Other noteworthy music events happening from Monday, November 1, to Thursday, November 4, include electronic music trio Rüfüs Du Sol and singer-songwriter Julien Baker at The Van Buren, shoegaze-inflected artist Japanese Breakfast on the Coca-Cola Sun Deck at Sun Devil Stadium, and JJ Grey and Mofro at Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts.
Read on for more details about each of these gigs or click over to Phoenix New Times' online concert calendar for more music events. Keep in mind, though, that the Delta variant of COVID-19 is an ever-present danger right now and multiple local venues are requiring proof of vaccinations or a recent negative test result to attend shows. More info can be found on the ticketing sites for each concert.
Julien Baker at The Van Buren
Julien Baker’s solo records don’t go down as smoothly as those of Lucy Dacus or Phoebe Bridgers, her collaborators in the indie-rock supergroup boygenius. Baker’s alt-folk is full of sharp edges and darkly self-reflective lyrics. On her latest, Little Oblivions, she has expanded her sonic palette, creating a larger world for her hauntingly beautiful songs to live inside. Baker comes to The Van Buren, 401 West Van Buren Street, on Monday, November 1. Dehd and Katie Malco open the 8 p.m. show, which is $25 before taxes and fees. Gannon Hanevold
Knotfest Roadshow at Ak-Chin Pavilion
Metal band Slipknot's Knotfest Roadshow pulls into Ak-Chin Pavilion, 2121 North 83rd Avenue, on Tuesday, November 2. The show will include opening acts Killswitch Engage, Fever 333, and Code Orange. For decades now, Slipknot has been known for putting on breathtaking stage shows that are every bit as big and ballistic as the band itself. Coming out of Iowa, Slipknot burst onto the metal scene in the late '90s with their self-titled debut album, catching the eyes and ears of listeners with terrifying masks and three percussionists. While metalheads will always debate just how metal any particular metal band might be, one thing that can't be denied about Slipknot is how much power there is behind the nine-piece band. Slipknot's most recent album, We Are Not Your Kind, came out in August 2019, and the band recently revealed it's working on new material, which percussionist Shawn "Clown" Crahan has described as "God music." Tickets are $29.50 to $99.50 for the 5:30 p.m. gig. David Fletcher 
Japanese psychedelic folk/rock band Kikagaku Moyo.
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Kikagaku Moyo at The Rebel Lounge
Experimental psych-rock band Kikagaku Moyo, whose name is Japanese for "geometric patterns," started when drummer Go Kurosawa and guitarist Tomo Katsurada were students in Tokyo. While the pair originally considered making the project into an artists' collective instead of just a band, they settled on music after meeting bassist Kotsu Guy. "We liked heavy stuff like metal and '70s hard rock and folk," Kurosawa says. "We wanted to put everything we listened to into our jams." Over the course of three albums, they've done just that, culminating with the beautiful weirdness of such albums as 2016's House in the Tall Grass and 2018's Masana Temples. Kikagaku Moyo visits The Rebel Lounge, 2303 East Indian School Road, on Wednesday, November 3. Doors are at 7 p.m. and Los Èsplifs opens. Tickets are $20. David Rolland
Angels and Airwaves at The Van Buren
Angels and Airwaves — the interstellar art-rock outfit started by a founding member of the pop-punk outfit blink-182 — just released its first new record since 2014. On Lifeforms, Tom DeLonge made a conscious effort to return to his band's earlier sound while incorporating some new elements like punk and hardcore. The final result has largely appeased critics and longtime fans alike, breathing new life into a group that fell into a creative rut after 2007's I-Empire. Fans of UFOs and tales of unrequited love can see AVA at The Van Buren, 401 West Van Buren Street, on Wednesday, November 3. Bad Suns and My Kid Brother open the 7:30 p.m. gig. Tickets are $43 to $48. Matthew Keever
JJ Grey and Mofro at Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts
After just a few notes, anyone witnessing JJ Grey in action can't help but notice how strong his stage presence is. He doesn’t need pyrotechnics or an elaborate stage show or costumes to pull a crowd in. All he needs is a microphone, a harmonica, and a guitar or two, and he’ll pull the crowd down to his world of dirty, authentic Southern grooves and deep-fried soul lyrics. Grey epitomizes what a frontman should be, and the rest of Mofro kick out grooves that would make a dead man dance like his reanimated life depended on it. His lyrics are reminiscent of the great Southern poets: Fiercely personal, universal, and political without a hint of superiority or peachiness. Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts, 7380 East Second Street, will host a performance by Grey and Mofro at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, November 3. Tickets are $35 to $42. Jonathan CunninghamReagan Youth at Yucca Tap Room
Arguably, the world has changed a lot since Reagan Youth was formed in 1980. But the legendary punk band’s only remaining original member Paul Bakija believes otherwise. Even though the faces and situations have changed, we're still facing the same exact mess that we were 40 years ago. It was in NYC in 1980 that he linked up with original Reagan Youth frontman Dave Insurgent. Tragically, Insurgent committed suicide in 1993. The band was already broken up for three years with no plans to reunite until a persistent street buddy told Bakija he had booked a Reagan Youth show. New musicians were recruited and decades later, Reagan Youth is still gigging. They’re set to perform at Yucca Tap Room on Wednesday, November 3. Heavy Breather, Corky's Leather Jacket, and Action Hammer will provide support. The show starts at 7:30 p.m. and tickets are $12 in advance, $15 at the door. Jose Flores
Rüfüs Du Sol at Arizona Federal Theatre
There's a freeing quality to Rüfüs Du Sol's music. The Australian trio produces music that feels like you're gazing past a cotton-candy sunset over the horizon while shedding a tear. Something's in the water in the land Down Under. Aussie imports like Tame Impala taught us music could flow slowly through the speakers, while music turned fantastical with the electro-pop duo Empire of the Sun. Rüfüs Du Sol flows from the same vein, blurring genre homogeneity with powerful language and deep rhythm. Over the last decade, the group combined electronic elements with live components via the thunderous vocals and guitar riffs of Tyrone Lindqvist, surfaced synth and keys patterns from Jon George, and James Hunt's soul-hitting percussion. They’ll visit Arizona Federal Theatre on Thursday, November 4, along with electronic duo Flight Facilities. The show is at 8:30 p.m. and tickets are $59.50-$149.50. Grant Albert
Japanese Breakfast at Sun Devil Stadium
Michelle Zauner surfaced on the scene back around 2016 with a pair of sturdy, shoegaze-inflected indie-rock records released under the name Japanese Breakfast. She has since revealed herself to be someone with far more eclectic interests and talents. An essay about her mother’s death was published in the New Yorker in 2018 and later became a memoir, Crying in H Mart, which was released earlier this year. And the new Japanese Breakfast record, Jubilee, which dropped in June, is an adventurous departure from Zauner’s previous sound.The moody, mournful tones have been replaced by something more playful, percussive, and orchestral (Zauner worked with a variety of collaborators on Jubilee, including Alex G, Wild Nothing’s Jack Tatum, and Crying’s Ryan Galloway). In some places, the record evokes the ecstatic art-rock of Kate Bush; elsewhere, as on “Be Sweet,” you might think you’re hearing a long-lost ’80’s-era Madonna dance-pop jam. Sasami Ashworth, a former Cherry Glazer member who makes music heavy with synths, reverb, and hushed vocals under the name SASAMI, opens. Tickets are $23 for her performance at 8 p.m. on Thursday, November 4, on the Coca-Cola Sun Deck at Sun Devil Stadium, 500 East Veterans Way in Tempe. David Hudnall
