Best Phoenix Concerts This Week: Samantha Fish, The Front Bottoms, Shakey Graves

September is about to wrap up with a busy week of shows at metro Phoenix music venues. Artists and acts like folk-punk band The Front Bottoms, Americana musician Shakey Graves, and alternative rock group Local H all have concerts scheduled in the Valley from Monday, September 27, to Thursday, September 30.

A number of performers from a wide variety of genres are also scheduled to gig this week, including country music star Jason Aldean, prolific rapper Tech N9ne, reggae legends The Wailers, and blues-rock guitarist Samantha Fish.

Details about each of these shows can be found below. For even more live music happening around the Valley, check out Phoenix New Times' online concert calendar.

Keep in mind, though, that the Delta variant of COVID-19 is a growing danger right now and multiple local venues have started requiring proof of vaccinations or a recent negative test result to attend shows. More info can be found on the ticket sites for each gig.

Carbon Leaf at Musical Instrument Museum

After close to three decades together, Carbon Leaf has effectively created its own brand of accessible bluegrass. But the Virginia natives can't be pinned to a single genre – the band has an ostensible pop side, one that best translates live through Carbon Leaf's varying stringed instrumentation. Albums such as 2011’s Live, Acoustic... And In Cinemascope! perfectly capture the group's onstage cohesiveness, while showcasing Barry Privett's sunny vocals as he leads Carbon Leaf fans through a look back at the band's long and steady career. Expect the same when the band comes to the Musical Instrument Museum, 4725 East Mayo Boulevard, on Monday, September 27. The show is at 7 p.m. and tickets are $38.50 to $49.50. Bree Davies

Kat Von D at The Van Buren

Sincerity is an interesting thing. We crave it, don’t we? We look for it, and when we find it, we hold onto it. It's a commodity, too, and human beings are often willing to pay for it. On Monday, September 27, it'll be interesting to see just how many Phoenicians are willing to pay to see Kat Von D (a.k.a. Katherine Von Drachenberg), who is mostly known for being a reality television star/tattoo artist/makeup impresario, sing with her eponymously named band at The Van Buren, 401 West Van Buren Street. Electronic rock act Prayers, fronted by her musician husband Rafael Reyes, opens the 8 p.m. concert. Tickets are $30 to $35. (Read our recent interview with Kat Von D here.) Tom Reardon

Samantha Fish at Crescent Ballroom

As a teenager, Samantha Fish was drawn to blues music. She grew up on Stevie Ray Vaughan and The Rolling Stones, rounding out the gospel influence she received from her mother being an instructor at a local church. Before she was 21, Fish’s debut caught the attention of a talent agency; barely two years later, she had another record under her belt: 2011’s Girls With Guitars, which was recorded with Cassie Taylor and Dani Wilde. Since then, the Kansas City native has released seven solo records, racking up plenty of accolades and quite a bit of fanfare along the way. See her at Crescent Ballroom, 308 North Second Avenue, on Tuesday, September 28. Jonathon Long opens the 8 p.m. show. Tickets are $25.50 to $29. Matthew Keever

Shakey Graves at The Van Buren

Long before Shakey Graves' Alejandro Rose-Garcia became known for his 2014 duet with Esmé Patterson, "Dearly Departed," he was the one-man band busking in the entryway of venues hosting the 2011 Railroad Revival Tour — which included performances by Mumford & Sons, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, and Old Crow Medicine Show. His debut album, Roll the Bones, was self-released in 2011 on CD, but was recently re-released with additional songs for its 10th anniversary. Shakey Graves' show on Tuesday, September 28, at The Van Buren, 401 West Van Buren Street, will receive support from genre-bending bluegrass artist Sierra Ferrell. Doors are at 7 p.m. and tickets are $30 to $35. David Fletcher

Local H at Crescent Ballroom

The name might look familiar. You might have even found yourself singing "And you just don't get it, you keep it copacetic, and you learn to accept it, you know you're so pathetic" from the band's best-known single "Bound for the Floor," but there is so much more to Local H than that. Led by singer and multi-instrumentalist Scott Lucas, Local H was formed in 1987, drawing its name from two R.E.M. songs, "Oddfellows Local 151" and "Swan Swan H." A two-piece band throughout its history, Local H has seen three different drummers across nine studio albums and dozens of other releases. Local H is known for its high-energy shows that set the standard for bands like The White Stripes, The Front Bottoms, and Japandroids – who followed Local H's footsteps in making an electric guitar and a drum set sound like arena rock. So, even if "Bound for the Floor" is all you know them for, there is still so much to be seen here. The three-piece band of brothers Radkey opens Local H's show at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, September 28, at Valley Bar, 130 North Central Avenue. Tickets are $22. David Fletcher

