By Benjamin Leatherman
Charlie Levy of Stateside Presents ain’t gonna dig this edition of Future Shock, and neither will Jeremiah Gratza of President Gator, nor the folks behind Select Shows, or Live Nation. That’s because this week’s lineup of “just announced” concerts coming to the Valley is extremely heavy on shows being promoted by their biggest competitor, Lucky Man.
Believe us, it’s nothing personal, guys. We love Levy, Gratza, et al., to death and are big fans of their concert-promoting operations, we just wanna highlight the coolest shit that’s gonna go down here in P-Town in the coming months. And this time around, the boys at Lucky Man announced some really big shows.
Anywhoozle, here’s the latest juice.
Coheed and Cambria With supporting acts Clutch, and Fall of Troy Tuesday, November 13, 6:30 p.m. Marquee Theatre in Tempe (on sale now, visit www.luckymanonline.com) Tickets cost $30 It’s been a few months since this prog-rock foursome visited the Valley on this summer’s Warped Tour, and C&C fans are probably hankering for a much longer set than the 40 or so minutes they got. Probably one of the cooler aspects of the band is that each of their four CDs (including the soon-to-be-released Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume Two: No World for Tomorrow) are concept albums that are a part of some grand storyline. Eat your heart out, Queensrÿche. Random band fact: Frontman Claudio Sanchez creates a comic book called The Armory Wars, which helps detail the C&C backstory.
-- Chevelle With supporting acts Fair to Midland, and Tyler Reed Thursday, October 25, 6:30 p.m. Marquee Theatre Tickets cost $22 pre-sale, $23 day-of-show (on sale now, visit www.luckymanonline.com) What can be said about beloved alternative rockers Chevelle that hasn’t already been covered? Not much, so we’ll stick with the highlights: they worked with Big Black’s Steve Albini on their debut album, Point#1, co-headlined Ozzfest, gotten major rotation on MTV, and are all over the Billboard charts. If you don’t like ‘em, you’re probably deaf. Random band fact: Chevelle’s frontman Pete Loeffler and drummer Sam Loeffler are brothers. They’re also both brothers-in-law with bassist Dean Bernardini. -- Redman With supporting acts Akir, and Kidz In The Hall Thursday, October 11, 6:30 p.m. Marquee Theatre in Tempe Tickets cost $21 pre-sale, $25 day-of-show (on sale now, visit www.luckymanonline.com) There was rumor going around in recent weeks that Luckyman was a little gunshy at booking Redman, but apparently such accusations have proven to be false, as the Def Jam superstar will be rappin’ and a rollin’ at the Marquee in support of his upcoming album, Muddy Waters 2. Random band fact: Redman once provided the voice for a cartoon rapper on an episode of the Nickelodeon show, The Fairly Oddparents. -- Amon Amarth With supporting acts Decapitated, Himsa, and Sonic Syndicated Tuesday, November 20, 6 p.m. The Clubhouse Music Venue in Tempe Tickets cost $17 pre-sale, $20 day-of-show (visit www.luckymanonline.com for ticket sale info.) What is it about Sweden that inspires gut-busting, headache-inducing, take-no-prisoners death metal? Maybe it’s some sort of backlash to the Nordic country’s cold climate that inspires such raging, grinding jams from the dozens of black metal bands clogging their music scene, including Aeon, Dark Funeral, Devils Whorehouse, and Amon Amarth. The latter outfit, which will take over the Clubhouse in November, has a penchant for songs steeped in Norse mythology, with album titles like Thor Arise and Once Sent from the Golden Hall. History rawks! Random band fact: The band’s name is ganked from The Lord of the Rings series, as “Amon Amarth” is Elvish for “Mount Doom.” -- HorrorPops With supporting act Roger Miret and the Disasters Thursday, October 11, 7 p.m. The Clubhouse Music Venue in Tempe Tickets cost $15 (on sale now, visit www.luckymanonline.com) Speaking of whacked-out Europeans, we’ve long been fans of the dirty Danes of infamous psychobilly band HorrorPops, particularly their bad girl lead singer Patricia Day. With her black Betty Page bang, saucy attitude, hepcat style, and seductive singing voice, Patricia makes us want to get tattooed, sport pompadours, and start fixing up some hot rods. Have mercy! Random band fact: Patricia’s former band was an punk group called Peanut Pump Gun. -- Collective Soul Opening for Live Friday, October 19, 7 p.m. Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix during the Arizona State Fair Free with fair admission, reserved seating costs $15 (on sale tomorrow, visit www.ticketmaster.com) Despite the fact it’s been more than a decade since Collective Soul’s mid- ‘90s heyday of major radio play, the band’s still got their die hard fanatics. For instance, as our sister blog over at the Village Voice’s Web site reported, Virginia Tech massacre man Cho Seung-Hui was a huge follower of the group, and was particularly fond of the single “Shine.” We’re uncertain if such infamy translated into any major increase in record sales for Collective Soul, but at least it gives you something to shout at frontman Ed Roland during their state fair show. Random band fact: The band’s latest album is called Afterwords and is only available for physical purchase at all Target stores, which may or may not be funny if you consider the Cho Seung-Hui connection. -- Rumor has it: Starting with this edition of Future Shock, we’ll have post-script to mention upcoming shows that haven’t formally been announced, but we’re fairly certain they’re gonna happen. For instance, it hasn’t been officially confirmed by Live Nation, but sources on the Internet have reported that alt-music piano goddess Tori Amos will be hitting Dodge Theatre on Tuesday, December 11. Stay tuned for full details in coming weeks.
