Jim Louvau
Audio By Carbonatix
Ready or not, Super Bowl week has finally arrived in the Valley. As such, most of the biggest shows happening over the next several nights tie into festivities surrounding the big game.
Major concert and party series will kick off on Thursday night, including the Bud Light Super Bowl Music Fest at Footprint Center and the Super Bowl Experience at Margaret T. Hance Park. You can also catch rappers Rick Ross and G-Eazy at the W Scottsdale and DJ/producer Steve Aoki at Talking Stick Resort.
Not every show in the Valley from Monday, February 6, to Thursday, February 9, will be tied to the Super Bowl. Rapper YG and dance-pop duo Koo Koo Kanga Roo are scheduled to perform at local venues this week.
Read on for more details about these gigs or check out Phoenix New Times‘ concert calendar for more live music around town this week.
Keenon Dequan Ray Jackson, better known as YG.
Def Jam Records
YG
Monday, February 6
Arizona Financial Theatre, 400 West Washington StreetPerhaps no musician has more bluntly and aptly conveyed the “What did he tweet now?” angst of the Trump years as YG did when he rapped, “Just when I thought it wouldn’t get no sicker / Woke up one morning and heard this weird ass motherfucker talkin’ out the side of his neck” on 2016’s “FDT.” As the track demonstrated, the Compton-born rapper wasn’t afraid to say “Fuck Donald Trump” with full-throated forcefulness. That fearlessness is a hallmark of YG’s career, who first caught the public’s attention with his hit single “Toot It and Boot It.” Short for Young Gangsta, YG has put together a solid discography during his 17 years in the hip-hop game. His 2014 debut, My Krazy Life, remains the gold standard, but there are still plenty of gems to be mined out of the rest of his work. Last year’s I Got Issues finds the rapper in a confessional, self-reflective mood. He raps about his tormented inner life over menacing and tectonic beats – the rumble of an inner landscape breaking apart. He’s currently touring behind the album and will roll into town this week with support from Ohgeesy, Kalan.frfr, and Day Sulan. 8 p.m., $99-$235 via livenation.com. Ashley Naftule
Koo Koo Kanga Roo and The Homeless Gospel Choir
Wednesday, February 8
The Nile Theater, 105 West Main Street, MesaA “kids’ band for adults,” the duo behind Koo Koo Kanga Roo aren’t afraid to get goofy. Singing songs about fanny packs, food fights, ninjas, and dinosaurs, Bryan Atchison and Neil Olstad encourage audiences to sing along and become a part of the show. Koo Koo Kanga Roo sings and dances over iPod instrumentals, performing at both children’s events and during underground shows with punk bands and indie rockers. Touring with Koo Koo Kanga Roo is an act that brings a different kind of energy: Derek Zanetti’s The Homeless Gospel Choir. The Pittsburgh folk-punk project is earnest, impassioned, and driven headlong by guitar licks and pounding drums. Zanetti’s sweet schoolboy voice makes him a good fit with the Koo Koo Kanga Roo crew. He writes singalongs too, but his tunes are the kind you pump your fist and cry to. With Sam Brace; 7 p.m., $18 via simpletix.com. Ashley Naftule
Suits & Sneakers feat. Rick Ross
Wednesday, February 8
W Scottsdale, 7277 East Camelback Road, ScottsdaleSouthern-born rapper Rick Ross is still a menace on wax, albeit as a featured artist on other performers’ songs. The big man has found a second life as a guest rapper par excellence; a full Rick Ross album in the 2020s isn’t a great time, but give Ross 30 seconds to a minute on somebody else’s song and he’ll blow them off the track. Listen to him teaming up with Freddie Gibbs on songs like “Lobster Omelette” and “Scottie Beam” and you can hear how even a cool customer like Gibbs can struggle to keep up with The Boss. Like an old lion, he may spend most of the day sleeping, but when he’s up, he’s eating. Ross is scheduled to headline the annual “Suits & Sneakers” party and fashion event on Wednesday night at the W Scottsdale, which will include a fashion show featuring celebrity athletes walking the runway. With Jay Glazer; 8 p.m., $200 via tixr.com. Ashley Naftule
See the Gin Blossoms at Margaret T. Hance Park this week.
