Concerts

So are you a Tribute-John guy, or a Tribute-Paul guy? Or a Tribute-George guy, I guess? This question and more answered in this week’s list of five Phoenix-area shows this weekend…

Du Hot Club de BizarreCrescent BallroomMay 8, 2013 Turquoise Jeep looks and sounds like a novelty act at first, but that doesn’t quite explain their appeal. What they’re really doing with their bizarre slow jams and paeans to stretchy pants and choreographed dance moves is hitting the basic tropes that…

of MontrealCrescent BallroomMay 8, 2013 You didn’t need to be an of Montreal fan to enjoy Wednesday night’s headlining set at day one of Du Hot Club de Bizarre. The band’s performance was part circus act and part acid trip, providing plenty of entertainment for the casual fan. of Montreal’s…

Built to SpillCrescent BallroomMay 7, 2013 Built to Spill is something of an anomaly. Part grunge, part punk, part indie-rock quirkiness, the band encompasses all these elements without completely embracing any one for too long. That’s what made Built to Spill’s Crescent Ballroom show so appealing — this is a…

One of the bands you can see this week around Phoenix has a famous song called “A Praise Chorus.” Another of the bands you can see this week titled the first song of their first album “Penis.” See which one of those bands is Jimmy Eat World after the jump!…

Porter RobinsonMay 5, 2013El Santo Cinco de Mayo typically is spent sipping margaritas and throwing back Corona or Dos Equis, but El Santo added one more treat to the festivities: Porter Robinson. It was my first time at El Santo, where the turnout was impressive. At this kind of event,…

UFIESTA (view the full slideshow here.)Quail Run Park, MesaMay 4, 2013 When I arrived at KUPD’s UFIESTA on Saturday afternoon, a 50-something blonde with blue-tipped hair was stumbling out of the Powerman 5000 mosh pit, wide-eyed and yelling about her head getting stomped in, but still refusing medical attention. This…

Prince will not be playing anywhere this weekend. He’s surprised me before, but I’m willing to make the call now and just be wrong if he shows up at “Rock the Purple,” which is not what you think it is, probably. In his stead: Lydia comes home in support of…

Crescent Ballroom wasted no time becoming a downtown Phoenix staple putting on shows almost every day of the year, and serving delicious food and drinks in the lounge. The venue expanded its horizons last year with Los Dias de la Crescent, where local bands performed both inside and outside for…

Prince and his backing band, 3rd Eye Girl performed a once-in-a-lifetime show at Marquee Theatre last night. Er, twice–I guess they’ll be coming back tonight. It was pretty fantastic, but don’t take my word for it. Here’s the Twittersphere’s review of Prince’s first night in Tempe: @seerock1023 Prince leaned back/down…

PrinceMarquee TheatreApril 30, 2013 His Royal Purpleness reigned supreme at Marquee Theatre last night, and like most of the people who saw him there, I’m still taking it all in. We just saw a legend perform at a mid-sized venue and we were close enough to actually see his face…

[Ed. note: Before this week’s Prince-mania comes to a close after Wednesday night’s show at the Marquee Theatre, I asked Up on the Sun’s writers — hereafter The Revolution — to let me know exactly what they were looking for in a Prince concert. Chris24 Hassiotis came through with this…

ParamoreComerica TheatreApril 29, 2013 After losing two founding members, Paramore made a show of their new self-confidence Monday night at Comerica Theatre, standing in front of a giant backdrop displaying nothing but three marks. It’s been almost three years since Paramore last hit up the Valley, but at their show…

Three years ago, Prince’s relationship status with the Internet could best be described as “It’s complicated.” “The Internet’s completely over,” he toldThe Daily Mirror, the UK newspaper which give away copies of his 20Ten album. (No, I haven’t heard it, either.) “I don’t see why I should give my new…

Dearly beloved, I have good news and bad news: The good news is that the potential length of Prince’s set-list is now no longer constrained by playing two shows per night when he visits the Marquee Theatre on Tuesday and Wednesday. The bad news is that that means he’ll only…

Alkaline TrioMarquee Theatre, TempeSunday, April 28, 2013 I’ve got a big, fat fucking bone to pick with you, Alkaline Trio. In case you haven’t heard, I’m sick and tired of waiting to hear “Radio.” I wish you would have swapped some new songs for “Nose Over Tail,” “Clavicle,” and all…

Normally we showcase five interesting shows in Phoenix each week in this space. This week, Prince is playing four shows. It is, therefore, with the public interest in mind that we condense all four of those shows down to one White-Dwarf-dense ball of concert-recommendation. That and more after the jump:…

Prince’s relationship with his backing bands has always been a little more fraught than, say, Buddy Holly and the Crickets or Dave Matthews and Band. There’s been several of them, for one thing — the Revolution and the New Power Generation, along with associates like Morris Day and The Time…

Playboy Manbaby CD release partyCartel Coffee Lab, TempeApril 27, 2013 I get weirded out when large crowds share unbridled enthusiasm. I chalk it up to either “rugged individualism” or “special snowflake syndrome,” depending on how positively or negatively I want to look at myself. This makes me a wallflower in…

Paperhaus with Playboy Manbaby and St. RangerThe Trunk SpaceApril 26, 2013 Post-punk is a minefield for modern musicians. There’s always going to be a group of people who dig through a cool older relative’s record collection or read Simon Reynolds’ Rip it Up and Start Again and discover bands like…

Nerf HerderPub Rock, ScottsdaleApril 26, 2013 What the heck have geek rockers Nerf Herder been up to since their last trip to Phoenix in 2002? It’s been a full 11 years since the band co-headlined a show with Guttermouth at Club Rio. At the time, the band’s third full-length album,…

This weekend is Prince Eve. We understand that. But if you’re unable or unwilling to part with the kind of money it takes to see Prince in something smaller than an arena, you can divert yourself with any of these coming attractions:…