Other highlights of this week’s concert calendar include a gig by thrash metal titans Anthrax and the latest KNIX Secret Show (which features a nationally known country music artist).
Read on for details about each show or click over to Phoenix New Times’ concert listings for more live music happening from Monday, July 25, to Thursday, July 28.
James Taylor and His All-Star Band
Tuesday, July 26Footprint Center, 201 East Jefferson Street“Fire and Rain” is James Taylor’s most popular song by far. Like the singer himself, it’s a comfortable sock that you know you’ll never throw away. When Taylor sings, “I’ve seen lonely times when I could not find a friend, but I always thought I’d see you again,” it gets you right in the feels, and you can’t help but get misty-eyed. But Taylor, who has been a fixture in the soft-rock scene for 50 years, is more than just an inviting place to put your little piggies. The man has shown very little sign of slowing down over the years. There is no arguing that Taylor is the master of the slinky, smooth, and in-the-groove sound that drove many young music fans to punk and metal in the 1970s, but one has to believe that Taylor is blissfully unaware of how influential his work has been on multiple levels. Lucky for all of us, Taylor is still banging away at his craft both in the studio and on the road. 8 p.m., $59.50-$450 via ticketmaster.com. Tom Reardon
Anthrax
Tuesday, July 26The Van Buren, 401 West Van Buren StreetAs pioneers in the heavy thrash landscape, Anthrax have sold more than 10 million records and received six Grammy nods. They were one of the first thrash metal bands to sign with a major label. Their sounds have ranged from colorful and lighthearted to dark and progressive. In 1988, they teamed up with Public Enemy, crossing over race and genre barriers. As a part of the Big Four, they defined the speed/thrash metal genre alongside Metallica, Slayer, and Megadeth. And in 2012, they were the first metal band to have their music heard on Mars. They’ve released 11 studio albums thus far, and a 12th is reportedly in the process of being recorded and is reportedly due out next year. In the meantime, they’re touring with Black Label Society and Hatebreed and are scheduled to perform in the Valley this week. 6:45 p.m., tickets are available on the secondary market. Lauren Wise
KNIX Secret Show
Tuesday, July 26Marquee Theatre, 730 North Mill Avenue, Tempe If you’re up for an adventure and down to listen to some country music, the folks at KNIX are putting on one of its “secret shows” on Tuesday night at Tempe’s Marquee Theatre. If you’ve never attended the event before, it will be headlined by a nationally known recording artist who won’t be revealed “until they step on stage.” (Previous shows have featured superstars like Jake Owen, Jason Aldean, and Darius Rucker.) Country singer-songwriter Adam Doleac will open. It’s free to attend, but tickets are only available by listening to the station. Click here for full details. 7 p.m. Benjamin Leatherman
The Lumineers
Tuesday, July 26Gila River Arena, 9400 West Maryland Avenue, GlendaleBack in the ’60s, The Fab Four invited audiences to “Twist & Shout.” For a time in the 2010s, the “stomp and shout” was the rock move du jour. Audiences couldn’t get enough of jubilant bands with choral voices and old-timey folk vibes. Imagine The Decembrists if they could tamp down their theater kid energy by 75 percent and you’ve got this zeitgeist pegged. In this brief Mumfordzoic era The Lumineers stalked the Earth, nattily attired and ready to strum a rousing melody on their mandolins at the drop of a washboard. Time marches on, tastes change, but the nu-folkers hootenanny onwards. The Lumineers have a new album, Brightside, to tour and they’re coming to your town. If you drop your ear to the ground, you can hear the thunderous roar of “Ho Hey” stomping in the distance as they invade the Valley this week with openers Gregory Alan Isakov and Daniel Rodriguez in tow. The Lumineers draw near; none shall be spared. 7 p.m., $34-$124 via ticketmaster.com. Ashley Naftule
Hans Olson
Thursday, July 28The Handlebar, 650 East Apache Trail, Apache JunctionIn the decades since Hans Olson moved to the Valley in the late 1960s, he’s served as a venue proprietor, session musician, songwriter, label owner, and event promoter, and founder of the Arizona Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame. The renowned bluesman is also a living legend and one helluva performer who’s toted his harmonica and slide guitar around the world and played alongside the late Muddy Waters and B.B. King. In the ’70s, Olson opened for the likes of The Allman Brothers Band and Boz Skaggs, toured with Dave Mason, headlined at the Whiskey A Go-Go in L.A., and raised a lot of hell with onetime drinking buddy Tom Waits. In the mid-'80s, he also ran Tempe venue The Sun Club and helped such bands as Gin Blossoms and Dead Hot Workshop get their start. They aren’t the only notable locals that Olson has influenced over the years, as artists like The Sugar Thieves and other modern-day musicians have cited him as a mentor. 6 p.m., free. Benjamin Leatherman
Frank Turner and the Sleeping Souls
Thursday, July 28The Van Buren, 401 West Van Buren StreetSinger-songwriter Frank Turner has made a name for himself in his native England and in the U.S. by mixing punk attitude with a folk bent that conjures up his countrymen Joe Strummer and Billy Bragg. It is a sound Turner says is for the people, much like the global camp styles of Strummer and the populist bent of Bragg. After performing with the hardcore band Million Dead before going solo in 2005, Turner emerged as a punk folk artist, releasing such albums as Campfire Punkrock (2006), Sleep Is for the Week (2007), and Love Ire and Song (2008). His backing band, eventually called the Sleeping Souls, would join him on all future studio efforts, releasing several albums over the last decade and a half. They're currently touring behind the recently released FTHC and are set to visit downtown Phoenix this week with support from punk band The Bronx and Americana artist Amigo the Devil. 6:30 p.m., $35/$38 via ticketweb.com. Mark C. Horn