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Angela Aguilar, R3hab and the best concerts in Phoenix this weekend

It might officially be summer in the Valley, but there are still great shows to see.
Image: Ángela Aguilar is scheduled to perform on Friday at Arizona Financial Theatre.
Ángela Aguilar is scheduled to perform on Friday at Arizona Financial Theatre. Machin Records

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It’s officially summer, which is typically when the Valley concert scene dials things back a few notches. Local shows and pool parties tend to fill the void left by a dearth of touring bands visiting metro Phoenix during the hotter months. There are still memorable shows to see, though, as evidenced by this weekend’s selection of concerts.

From Friday through Sunday, you can attend gigs by regional Mexican artist Ángela Aguilar, trash-rock band Southern Culture on the Skids, EDM star R3hab, and indie act Pedro the Lion. Local folk/pop artist Remi Goode will also stage her farewell show before moving to Nashville.

Read on for complete details about each of these shows or check out Phoenix New Times’ concert calendar for more live music this weekend.
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Remi Goode (center) and members of her band are putting the Valley in the rearview.
Remi Goode

Remi Goode’s Farewell Show

Friday, June 23
Valley Bar, 130 N. Central Ave.
Saying goodbye is always difficult, but local alternative folk/pop singer-songwriter Remi Goode will try to make the experience as painless as possible during her farewell show. As she told Phoenix New Times via email, Goode and members of her band are leaving the Valley for better opportunities elsewhere. “We’ve been a part of the local music scene here for the last [five] years, and this fall, most of us are moving to Nashville to continue pursuing our careers in music,” Goode told New Times. They’re also planning to drop their latest song, “No Game,” on Friday. Goode says the track is about growing up in Arizona and coping with the difficulties of living apart from a childhood best friend. “Knowing I’m about to take the same step in my own life, I decided to release ‘No Game’ on the night of our last show as a parting gift to our Arizona community,” she says. “It really captures the bonds we’ve built over the last five years.” With Steff and the Articles; 7:30 p.m., $13/$15 via ticketweb.com. Benjamin Leatherman
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David Bazan of Pedro the Lion.
Ryan Russell

Pedro the Lion

Friday, June 23
Crescent Ballroom, 308 N. 2nd Ave.
Pedro the Lion aren't a Phoenix band in the same way that Sun City Girls and Jimmy Eat World are, but frontman David Bazan's childhood in the Valley grandfathers them into the canon of great Arizona bands. (Bazan even titled one of the band's comeback albums after his birth city.) Truth be told, Pedro the Lion got its start roaring up a ruckus in Seattle alongside fellow indie (with a dash of Christian) rock bands like Starflyer 59. Bazan and fellow core member Erik Walters developed a unique style of slowcore-influenced music — one suffused with a warmth and personal directness in Bazan’s lyrics that are absent in the colder, more elliptical work of slow kings like Codeine and Bedhead. While Bazan’s faith is a running concern in Pedro the Lion songs, so are his deeply felt anti-capitalist convictions. As anthemic as they are confessional, Pedro the Lion’s songs draw you in to share binding secrets. Bazan’s emotional singing voice and poetic lyrics pull off the neat trick of sounding both profoundly personal and universal. With Erik Walters; 7:30 p.m., $25-$38 via ticketweb.com. Ashley Naftule

Southern Culture on the Skids

Friday, June 23
The Rhythm Room, 1019 E. Indian School Rd.
Southern Culture on the Skids recognizes the implicit hypocrisy of high/low culture, highlighting humorous humanity at its core. For 40 years, they've mocked lowbrow taste — on albums such as “Dirt Track Date,” “Plastic Seat Sweat” and “Liquored Up and Lacquered Down” — with lighthearted glee, buoyed by skintight musicianship. Whether penning a paean to the "mullet of the muscle car world," the '69 El Camino, or happily hailing his alcoholic baby's big hair on "Liquored Up," singer/guitarist Rick Miller's gentle skewering of redneck-style upward mobility also operates as a swipe at cultural classism. Music's hardly immune from such shenanigans. A prime example is the countrypolitan movement of the '60s and early '70s when Nashville producers dressed up country songs in plush arrangements with strings, backing vocals and crooning leads, abandoning its legacy (fiddles, steel guitars) in a bid for the mainstream pop charts. With Emily Rose and the Rounders; 8 p.m., $25 via seetickets.us. Phoenix New Times

R3hab

Saturday, June 24
Gila River Resorts & Casinos — Wild Horse Pass, 5040 Wild Horse Pass Blvd.
Fadil El Ghoul — better known to dance floor princes and princesses as R3hab — broke into the EDM world in 2008, right as it began to experience a seismic shift in popularity. A proponent of "Dutch house" style, there's a distinct menace to R3hab's work, specifically his remixes of Bruno Mars' Sting and The Police-indebted "Locked Out of Heaven," which shakes and quivers under the weight of R3hab's massive drop and tight, tinny hip-hop drums. It seems to be R3hab's most effective trick. In recent years, he’s expanded into electro-pop and collaborated with the likes of Timmy Trumpet, Laidback Like, Armin van Buuren, and onetime mentor Afrojack. This weekend, El Ghoul is scheduled to headline the Oasis Pool Party at Wild Horse Pass in Chandler. 5 p.m., $49 via ticketmaster.com. Phoenix New Times.

Ángela Aguilar

Saturday, June 24
Arizona Financial Theatre, 400 W. Washington St.
Most singers wait forever to make it big. Ángela Aguilar did so at age 9. In 2012, the Mexican-American artist released her debut album, “Nueva Tradición,” with her brother, Leonardo. It led to further opportunities, including a slot in the BBC 100 Woman festival in Mexico City in 2016 as the event’s youngest performer. Two years later, Aguilar earned her first-ever Latin Grammy nomination for the Tejano album “Primero Soy Mexicana.” She lost to Luis Miguel, but the experience helped cement her as a star. In recent years, Aguilar, the daughter of renowned singer Pepe Aguilar, released Baila Esta Cumbia, which saw her reinterpreting several of Selena’s most popular tracks, such as “Bidi Bidi Bom Bom.” Her latest album is 2021’s “Mexicana Enamorada,” which debuted with 145 million streams on Spotify. 8 p.m., $28.75-$199 via livenation.com. Benjamin Leatherman