crowd of about 30 Saturday night at Modified Arts.
By Jonathan McNamara See more shots from the Minus The Bear concert in our slide show. As an experiment before the show last night, I typed “Minus The Bear” into Pandora to see what I would get. I heard several tracks from Highly Refined Pirates paired with bands like Bloc…
By John Dickerson See more shots in our Ben Folds slide show. Ben Folds may be 42 years old, but his songs still bring out the white college kid/yuppie demographic like a liquidation sale at Urban Outfitters. Said white folk arrived at Gammage Theater in droves last night, donning fedoras,…
It’s always amazing to me how long a massively huge album can reverberate, even if it’s not terribly influential or the subject of any significant critical acclaim. Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill – the tenth biggest selling album of all time and either the biggest or second biggest selling album of the 90s, depending on which numbers you use – still has some sway with people of a certain age, as was on display at Dodge Theatre last night.
By Martin Cizmar Electric Six singer Dick Valentine is your pathetic uncle, and last night he showed up at The Clubhouse in fine form: buzzed, doling out insults and begging for cash. For those of you interested in making a full accounting, Valentine does not like John McCain, Gin Blossoms,…
By John Dickerson Suburbanites unite. Grab your iPods, and sport your American Apparel/Urban Outfitter goodies, because Ben Folds is coming to town. Yes it’s true. And anyone who was ever anyone will be there on at Gammage in Tempe on Tuesday. Would you believe Ben Folds turned 42 this year?…
By Jonathan McNamara Star Wars invades MS Walk on the Wild Side Costumed storm troopers direct from Star Wars’ joined forces with the Ghostbusters in a charity walk to find a cure for MS on Saturday, November 8, 2008. Concert Review: Elf Power and Vic Chesnutt at Modified on Nov…
