It tops a busy week of concerts in the Valley, which will also include gigs by Robin Trower, La Dispute, Omar Apollo, Passion Pit, Yngwie Malmsteen, Powerman 5000, and Jake Shimabukuro.
Details about each of these gigs can be found below in our list of the best shows happening in the Valley this weekend. And for even more live music happening around town, check out Phoenix New Times' online concert calendar.
Passion Pit
Tuesday, April 30Marquee Theatre In Tempe
When Passion Pit’s Manners came out in May 2009, it was a divisive album. It was indie pop cranked up to 11 with infectious hooks and jangly melodies of synth and electronic beats that one either ate up gleefully or found obnoxiously optimistic. A decade has passed, and Manners serves as a time capsule to indie pop in a time where the social media landscape was changing with the decline of Myspace. Passion Pit’s 10th-anniversary tour for Manners comes to Marquee Theatre for what should be a night of carefree dancing. The show starts at 8 p.m. Tickets are $35 to $67.50. Julian Hernandez
Omar Apollo
Tuesday, April 30Crescent Ballroom
Omar Apollo has always loved attention, and people have always hated him for it. Before he was a rising singer-songwriter based out of Los Angeles, he would post dance videos online “just because I thought it was tight,” he says. “A lot of people I looked up to were doing it at the time, so I was pretty into dancing for a while — I still am. People always had shit to say about it, and I was always like, ‘Whatever, dude.’”
At 21 years old, Apollo (real name Omar Velasco) has been receiving plenty of positive attention for his psych-folk and R&B songs. As a self-recorded musician, he uses his laptop to add electronic flourishes to otherwise sparse songs, such as the flute-like sound on “Friends,” which is actually his voice manipulated with delay and distortion. His penchant for messing around on the computer inevitably leads critics and journalists to describe him as “psychedelic,” but he says that’s a matter of opinion.
“I just think it sounds cool, but people are like, ‘Oh, this is psych,’” he says. “Making music is about taste. You listen to certain artists because you like their taste in the melodies they pick, their drum tones, their guitar tones. That’s just my taste — I just fuck with that shit. People rock you because of your taste, and it ain’t more than that.” He dropped his sophomore EP, Friends, on April 10 and is currently touring the U.S. in support of the effort. The gig starts at 8 p.m. and is sold out (although tickets can be found on the secondary market). Howard Hardee
La Dispute
Tuesday, April 30.The Nile Theater in Mesa
Formed in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 2004, La Dispute came out weird right out of the gate. The band’s lead singer, Jordan Dreyer, wasn’t a self-identified musician at the time: He was a writer of poetry and prose, not lyrics. But that literary background, coupled with Dreyer’s spoken delivery (recalling at times the chilling, soft-spoken monologues Brian McMahan would mumble through on Slint’s Spiderland), gave the band a unique identity. Whereas so many emo bands sound on record like torn-out hearts, violently gushing melodies and mash-note lyrics all over the place, there’s a cool reserve to La Dispute’s music — they often sound like they’re on the verge of erupting. Which makes it all the more satisfying when they do.
La Dispute have practically achieved elder statesmen status in the “post-emo” scene, a subgenre that counts groups like Baltimore’s Pianos Become The Teeth and L.A.’s Touche Amore as members. Post-emo’s approach to emo and screamo is akin to how post-rock treated alternative rock — as Silly-Putty to sculpt into weirder, more abstract shapes. Listening to La Dispute, you get echoes of the grandeur and intensity of At the Drive-In, the pent-up fury of Refused, and the ambient delicacy of Thursday’s quieter moments. But Adam Vass (bass), Corey Stroffolino (rhythm guitar), Brad Vander Lugt (drums), and Chad Morgan-Sterenberg (lead guitar) also mix in jazz, country, and prog elements into their sound, creating a sonic backdrop for Dreyer’s words that remains unpredictable from song to song, album to album.
Following on the heels of the 10th anniversary of their classic debutm Somewhere at the Bottom of the River Between Vega and Altair, the band put out their fourth album this year. Panorama is a beautiful and mysterious record, one that slowly unfurls itself over the course of its 10 tracks. La Dispute is currently touring in support of the album and will perform at the Nile in Mesa on Tuesday. Doors are at 7 p.m. and tickets are $22.50-$25. Ashley Naftule
Sawyer Fredericks
Wednesday, May 1Valley Bar
Sawyer Fredericks should be a familiar name to longtime viewers of The Voice, owing to the fact that the teenage singer-songwriter became the youngest-ever winner of the reality singing competition back in 2015. Coached by Pharrell (with whom he shares a penchant for adorable hats), the then-teenage Fredericks bested more than a dozen other competitors thanks to his golden singing voice, rampant popularity, and glowing performances of such tracks as "Take Me to the River" by Al Green, "A Thousand Years" by Christina Perri, and John Lennon’s "Imagine."
