Concerts

When I arrive at the Brickhouse Theatre to see Lake Havasu City band Blackmarket open for Eisley, there’s a line winding around the side of the venue. It’s hot outside and “I’m on the list,” so I push my way through the crowd of fresh-faced emo kids who’ve already been waiting an hour and charge up to the door. “I’m on the list,” I tell the guy at the window. “Don’t you know who I am, biotch? I want my VIP wristband and my comp tickets NOW.”

By Jonathan McNamara Better Than: Listening to music in only one language and/or style. Pink Martini is what every band wants to be even if they don’t know it yet. From the first note of their show at the Scottsdale Civic Center Mall Amphitheater, it was unquestionably clear that the…

First, let me just say that my friends Bones and Chazz – longtime cohorts for my “Niki at Nite” column – were super-stoked to see Jackyl. They’re both big fans of raucous, rowdy metal, and Jackyl is one of a handful of bands they can agree upon. Bones is an ‘80s metal chick with an affinity for Poison, Cinderella, Bon Jovi, and a bunch of other pretty boy bands that manly men cannot, in good conscience, admit to liking. Her husband Chazz is a self-professed “redneck” who loves beer, boats, and big boobs. He wouldn’t be caught dead with a can of hairspray and a pair of leather pants. But a metal band like Jackyl, where none of the members wear makeup and the singer dances around with a chainsaw – now that’s something guys can get into with no shame.

When I heard there was a KISS tribute band comprised of “little people,” I knew I couldn’t miss this show. I’d never seen anything like it before, and I’ll admit I was curious. Whenever a band has a gimmick that’s as awesome as being “Minikiss,” I immediately question their musical validity. I wanted to see if these little dudes could actually play their parts, as opposed to just looking like them.

Twin sisters Tegan and Sara Quin spread their musical wings on their sixth (and latest) album, The Con, adding a bit more depth to their arrangements and increasing the potency of their New Wave/indie pop/freak-folk cocktail. But it’s their onstage banter that’s garnered them the most attention lately. It provided the angle for a recent story on the sisters by The Associated Press, and even Sara had to talk about how much she talks onstage at the duo’s gig in Tempe.

By Luke Holwerda The show was already going at 8:45 p.m. I fumbled through the door with my camera bag, quickly getting a hand stamp and a wrist band, and I made my way to the front of the venue. The place was pretty full for a Thursday night. I…

By Sarah Ventre Every third Friday of the month, Mesa-based Hollywood Alley turns their space into a place where art and music can come together with good food and cheap beer. Less upscale and underage than First Fridays downtown, Theonix Arts Showcase doesn’t follow the formula of taking an art…

Fans of industrial music – a.k.a. “rivetheads” – know that the best industrial events in the Valley are thrown by the local collective known as Sadisco*. Every month, Sadisco* throws a themed party at Homme Lounge, wherein the collective’s “house” DJs break out some wicked wax mashups. The event on Saturday, April 19 was dubbed the “Sadisco* Goes to Leary’s * Town: The S*uicide Cool-A©is Test!” on the flier, and the décor at Homme was fitting. The entrance was decked out in bamboo and fake foliage to resemble Jonestown, Guyana, where the mass suicides of Jim Jones’ cult took place on November 18, 1978. Inside, there were a couple life-size skeletons, centerpiece dishes filled with a hodge podge of bizarre items like rubber chickens and baby doll heads, and more stroboscopic effects than a vintage Pink Floyd show.

By: Megan Irwin Get well soon Chan! (photo by Steve Gullick) This space should be filled with a review of what I’m sure would have been one of the best shows to hit the Marquee Theater this year: Cat Power was set to perform with her new band the Dirty…

“This is where I start talking about my mommy issues and how I go through men like fucking underwear.”

There’s something for everyone in this week’s edition of Future Shock, whether you’re a classic rock fan, a goth rock fan, or an indie rock head. Read on to see which concerts have been announced this week.

The all-ages crowd kicked up quite a mosh pit at the Brickhouse on Thursday for a handful of blisteringly fast and loud punk bands. The hot pink mohawks and raised fists were flying as Domestic Combat, Rotten Youth, Glass Heroes, and Lower Class Brats rattled the roof of the downtown venue.

There is something eerie about people intently staring at a DJ play his set. Records are meant to be spun in high booths at dark clubs where DJ’s can feel free to shuffle through their stack of vinyl and stammer the beat, without looking terribly interesting.

One reason I wanted to see a live performance featuring Joss Stone – the white girl who sounds like a black soul singer (what does that lame stereotype written by critics even mean?) – was to see if she was legit.

Let’s dispense with the written description and let you listen for yourself. Ya dig?

This year more than ever before, the festival sought to showcase local bands making the event truly reflective of Tempe. Inviting a few legendary hometown heroes to play didn’t hurt either. The most exciting headliner was, of course, the long awaited return of the Meat Puppets. Though they haven’t played here for well over a decade the Meat Puppets did nothing less than awe the crowd.

The Black Keys announced their presence at The Marquee on Friday with a flurry of feedback and a crashing wave of pounding drums. There was no chit-chat or pleasantries from the two man band before they began their musical onslaught. They just took their places and banged out their own extra heavy, fuzzed-out version of the blues.

The doods at MySpace have an offer for Valley punk fans that they can’t refuse.

When not relaying one of her tales of love and loss vocally, she would dance away from the microphone and raise the neck of her big hollow-bodied guitar as a queue for her band to release a country hell-storm.

Well, I managed to survive another fun and frantic SxSW festival. While I’m laid up at home recovering, I thought I’d bring you some of the highlights from this year’s fest.

Dax Riggs is humble. Okay, that’s an understatement – the former frontman for indie sensations Dead Boy and the Elephantmen (championed by Henry Rollins on his IFC show), is downright soft and shy. When I shook his hand after a stellar set at the Cedar Door tonight, it was like stroking air.

“That girl weighs like, 60 pounds. I’m serious.”

“White belts are okay, as long as you wear them with irony.”

“There are so many bald guys here. How am I supposed to tell Michael Stipe from Moby from some random dude?”