The Mesa Music Festival Was a Promising Mess

The first ever Mesa Music Festival could be called an interesting mess, at best. I must admit, I didn’t have high hopes for the festival. Early on, many folks in the music community were upset that it seemed like a pay-to-play event, since it required a $30 application fee and the…

7 Best Concerts in Phoenix This Week

Here are our picks for best concerts in Phoenix this week. For more options, check out our comprehensive concert calendar. Collective Soul – Monday, November 16 – Marquee Theatre Ed Roland’s dedication to music has been the sole driving force behind Collective Soul’s continued relevance in the music industry. Formed…

11 Best Concerts in Phoenix This Weekend

This weekend is certainly a good one to be outdoors. Not only will there be plenty of sunshine and pleasant temperatures around the Valley to encourage folks to leave their respective domiciles for some fresh air, but also a number of local festivals happening this weekend. And many of these…

Tool Announces 2016 Tour — We Think

Tool posted a cryptic Facebook post last night, and all signs seem to point to a new Tool tour coming in January 2016.  The announcement comes just weeks after Tool played its only tour date in 2015 at the Monster Mash festival on Halloween at Tempe Beach Park. The concert…

Justin Bieber Announces Glendale Concert

Whether you’re a Belieber or a Behater, there’s nothing you can do. Justin Bieber in coming to Phoenix.  Bieber — who two years ago pissed into a mop bucket outside a New York City club and then acted like he did the restaurant a favor — will play a concert…

Master P Announces Partnership With Arizona Hip-Hop Festival

The Arizona Hip-Hop Festival really did absolutely everything right in regards to growing the second annual gathering of mostly Copper State-based rhymers. This year’s promotion seems more streamlined than last year’s including a sleek round of individual fliers for each act;  the lineup was even bigger; and oh, it partnered…

16-Year-Old Taylor Upsahl’s Songwriting Will Blow You Away

Taylor Upsahl has been surrounded by music since she was in the womb. The 16-year-old Phoenix singer-songwriter grew up with bands, as her father, Mike Upsahl, has played in Valley groups since the ’90s. There was always a rotating cast of professional musicians going in and out of the family’s…

The Birthday Massacre Singer Fondly Recalls the MySpace Days

There were times when Sara Taylor felt like crying. The lead singer of the Canadian dark wave band The Birthday Massacre was overwhelmed by the level of intimacy she experienced with the donors to the band’s crowdfunding of its 2014 album, Superstition. Through Skype, Taylor (who is known as Chibi)…

A Before and After Look at Robin Vining’s Sweetbleeders

Every Wednesday is Heritage Hump Day! That’s because every Wednesday from now to the end of the year or before someone really big stops us, Heritage Hump Records (a temporary subsidiary of Onus Records) and New Times will be bringing you a limited edition collector’s item of a much beloved…

Melissa Etheridge Talks New Music and Falling for Wife Linda Wallem

Even after all rock singer-songwriter Melissa Etheridge has accomplished as a legendary rock singer-songwriter, there are still music critics who claim her trademark raspy vocals can go from passionate to histrionic when she really gets going. Truth is when you have that much passion and belief in who you are,…

Leave Blink-182 Alone and Stop Listening to Green Day

I’ll never for the life of me understand how Blink-182 are considered a guilty pleasure band while people who are supposedly grownups listen to Green Day. Every time I see a picture of Green Day I’m so embarrassed for them. They look like the kind of teenagers I’m glad get…