Happy Labor Day! We like to spend our Labor Day checking out Lil Wayne charity shows. (Note: That’s not a picture of Lil Wayne.) We don’t know how you like to spend your Labor Day week, which is why we’ve included no fewer than five options for enjoying yourself. If…
Black SabbathUS Airways CenterAugust 30, 2013 (View the complete slideshow.)There were more devil horns on display at Black Sabbath’s concert Friday night than at an ASU football game. That’s not surprising, however, given the band’s affinity for dark lyrics, occult-like imagery and satanic references. What was surprising was the great…
An event called Boob-a-Palooza is bound to turn some heads, because who doesn’t love boobs? Now that I’ve got your attention, you can learn more about The Rhythm Room’s third annual Boob-a-Palooza, an event that’s part fundraiser, and part rockin’ swing dance show. Check out what Mona Watkins, the Rhythm…
If Black Sabbath isn’t quite terrifying anymore, they’ve done a remarkably good job recovering from their lead singer appearing in a goofy MTV reality-sitcom for three years. You’ll be able to see just how well they’ve recovered Friday at US Airways Center. If that’s not your speed, we’ve got four…
Over nearly 30 years as a solo artist, Joe Satriani has fused rock with blues, funk and world music among other styles (remember his 2000 electronica-meets-rock release, Engines of Creation?), all in an effort to do something new with each successive album. Given the sort of influences he had growing…
After a lengthy absence–33 years–Black Sabbath have returned with 13. And unbelievably, this is your grandmother’s Black Sabbath. Eschewing a turbulent history that left the band frequently in musical flux and misdirection –particularly those middle years–today’s Sabbath, complete again with the exception of drummer Bill Ward, comes to us straight…
For the true Black Sabbath devotee, there is only one place to be on Friday night. No, not US Airways Center. Sure, a true devotee would probably pay some shekels to see three quarters of the band that created Paranoid, Masters of Reality, and Volume IV in the flesh, sagging…
It’s been a quiet year for the Liquid Sol music festival, a “Coachella-like” event announced with some fanfare back in February. At the time, it was scheduled for September 19-21 at Canyon Moon Ranch in Florence, the site of the annual Country Thunder festival. Since then: Nothing. Until Tuesday. The…
The True Music Festival, scheduled for Saturday, December 14, at Salt River Fields in Scottsdale, announced its first five performers on Tuesday, and it’s a solid slate: In addition to noted festival heroes the Flaming Lips, the festival is bringing in Wiz Khalifa, Bassnectar, Capital Cities, and Lord Huron. What…
When Black Sabbath broke onto the music scene in 1969, no one was playing music with such heavy intent and darkness. Prior to figuring out their sound, the band was your average jazzy-blues-rock outfit. It was a popular musical form at the time in England, yet, there was just too…
FYF Fest, Day Two Sunday, August 25, 2013 Los Angeles State Historic Park The 10th annual FYF Fest ended with My Bloody Valentine blowing out a monitor. While it was disappointing to hear the seminal shoegaze band’s wall of sound come and go, it seemed like an appropriate ending to…
When I was a small boy, I was relatively certain “The Safety Dance” was about a dance, possibly the one they were doing in the video. When I was a slightly larger boy, someone said, “No, it’s about nuclear war, possibly the one at the end of the video,” which…
Wildly psychedelic, stylishly dressed, always uplifting in spirit (so much that some considered them just another wayward Texas cult), The Polyphonic Spree has kept a relatively low profile lately. The band has been holed up in leader Tim DeLaughter’s home studio jamming the night away — but the pop-psych veterans…
Day 1 at Los Angeles’ FYF Fest was pretty hectic. Yeah Yeah Yeahs headlined, closing out the first night of the fest opposite of Death Grips. The action packed day also featured rare performances by The Breeders, FLAG, Thee Oh Sees, The Locust, and many more. The festival was divided…
Think you’re down with hip-hop culture? Okay, son, then which of its four elements — be it rapping, b-boying, graf artistry, and turntablism — is the most vital part of its mix? According to veteran local selector DJ Akshen, it’s the latter, since the beats dropped from the decks help…
You know what I like to do every year around this time? Go to the Back to School section at my nearest Target and buy some pens. (More selection than usual, and I can’t pass up a deal on those Pilot Precise rollerballs.) You might not be as boring as…
Why should Phoenicians care about a festival that’s happening nearly 400 miles away, in rival territory no less? Some of you diehard sports fans are probably groaning that we’re featuring a music festival in the hometown of the dreaded Lakers, Kings, and Bruins. The short answer is My Bloody Valentine,…
As a Midwestern transplant, I’m having a lot of trouble figuring out what is summer and what isn’t in Arizona. I left my last apartment in the spring, back in April, and arrived here two days later in the summer. From what I’m told, it will continue until sometime next…
Yeah Yeah YeahsMarquee Theatre, TempeAugust 21, 2013 (View the full slideshow in a new window.) It was a flurry of colored strobes, shimmers, and sparkles as Karen O. and her boys Nick Zinner and Brian Chase — best known as the New York-based Yeah Yeah Yeahs — took over the…
Wooden Indian, Yellow MinuteAugust 29, 2013Musical Instrument Museum Theater Going to the Musical Instrument Museum from central Phoenix feels like an occasion, even when it isn’t–you’re on the interstate all that time, the cars are getting gradually more expensive, and then when you get there, and park your car in…
Lemuria mostly wrote their newest record, The Distance Is So Big, remotely, sending each other videos of melodies, hooks, and songs from their different home bases, but the distance between them has not held them back from creating an album full of catchy songs that capture the high energy ’90s…
Charles Bradley, his voice dripping with raw emotion, sings as though his life depends on it. It’s a voice that, in essence, gave Bradley a new start in life at 61, when his debut album, No Time for Dreaming, at long last found its way into the world, via Daptone…
