Brian Wilson at Talking Stick Resort

Brian Wilson’s last few high-profile tours have tended to be been big, classy affairs. You know, Pet Sounds in its entirety with a symphony at the Hollywood Bowl — that sort of thing. Those shows promote the image so many of us like to have of the semi-retired genius: tanned…

Toybox Debuts Stay Alive and Kicks Off National Tour

When one thinks of Japanese punk, exotic locales like the hard-hitting streets of Osaka come to mind. Well think again, gaijin. Turns out the Valley’s got its own J-punk band called Toybox and they’re releasing a brand-spankin’ new album called Stay Alive tomorrow at Big Fish Pub…

Minus The Bear at Marquee Theatre

To be totally honest, I sorta figured the Suns playoff game and the Lost finale would upstage Minus The Bear’s Sunday night concert at the Marquee Theatre in Tempe. I mean, Sunday shows are sort of dicey proposition to begin with, let alone when there’s such stiff competition. Also, harsh…

Rockabilly Thursday at The Blooze Bar

This is the first in a series of reviews on weekly events at local bars. Having lived in the Valley my whole life, I only recently realized that tons of bars offer weekly events featuring bands that are staples of the music community. The shows are nearly always free, and the…

Glee, Echo Magazine’s Beach Ball, Afterlife, and Cheap Thrills

Glee at Dodge Theatre You would not know that from last night’s world premiere of the hit Fox musadramedy Glee’s touring stageshow at Dodge Theatre in Phoenix, where a cadre of stars from the show reprised “Bad Romance” dressed in some of Lady Gaga’s famous space-agey outfits, including that awesome…

Glee at Dodge Theatre

Lady Gaga is a free bitch, baby.Bitch. Bitch. Bitchhhhhhhh.You would not know that from last night’s world premiere of the hit Fox musadramedy Glee’s touring stageshow at Dodge Theatre in Phoenix, where a cadre of stars from the show reprised “Bad Romance” dressed in some of Lady Gaga’s famous space-agey…

The Besnard Lakes at Sail Inn

After watching the Besnard Lakes hour-long set at the Sail Inn on Friday night I thought to myself, that had the Montreal band been around in the ’70s they may have been one of the biggest bands in the world. I say this for a couple reasons. The most obvious…

Merle Haggard at Mesa Arts Center

Go to see a few country legends in concert and you begin to notice a strong correlation between the number of drinkin’ songs in those artists’ catalogs and the condition of the specimens on stage. George “No Show” Jones, for example, looked about how you’d expect a man who first…

Fucked Up at Chasers

There have been quite a few celebrities who have come out against SB 1070 recently. Ricky Martin, Shakira and, of course, Rev. Al Sharpton. The involvement of these people make sense given their ethnic and political backgrounds. How Damian Abraham, a.k.a. Pink Eyes, the frontman of Toronto hardcore outfit Fucked…

Coheed & Cambria at Marquee Theatre

Due to a guest list snafu, we were unable to attend last night’s Coheed & Cambria concert. Here’s how we imagine the show might have gone, had we actually seen it: Coheed & Cambria put on the show of a lifetime last night at the Marquee Theatre in Tempe. The…