Details about each of these shows follows below. You can also check out Phoenix New Times’ online concert calendar for even more live music from Friday, November 4, to Sunday, November 6.
St. Lucia
Friday, November 4Crescent Ballroom, 308 North Second AvenueComposed of South African singer-songwriter Jean-Philip Grobler and keyboardist/singer Patti Beranek, indie electronica/synthpop act St. Lucia dials up the lushness and cheese of vintage synth-era Lionel Ritchie and Phil Collins to dangerous levels. What saves the music from going too over-the-top is Grobler and Beranek’s sincerity and their knack for writing hooks sharp enough to cut diamonds. On songs like “Dancing n Glass” and “All Eyes on You” St. Lucia bridges the temporal divide between the 80’s and the 21st century, combining those vintage sounds with a more modern vocal style and state of the art production sheen. Their knack for studio wizardry has made them in-demand producers and remixers, leading them to work with artists like Charli XCX and Passion Pit. On this year's Utopia, Grobler and Beranek add some disco sounds and energy to their music, bolstering their throwback sonics with some undeniable booty-shaking grooves. With Bayonne, 8 p.m., $35-$45 via seetickets.us. Ashley Naftule
Stevie Nicks
Saturday, November 5 Ak-Chin Pavilion, 2121 North 83rd Avenue Break out the chiffon and pull the smoke machine out of storage: Stevie Nicks is coming to town. Just like the white-winged dove, pop’s premier witchy woman is taking flight from coast to coast. The setlists from her recent shows are a good omen for veteran Stevieheads: lots of classic Fleetwood Mac and solo numbers, along with some surprising cover songs (Nicks’ late great friend/collaborator Tom Petty cropped up quite a bit). It’s a show that’s short on surprises but long on enduring hits. Considering Nicks’ tumultuous history, wanting to take things a little easy makes a lot of sense. As one-half of Buckingham Nicks, she and erstwhile partner Lindsey Buckingham transformed Fleetwood Mac from a respectable folk-blues outfit to a pop-rock juggernaut in the late ’70s. Albums like Rumours, Tusk, and Mirage became just as well-known for their tortured intra-band drama as for their hooky, luxurious music. From coke-fueled priestess to elder stateswoman of adult contemporary is one hell of an arc but Nicks has pulled it off with aplomb. Just don’t ask her to sing the jingle for Stevie Nicks' Fajita Roundup. With Vanessa Carlton; 8 p.m., tickets are available on the secondary market. Ashley Naftule
The Crystal Method
Saturday, November 5Walter Studios, 747 West Roosevelt Street Just over 25 years ago, the blockbuster electronica duo of Ken Johnson and Scott Kirkland (a.k.a. The Crystal Method) broke out big-time in 1997, helping to popularize the late-'90s "big beat" EDM sound. And like many acts from that era (be they in the realm of electronic dance music or otherwise), they’ve undergone some changes. After dropping a slew of albums in the 2000s and 2010s (including such releases as 2009’s Divided By Night and 2018’s The Trip Home), Johnson retired from the music biz in 2016 as Kirkland continued to perform and record as the Crystal Method. Earlier this year, Kirkland released The Trip Out, an eight-track banger featuring guest vocals by Naz Tokio and Wenzday. You’re likely to hear cuts from the album when Kirkland brings the Crystal Method to Walter Studios in downtown Phoenix this weekend. With Parameter Child and Elvis T.; 9 p.m., $22/$26 via seetickets.us. Benjamin Leatherman
Wardruna
Saturday, November 5Mesa Arts Center, 1 East Main Street Fans of the Adult Swim show Metalocalypse may remember its metalhead characters calling acoustic instruments “grandpa’s guitars” with a mixture of derision and confusion. If your classic six-string acoustic is a grandpa guitar, the things that Norwegian group Wardruna plays are great-great-grandpa instruments. Wardruna are revivalists of Nordic cultural traditions, writing songs that harken back to their ancestral myths and bringing them to life with traditional instruments: deer-hide drums, flutes, goat horn, and tagelharpa (a kind of bowed lyre). Two of Wardruna's founders, Einar Selvik and Gaahl, were members of the cacophonous black metal outfit Gorgoroth before starting their Nordic folk group in 2003. Since coming together to sing about all things Norse and Viking, the band has recorded three records based on ancient runes and two albums centered on the myths found in the Voluspa. Even if you know nothing about Northern European folklore you can still find their sound bewitching with its deep sonorous tones and epic feel. Hearing them feels like listening to an old traveling skald sharing stories of valor and terrors in the night over a crackling campfire. Listen to Wardruna long enough and you can hear that fire burning. 8:30 p.m., $39.50-$69.50 via mesaartscenter.com. Ashley Naftule
Dropkick Murphys
Saturday, November 5Orpheum Theatre, 203 West Adams StreetAs the old saying goes, the more things change, the more they ultimately stay the same. Its applicable to many things these days, most frighteningly with the resurgence in acceptance of nationalism and authoritarianism in our modern era, including here in the US. As such, the Celtic punks of Dropkick Murphys are taking a page from Arlo Guthrie with their latest album, This Machine Still Kills Fascists, which borrows the spirit of the late folk artist’s music and features a number of his unpublished lyrics. They’ll perform acoustic versions of songs from the album on their current tour, which visits the historic Orpheum Theatre this weekend. 7:15 p.m., $38.50-$178 via ticketweb.com. Benjamin Leatherman
Ali Gatie
Saturday, November 5The Van Buren, 401 West Van Buren Street In 2005, Thomas Friedman used "the world is flat" as a metaphor for the spread of globalization. Fueled by capitalism, globalization has gentrified much of the planet with Western culture. No matter where you go, there’s a McDonald’s, somebody is wearing jeans, a young kid wants to be the next Drake. You can hear this global flattening in the music of Ali Gatie, an Iraqi-Canadian singer-songwriter who comes from somewhere but sounds like anywhere. Hailing from Yemen and growing up in Toronto, Gatie traveled the world in his youth and gained a love for music by listening to J. Cole, Frank Ocean, and Ed Sheeran. The R&B the young singer makes is deeply indebted to his influences: it’s algorithmically friendly, soulful and relaxing without any nagging eccentricities. He has a supple, rich voice that’s as pleasant to listen to as it is indistinct. Gatie is young; he still has time to develop a unique style, a signature, a wrinkle to disrupt the flattening of modern pop production. And his biggest hit, 2019’s “It’s You,” is a catchy, lovely song. It’s also so smooth that nothing sticks to it, not even Gatie. With Johnny Orlando; 8 p.m., $20-$125 via livenation.com. Ashley Naftule