Gin Blossoms
Super Bowl Experience feat. Jimmy Eat World and Gin Blossoms
Thursday, February 9
Margaret T. Hance Park, 67 West Culver StreetWhen a Super Bowl takes place each year, the particular host city makes a concerted effort to show off its best and brightest aspects to the rest of the world, including its musicians. And when it comes to Phoenix music, you couldn’t ask for two better representatives than Jimmy Eat World and Gin Blossoms. Both are considered to be the most successful bands to emerge from the Valley’s music scene over the last several decades who perform highly listenable and radio-friendly variations of pop-rock (Gin Blossoms offer a brand of jangle-pop that became emblematic of Tempe’s Mill Avenue scene of the late ’80s/early ’90s while Jimmy Eat World specialize in power-pop). They’re both scheduled to kick off three nights of free concerts at the all-ages Super Bowl Experience at Margaret T. Hance Park on Thursday. Viewing space will be based on availability on a first-come, first-served basis. Gates open at 2 p.m. and the bands will perform sometime that evening. Benjamin Leatherman
The members of pop-punk/emo/alt-rock band Paramore.
Atlantic Records
Bud Light Super Bowl Music Fest feat. Paramore
Thursday, February 9
Footprint Center, 201 East Jefferson StreetAside from My Chemical Romance, no band has better benefited from the growing respectability of “Hot Topic rock” like Paramore. The pop-punk/emo/alt-rock band fronted by Hayley Williams got its start in a Warped Tour world, distinguishing themselves with her charismatic stage presence and her young, emotive vocals. So many pop-punk bands strive to sound adolescent but Williams sounded like she was still a freshman in high school. That youthfulness is part of what gives songs like “Misery Business” their charge – there’s an authenticity to the angst, like you’re listening to someone air out their mascara-tear stained diary in public. Paramore have come a long way since then, maturing into a stylistically adventurous and grounded band. Opening up their sound to incorporate New Wave and electro-pop influences, they sound positively funky on “This Is Why,” the lead single for their upcoming sixth studio album. Buoyed by chicken scratch guitars, pounding drums, and sci-fi movie sound effects, Williams’ voice hasn’t lost a bit of its reach-for-the-sky power. Older and wiser, she’s no less fierce and the band have developed a sharper edge to match her. With Bleachers; 7 p.m., $59.50-$160 via ticketmaster.com. Ashley Naftule
Steve Aoki is scheduled to perform on Saturday, September 3, at Talking Stick Resort in Scottsdale.
Shore Fire Media
SuperZona Kick-Off Party feat. Steve Aoki
Thursday, February 9
Talking Stick Resort, 9800 East Talking Stick Way, ScottsdaleSteve Aoki has pretty much done it all in the electronic dance music world. He’s created dozens of bangers, some of which have flirted with the mainstream (like the 2015 Linkin Park collaboration “A Light That Never Comes”). Beyond that, Aoki’s become a rock star of the genre, headlined blockbuster festivals, founded influential EDM label Dim Mak, gave multiple artists their biggest breaks, and became one of the highest-paid DJs on the planet. He also knows how to put on a show, turning his gigs into massive ragers where surfs the crowd in inflatable boats and tosses numerous sheet cakes onto fans. Expect him to instigate such a scene on a massive level when he helps kick off four straight nights of Super Bowl-related festivities at Scottsdale’s Talking Stick Resort with fellow DJ/producers Lost Kings and McWhite. 7 p.m., $59-$199 via ticketmaster.com. Benjamin Leatherman
Are you ready for some G-Eazy?
Spellbound Entertainment
Pepsi Zero Sugar Super Week feat. G-Eazy
Thursday, February 9
W Scottsdale 7277 East Camelback RoadG-Eazy is scheduled to perform at the second night of the W Scottsdale’s Super Bowl festivities. The Oakland-born rapper and onetime Myspace hit, first came back in the waning days of the social media hub’s influence, hit it big in 2011 with his track “Runaround Sue,” which racked up more than 5 million YouTube views and was inspired by the Beach Boys song of the same name, before scoring even bigger with his 2014 album, These Things Happen. You can catch him performing on Thursday night inside the W’s Cottontail Lounge during the Pepsi Zero Sugar Super Week party. 9 p.m., $150 via tixr.com. Benjamin Leatherman
