10 Best Concerts in Phoenix This Weekend

Got any big plans for the weekend? There's definitely a lot going on music-wise, including the final concerts of this year's Arizona State Fair, the annual MIMFest at the Musical Instrument Museum, and all the live performances happening on street corners and inside gallery's at tonight's First Friday along Roosevelt Row and Grand Avenue. And, of course, all the shows happening at Valley bars, clubs, concert halls, and music venues between Friday, October 6, and Sunday, October 8.

That includes any of the following "can't miss" concerts and everything you'll find in our extensive online concert listings.


mewithoutYou - Friday, November 6 - Nile Theater

mewithoutYou, the Philadelphia post-hardcore band (a nice way to say emo, but these guys are far from overwrought) channels Cursive-style riffs dominated by Weiss' deeply introspective lyrics. His lyrics, sung in a warbling vocal style and punctuated by labyrinthine fables, are rife with religious and literary references, drawn from everything from the Bhagavad Gita to Kurt Vonnegut. The group's sophomore release, 2004's Catch for Us the Foxes, climbed to number 20 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart and amassed a considerably cultish fanbase. The band has toured with Tegan and Sara, New Found Glory, and Brand New and collaborated with Forgive Durden, Norma Jean, Hayley Williams of Paramore, and Jeremy Enigk of Sunny Day Real Estate. Weiss performs acoustic guitar and accordion while his brother, Michael Weiss, handles lead guitar and vocals. Brandon Beaver also plays guitar, with Greg Jehanian on bass and Richard Mazzotta on drums. MewithoutYou's sixth album, the just-released Pale Horses, approaches a more artsy, post-rock sound, somewhere between Mogwai and the Appleseed Cast, but maintains Weiss' erratic narrative style. Weiss also has a habit of writing "sequel songs," tunes that, while not explicitly connected to each other, share many similar themes. For example, there's "Four Word Letter," off 2002's I Never Said That I Was Brave EP and "Four Word Letter (Pt. 2)" on Catch for Us the Foxes. TROY FARAH

Gloria Trevi - Friday, November 6 - Comerica Theatre

In a career spanning nearly 30 years, Gloria Trevi has reigned as queen of the Mexican pop-rock scene for nearly all of them. From the moment she debuted as a member of the girl group Boquitas Pintadas ("Heartbreak Tango" for you monolingual folks), Trevi has had just a little bit more of that sparkle to set her apart. Her incredible voice and stage presence earned her the attention of megaproducer Sergio Andrade, who became a key player in her nearly 20 million records sold. VH1 once dubbed her the "Supreme diva of Mexican pop," and we have a feeling that it may be a while before Ms. Trevi willingly hands over that crown. ANGELICA LEICHT


Lyle Lovett and John Hiatt - Friday, November 6 - Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts

Put Texas icon Lyle Lovett on a stage with grizzled rocker/songwriter John Hiatt and you get more than 70 years of entertainment-business experience. But these two are way more than another legacy act packaging it up for another run at some easy nostalgia bucks. Both men have written and recorded tunes and entire albums that will live on long after both are looking up from the box. Hiatt went to Nashville at 18 and began to have some success as a writer, but he wouldn’t find success with recordings until 1987 LP Bring the Family. He went on to place eight consecutive albums in the Billboard Top 20 and has literally hundreds of covers of his songs. Lovett, part of Nashville’s “Great Credibility Scare” of the mid-’80s alongside Nanci Griffith, Steve Earle and Mark Germino, broke through after an apprenticeship at Houston’s Anderson Fair. He has since won four Grammys, including Best Male Vocal Performance and Best Country Album. WILLIAM MICHAEL SMITH

Scott Weiland and the Wildabouts - Friday, November 6 - Wild Horse Pass Hotel & Casino

After Stone Temple Pilots collapsed largely because of Scott Weiland's parade of personal issues (arrests, rehab stints, etc.), he landed the frontman spot in Velvet Revolver, the rare supergroup that actually made a commercial mark — at least until 2008, when Weiland split amid a flurry of tabloid headlines and recriminating quotes to rejoin the Pilots. But in 2012, STP replaced Weiland with Linkin Park frontman Chester Bennington and the following year, Weiland formed his solo band, The Wildabouts, who dropped their debut album, Blaster, in March on Weiland's Softdrive imprint. The band is also likely to perform some of STP's greatest hits during their set at the Ovations Live Showroom inside Wild Horse Pass in Chandler. MICHAEL ROBERTS


Pelvic Meatloaf's 25th Anniversary - Friday, November 6, and Saturday, November 7 - The Blooze Bar

You can always count of Pelvic Meatloaf to throw a good local metal show at its clubhouse, but this anniversary show will take that to epic levels. This two-night party celebrates the band’s 25th anniversary, complete with different sets each night and a diverse lineup of the best metal bands in Arizona. On Friday, we’ve got Pelvic Meatloaf, Bro Loaf, The Iris Motive, Sounds Like Murder, We Steal Copper, and Zombie Surf Sluts taking the stage. Saturday showcases Eroticide, The Venomous Pinks, Soundman Killz, Inept Hero, Atoll, and yes, another round of Zombie Surf Sluts. Because can you ever really get enough of those? LAUREN WISE

Treasure MammaL CD Release Show - Saturday, November 7 - Trunk Space

There is no arguing that Treasure MammaL is one of the strangest musical acts in the Valley of the Sun. When the group drops its next album, I Will Cut You With My EBT Card, it will enter the argument for being one of the biggest bands in the Valley of the Sun because frontman Abe Gil called in the cavalry for the new album. T. Mamz went out and got Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne, Octopus Project theremin player Evan Lambert, Andrew Jackson Jihad frontman Sean Bonnette, as well as Jimmy Eat World member Robin Vining, among others, as guest stars on the new album. “It’s really flattering that Wayne decided to be on the album,” says Gil. “I remember listening too Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots for the first time and to have Wayne Coyne singing on one of my songs, it’s like winning the lottery. We are all stoked on it.”