The Wailers at Marquee Theatre

The legend of Bob Marley lives on through the relentless touring schedule of the Wailers. Just to be clear, though, these aren’t the original Wailers but are instead a spin-off of Marley’s famed backing band with a few members of its current lineup, including bassist Aston "Family Man" Barrett, who actually played with Marley after his most iconic releases. These Wailers are also renowned for their live shows and deliver fantastic renditions of classic hits from the Marley catalog. Their Grammy-nominated works, including 2020’s One World, bear Latin and jazz influences. They’re scheduled to perform on Wednesday, September 29, at Marquee Theatre, 730 North Mill Avenue in Tempe. The show starts at 7:15 p.m. and local reggae bands The Irie and The Conveyors open. Tickets are $25 to $55. Mikel Galicia

Front 242 at The Nile Theater

At the vanguard of ‘80s industrial music after their 1988 breakthrough album Front By Front, the Brussels-formed Front 242 also coined the term “electronic body music,” which to this day is synonymous with that particularly throbbing strain of techno. Since the zenith of their popularity in the early ‘90s – the video for “Rhythm of Time” was featured in the 1992 stalker thriller Single White Female – Front 242 has worked steadily, both together and with the members’ other projects, and tours Europe often. In 2016, they released the single “Lovely Day,” inviting fans to send in their remixes via Bandcamp and promising to release the top three on their next single. The response was overwhelming, proving that Front 242 is still a popular act even after all these years. Their current tour, which has been delayed and rescheduled a number of times because of the pandemic, comes to The Nile Theater, 105 West Main Street in Mesa, on Wednesday, September 29. EBM project Kreign opens the 7 p.m. show. Tickets are $25. Chris Gray

The Front Bottoms at The Van Buren

After rescheduling their tour twice before, The Front Bottoms will finally roll into The Van Buren, 401 West Van Buren Street, on Thursday, September 30. Kicking off their careers as a New Jersey folk-punk band, The Front Bottoms are known for their dense, confessional lyrics and intricate guitar work. While the band's lineup has shifted over the years to include keyboards, brass, and other instruments, the band is traditionally a two-piece, guitar and drum setup that can make those two instruments sound too big for a stadium. The band has been associated with genre terms like "indie" and "emo," but their sound today is much more in line with garage rock, relying on heavier and faster guitars on songs like "Voodoo Magic." However, The Front Bottoms can still slow things down and get emotional as they did on the band's most recent single "Lover Boy." They’re currently touring with New York emo-revival band Oso Oso and local indie singer-songwriter Sydney Sprague. The concert begins at 8 p.m. Tickets are $25 to $30. David Fletcher

Jason Aldean at Ak-Chin Pavilion

As one of country’s biggest voices, Jason Aldean stretches the genre in unexpected directions. Atop typical country music trappings – meat and potatoes lyrics, emotive guitar, accented vocals – Aldean adds threads of soul, alternative rock, R&B, hip-hop, and world music. Power ballads meet clever fusion in Aldean's tunes, which seem engineered for big, euphoric stadium performances. Aldean might flirt with comparatively radical ideas in his arrangements, but his music never fails to feel genuinely part of country music’s rich and storied tradition. He swings through Ak-Chin Pavilion, 2121 North 83rd Avenue, on Thursday, September 30, with opening sets by Lainey Wilson and Hardy. The concert is at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $40.50 to $125.50. Jonathan Patrick

Tech N9ne at Marquee Theatre

At the not-so-obvious age of 50, rap legend Aaron Yates (a.k.a. Tech N9ne) has remained one of the foremost practitioners of his craft and has cemented his legacy as one of the most prolific rappers of all time. (He’s already dethroned Gucci Mane and E-40 as the rapper with the most Top 10 albums on Billboard’s Top Rap Albums chart.) His latest release, 2020’s Enterfear, is yet another monster of an album in a catalog of acclaimed albums, including Special Effects and All 6’s & 7’s, and is characterized by the same raw and personal lyrics and energy. Yates is a master lyricist worthy of your leisure spending dollars and is set to perform on Thursday, September 30, at Marquee Theatre, 730 North Mill Avenue. Jelly Roll, Krizz Kaliko, and King Iso open the 8 p.m. show. Tickets are $40 to $70. Nicholas Bostick

In This Moment at Arizona Federal Theatre

Last year, In This Moment and Black Veil Brides both dropped new albums. Their respective releases, Mother and Re-Stitch These Wounds, received high marks from fans, but the two metalcore outfits were unable to tour due to the ongoing pandemic. Vaccinations be praised, both groups are back on the road and scheduled to bring their co-headlining tour to Arizona Federal Theatre, 400 West Washington Street, on Thursday, September 30. Get there at 6 p.m. to see alternative metal rockers Ded open the evening. Tickets are $45 to $50. Matthew Keever