McDowell Mountain Music Festival Announces 2017 Date

McDowell Mountain Music Festival announced its dates for next year’s festival yesterday. The three-day music festival, which brings major headliners to downtown Phoenix, will take place March 3-5, 2017. Last year’s festival saw Beck and Avett Brothers play. The previous year, Widespread Panic and others came down for the festivities…

Heartbroken, Trans, Gay, and On Tour: It’s All Just Dyke Drama

Sadie Switchblade of Girls Living Outside Society’s Shit (G.L.O.S.S.) had a pretty simple answer when she was asked why she chose to call her new solo garage rock side project “Dyke Drama.” “It’s pretty straightforward. I’m gay, and the first batch of songs were just like, really personal lesbian love…

25 Best Concerts in Phoenix in May 2016

Look, we know it’s coming and so do you. And truth be told, there’s nothing that any of us can do to stop it. Summer is just around the corner, its probably going to be as miserable as ever, and the only thing you can do is make sure your…

The Violent Femmes’ Music Still Sounds Ageless

Few bands have had the power to unify youth the way the Violent Femmes did in the early- and mid-1980s. The band, which stops by Marquee Theatre in Tempe on Tuesday, March 3, had an extraordinary ability to unify the various cliques found in American high schools and colleges. Putting…

Your Guide To Cinco de Mayo 2016 in Phoenix

It’s not exactly something that’s touted in ads for Sauza and Patron, but did you know tequila is really good for you? True story. Depending on who you ask, the spirituous substance hewn from the agave plants of Mexico can not only work as a sleep aid, but can also…

Black Mountain And Backmasking Keep That ’70s Rock Era Alive

Just as the phone conversation between myself and Stephen McBean, leader of the Vancouver, British Columbia band Black Mountain, is warming up, it gets cut short. The quintet’s van is being pulled over by California Highway Patrol. He calls me back 20 minutes later and assures me everything is okay…

The Nine Best Concerts in Phoenix This Weekend

Remember that big Rihanna show that was supposed to happen back in March (but wound up getting rescheduled due to RiRi’s bout with bronchitis)? It’s finally going off this weekend. The R&B/pop star is bringing her ANTI tour to Talking Stick Resort Arena on Sunday, and according to everything we’ve…

The Posies To Announce Secret Show in Phoenix on Sunday, May 1

Although firmly entrenched in people’s minds and hearts as a power pop band, The Posies were never the rigid adherents to the “verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge” structure as that movement suggests. While always exhibiting impeccable harmonies, the band never skimped on the power part of the equation, which is why they came into…

When Did Rap Start Ruling Coachella?

In 2012, A$AP Rocky closed out Saturday night of Coachella in the Gobi tent. Considering he had only released his first mixtape, Deep Purple, the summer before, it was a plum set time for the Harlem rapper. Being a rap and Rocky lover, I was excited to see him perform…

Kraftwerk Will Play Phoenix Concert in Fall

Electronic music pioneers Kraftwerk are making the trip from Germany to the stateside this year, and they will be making a stop in Phoenix. Kraftwerk is scheduled to play Orpheum Theatre on September 15. The tour is part of a nine-city run in the U.S. that will feature the band’s…

The Slow Death of Coachella’s Local Vendor Economy

The sight of bacon-wrapped hot dogs sizzling atop metal trays, their fatty aroma intermingling with desert dust and the odor of dead grass, has been a familiar part of the Coachella Valley Music Festival for many years. But not this year. Where they once could be found along any entry…

The Seven Best Concerts in Phoenix This Week

Allah-Las – Monday, April 25 – Valley Bar If one had to guess the birthplace of the Allah-Las simply based on a few musical interludes, somewhere on the sunshine-y California coast makes for an easy choice. It’s accurate too, as this Los Angeles band co-mingles all the salty goodness of a…

Shit People Actually Said at Coachella Weekend Two

Every year, we travel out to the desert to capture the stories that make the Coachella experience so unique and infamous. Sometimes these tales are touching; other times, frustrating; but without a doubt, the crowd at Coachella is always hilarious.  Here are 25 of the strangest, funniest, most memorable things…

The Eight Best Concerts in Phoenix This Weekend

Like many of you, we’re still very much in shock over the untimely passing of Prince – and probably will be for some time. And we’re probably not the only ones who have been blasting “His Royal Badness” nonstop while dealing with the unfathomable sorrow over the silencing of one…

Audacity’s Been At It Forever, But It’s Just Getting Started

Hyper Vessels, the fourth full-length by Fullterton, California, rockers Audacity, is the kind fizzy, ebullient album that can only be crafted by 20-something weirdos fueled by youthful, crazed energy. But a deeper listen reveals a melodic sensibility that — while not “refined,” per se — sounds mature and developed. The…

Why Dale Watson Has Disavowed Country Music

Dale Watson is about as country music as it gets. Dapper in classic western attire, complete with Stetson,  big belt buckle, and boots, his shock-white pompadour and rich, deep tenor lend an air of authenticity. Watson is the archetypical country-music artist. There’s a reason he’s often referred to as the “real…