Gil says that this is also Treasure MammaL’s most cohesive record yet and that it is less “spazzy” then the group’s previous work. The more focused album is the result, at least in part, of the caliber of musicians appearing on the record. According to Gil, the thread running through the entire LP is "people and their everyday struggle to use their internal force to fight the bullshit of the world.” Gil also says that each song has its own individual message, and even though the MammaL may appear to be silly, good-time music, there is actually a deeper meaning amid the absurdity. The band is throwing a CD release party at Trunk Space on Saturday, November 7. RØÅR, Cherie Cherie, Fathers Day, and Pro Teens also will play. JEFF MOSES


Bob Schneider - Saturday, November 7 - Crescent Ballroom

With his 13th solo album set for release, it's as good a time as any to revisit the question: Who is Bob Schneider? It's not an easy question to answer, however. Though Schneider has carved out his own unique niche as an artist, he's always been difficult to define, straddling genres, finding a bit of mainstream success that didn't necessarily play to his strengths, and possessing a songwriting style that's equally comfortable being cheesy or thoughtful. Regardless, with King Kong Vol. 1, his latest, dropping earlier this year, it's fair to say that as both a songwriter and a performer, Schneider is a restless artist who keeps finding new corners to turn in his work.

A beat-of-his-own-drummer type, Schneider had some success with two albums on Universal — Lonelyland (2001) and I'm Good Now (2004) — but is better-represented by his own Shockorama Records. In turn, Schneider is a good representative for (Keep) Austin (Weird), holding down a Monday night residency at the Saxon Pub and collecting two dozen Austin Music Awards over the years. Schneider's current tour comes on the heels of Lovely Creatures (2009) and A Perfect Day (2011) albums, which combine elements of funk, country, and soul with his mellow folk-rock, creating varied arrangements and a lush and layered sound. ERIC SWEDLUND

Wax Idols - Saturday, November 7 - The Rebel Lounge

Wax Idols has long been the outlet for songwriter and lead vocalist Hether Fortune, who started the band while she was living in the San Francisco area. Initially, the band was often described as garage rock, but there was always something darker and moodier to Fortune's songwriting that suggested that the project might have more roots in post-punk. By the time of 2013's Discipline and Desire, there was no mistaking Wax Idols as a garage or psychedelic rock band in that sense. Live, the group seemed like an especially ferocious and noisier Siouxsie & The Banshees, with Fortune proving to be a commanding and intimidating figure as the lead singer.

The new Wax Idols album, American Tragic, finds Fortune taking a bold new step in her evolution as an artist by going away from the guitar-driven songwriting of her earlier efforts. Writing the songs mostly on bass and synthesizer has given the music a greater efficiency, allowing the intensely emotional content of the album to build tension. Fortune conceived of the album in a cinematic way that was informed by the aesthetic, according to Fortune of “film noir meets cheesy horror or '80s sci-fi.” In another era, some might consider the music goth, but it is influenced at least as much by the mainstream pop that Fortune makes no bones about loving. TOM MURPHY


MIMFest - Saturday, November 7, and Sunday, November 8 - Musical Instrument Museum

Back for its sophomore year, MIMFest seeks to offer a delicious sampling of the world’s music. It’s a festival with a lineup unlike any other in Phoenix. The organizers have hand-selected a list of groups from all over the world representing dozens of genres. There’s the Recycled Orchestra, a group of Paraguayan youth who play instruments made out of trash found in a landfill. There’s bass player extraordinaire Victor Wooten, who plays a jazz-funk blend. There’s the Sierra Leone Refugee All-Stars, who have roots in West African refugee camps. There’s latin hip-hop/rock act Ozomatli, which is perhaps the best party band on the planet. And there’s Andrew Bird, the violinist and one-man band who is the Sunday headliner. It’s a great way to get exposure to genres and music that you just don’t encounter very often. There also will be a multicultural array of food trucks, representing Italy, India, the United States, Japan, and more, as well as a slew of activities, including henna, facepainting, and aerial dancers. DAVID ACCOMAZZO

The Dandy Warhols - Sunday, November 8 - Crescent Ballroom

Dandys rule, okay? They have never not ruled, they still rule, and I suspect they always will. Turning 20 years old, Portland's premier rock band, the Dandy Warhols, can claim one of its generation's most eccentric careers, making the quartet one of the last great rock 'n' roll acts in existence. You can label the Warhols "neo-psychedelia," just a rehash of that iconic 1960s clatter, but the truth is that vibe never died. In the first place, nobody "discovered" whatever sound or genre was mainstream 55 years ago — it was always there in some form, just waiting to be seized. And it never went away, even if it may have lost some widespread appeal over the years.

Noted for their tongue-in-cheek egotism and unhinged party vibes, the Dandys channel that familiar "retro" wave with modern definition, a unique fervor that bounces across ear-pleasing, soul-soothing landscapes the group's adopted with complete, magnificent poise. In other words, the band is an octahedral peg that doesn't fit into any square holes. The Warhols — fronted by singer/guitarist Courtney Taylor-Taylor, guitarist Peter Peter Holmström, keyboardist Zia McCabe, and Taylor-Taylor's cousin Brent DeBoer, who replaced drummer Eric Hedford in 1998 — are best known for their hit "Bohemian Like You" from Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia. TROY FARAH