25 Best Concerts in July in Phoenix

Let’s face it: As a Valley resident, life as you know it right now is all about seeking refuge in a series of refrigerated boxes until the scorch outside subsides enough to become tolerable. Its a sad state of affairs, frankly, but is just one of the realities of surviving…

Small Town Police Are On the Hunt for Electric Forest Fans

If you’re headed to Electric Forest this weekend, you might not want to advertise it by decorating your car. Police are profiling the shit out of anyone driving in the greater Michigan area who looks like they might enjoy bass in their face. Police representing numerous small Michigan municipalities —…

Don’t Call the John Butler Trio a Jam Band

The John Butler Trio is all about making good music. Sure, every band says that, but Butler takes a more spiritual approach to his songwriting. His intention is to let the listener not only into his world, but perhaps become him. “It’s with intention, a sense of purpose, and a…

mewithoutYou Frontman’s Sexuality Is an Open Book

By sheer coincidence, when we call Aaron Weiss, it is exactly one year to the day from his getting married. If you know a little about the mewithoutYou frontman, you understand how bizarre tying the knot was for him. But for a band that is consistently and creatively reinventing itself,…

The Best (and Worst) of EDC Vegas

Electric Daisy Carnival is such a massive assault on the senses that, after the dust has settled (mostly in one’s lungs), it can be hard to pick out the highlights and lowlights. We’re still processing everything we heard and saw out there on the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, but here…

10 Bands to Check Out at Warped Tour 2015

Warped Tour was once a showcase for punk and its various subgenres, but recent years have seen a wider spectrum, even including pop and spoken word artists. These artists represent both classic and newer genres on this year’s ticket, so at least one of them is bound to catch your…

EXCLUSIVE: Tool Will Play Halloween Concert at Tempe Beach Park

The rumors started yesterday with a mysterious update to Tool’s website.  “Wait for it…” was all the post read. It is known that Tool fans are an obsessive bunch, and the speculation started immediately. Well, now, the wait is over. Tool will be playing Tempe Beach Park on Halloween. Lucky…

10 Excellent Underground Acts to Catch at EDC Vegas

With eight stages and over 200 scheduled performers, figuring out who to see and where to go at EDC Vegas can be a bewildering task. Sure, you want to be there with all the masses when Tiësto and Hardwell go on. But what to do before then? We’re here to…

James McMurtry Delivers One of His Strongest Albums Yet

Austin’s James McMurtry writes songs with the richness of novels, his characters struggling through life’s trials in vignettes sculpted as vividly as the world in front of your eyes. At 53, the celebrated songwriter remarkably is turning better with age, with his latest record, Complicated Game, garnering some of the…

Janet Jackson Announces Comerica Theatre Concert 10/19

Janet Jackson will play Comerica Theatre on Monday, October 19. Tickets go on sale Monday, June 22, at the singer’s website. The stop is part of the 36-date Unbreakable World Tour. Jackson’s 10th and most recent album, Discipline, came out in 2008. Jackson is perhaps best-known for a string of…

Minibosses Celebrate 15 Years of Gaming-Centric Music

Phoenix isn’t just an incubator for bands with odd tunes like Treasure MammaL, RPM Orchestra, and Drunk and Horny — it’s also a beacon for them. From O.G. shock rocker Alice Cooper, who migrated to the Copper State from the Motor City decades ago to The Minibosses, which brought its…

Aerosmith Rips Through Set at Gila River Arena in Glendale

You don’t really need to be an Aerosmith fan to appreciate the band live. This became clear at the band’s concert at Gila River Arena Saturday night. As the band ripped through its playlist, it was hard not to notice that almost every song the boys from Boston played had…

Cheap Trick Checks All The Boxes at Talking Stick Resort

While we sometimes have to wait longingly for bands we love to visit for a live performance, the perpetually touring rock icons Cheap Trick seem to hit the Phoenix area on the annual. It’s always interesting to see where they land. A few years ago, it was a makeshift room…

10 Best Concerts in Phoenix This Week

Who says the music scene dies in the summer? Here are 10 great shows to pass the time this week. For more options, check out our comprehensive concert listings. Hamilton Leithauser – Monday, June 15 – Crescent Ballroom  Hamilton Leithauser once hollered angrily into a microphone about a former love…

Great Lakes Swimmers Sought Out Natural Reverb in the Wild

Cave Recordings Great Lake Swimmers sought out natural reverb in the wild. Great Lake Swimmers, the folk ensemble Tony Dekker began almost 15 years ago, found a niche in a calming, pastoral sound that perfectly framed songs inspired by the natural world. But when Dekker and his bandmates began working…