While Fredericks reportedly racked up a number of sales records on iTunes for the songs he sung on The Voice, the two albums he released on Republic Records, a 2015 self-titled EP and 2016’s A Good Storm, produced modest sales and resulted in Fredericks leaving the label. A third album, 2018’s Hide Your Ghost, did well on Billboard’s indie charts. This week, Fredericks comes to Valley Bar with his current backing band. WolfChild opens. Benjamin Leatherman
Yngwie Malmsteen
Wednesday, May 1Marquee Theatre in Tempe
Eddie Van Halen may have put the art of shredding on the map with 1978’s “Eruption,” but Yngwie Malmsteen spent the entire 1980s taking the blueprint, adding influences from 18th- and 19th-century classical music, and blowing the concept up into a grandiose display of guitar histrionics. The Swedish musician initially broke through as a teenage prodigy with early-’80s L.A. metal band Alcatrazz. Malmsteen’s guitar-hero status emerged with his Rising Force project in the years that followed. His neoclassical shred-guitar compositions took center stage and influenced a wave of musicians welding metallic loudness to over-the-top technicality, which continues to this day with modern acts such as L.A.’s Exmortus. Malmsteen has at times become shorthand in metal circles for guitar excess, but when it’s as shamelessly bombastic as this, it’s all good. Jason Roche
Powerman 5000
Wednesday, May 1Club Red in Mesa
Powerman 5000 continue to be an outlet for Michael Cummings, known best as Spider One. The lineup he had for the group’s breakthrough, Tonight the Stars Revolt!, has long since left, but he keeps the name going. Backed by musicians who joined the band in the past handful of years, Powerman 5000 put out their most recent album, New Wave, in 2017. It's sci-fi allegory for the metal and hard rock crowd. It's not meant to be high concept, but it's not meant to be stupid, either. Powerman 5000 are scheduled to perform on Wednesday night at Club Red in Mesa. Crowning Thieves, Riot/Gear, All Your Lies, and Freedom 48 will open. Start time is 6 p.m. Tickets are $20 in advance, $23 at the door. Eric Grubbs
TV Girl
Thursday, May 2The Rebel Lounge
If The Jetsons were reality, it’d be easy to picture some space-age teen trying to wow Judy Jetson with a mixtape full of TV Girl songs. A Los Angeles-based trio, TV Girl make music that sounds simultaneously futuristic and retro. They blend ’60s-style pop melodies with electro-dance vibes and samples, creating a weird kind of introspective indie dance music. Imagine Belle & Sebastian trying to follow in the footsteps of indie dance-rock acts like St. Etienne and Screamadelica-era Primal Scream.
TV Girl’s music sounds so playful and disorienting because of their deft sampling skills. Disembodied voices from yesteryear bob in and out of the mix, creating an anything-goes atmosphere that recalls classic sample-heavy albums like Paul’s Boutique and 3 Feet High and Rising. Ashley Naftule
Slayer
Thursday, May 2Ak-Chin Pavilion
Slayer areat a point in their career where it's not weird for parents to bring their kids to shows. The generation who loved Reign in Blood and Seasons in the Abyss as teenagers still love what this band does, and they're happy to share it with younger generations. That doesn't mean Slayer have softened their edge. Down to original members Kerry King and Tom Araya, along with longtime members Paul Bostaph and Gary Holt, the songs remain crushing and blistering. Tunes from their latest album, Repentless, fit right in with the sound they have cultivated since the '80s, so there won't be any curveballs.
Slayer’s currently on their farewell world tour, which comes to the Valley on Thursday night at Ak-Chin Pavilion. Supporting Slayer on this final journey across the world are fellow metal fiends Lamb of God, Amon Amarth, and Cannibal Corpse. The evening starts at 6 p.m. Tickets are $29.50 to $98.75. Eric Grubbs
Robin Trower
Thursday, May 2Celebrity Theatre
For exemplary displays of underappreciated guitar wizard, look no further than Dr. Feelgood’s Wilko Johnson or Procol Harum’s Robin Trower. Trower, who came into prominence with that British psych/progressive and symphonic-rock outfit and recorded on the first five rather exquisite albums of their catalog was not the same guitarist who actually recorded their biggest and best-known single, “A Whiter Shade of Pale.” That distinction went to original guitarist Ray Royer, who stinted with the band in 1967. Trower would lend his licks and vocals from '67 through '71, when he would depart to pursue a solo career.
Now 74 years old, Trower has not completely severed ties with his former mates, recording the 1991 album The Prodigal Stranger and appearing on the orchestrated compilation album The Long Goodbye in '95. On his own, he's maintained a steady recording profile, reverting to blues rock with the power and wit of his prog days.
He’s also collaborated on numerous occasions with Roxy Music’s Bryan Ferry and Cream’s Jack Bruce, never deviating too far from his core rhythm section of James Dewar (1942-2002) on bass and former Sly & the Family Stone drummer Bill Lordan. With his most recent album, Coming Closer to the Day, his 23rd solo venture, Trower continues his seven-decades-long affair with the guitar. He'll be at Celebrity Theatre on Thursday night. The gig starts at 7:30 p.m. and tickets are $35-$85. Abel Folgar
Jake Shimabukuro
Thursday, May 2Mesa Arts Center
Jake Shimabukuro's fingers run up and down a ukulele's tiny, two-octave fretboard as nimbly as any rock guitarist's. But he stays true to the song. Indeed, much of Shimabukuro's success over the years has been tied to his spot-on renditions of famous rock and pop tunes. (He shot to fame more than a decade ago thanks to his cover of the Beatles' "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," one of the first viral videos on YouTube.) And some songs have been extremely tricky to translate to ukulele. He struggled, for example, to arrange Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody."
Shimabukuro's last album, Nashville Sessions, was his first collection of all-original songs. His forthcoming album, The Greatest Day, is about half originals and half covers, and the track list includes Jimi Hendrix's "If 6 Was 9," the Beatles' “Eleanor Rigby,” the Zombies’ “Time of the Season," and an island-reggae version of Ed Sheeran's "Shape of You."
At this point in his career, the Hawaii-based Shimabukuro very familiar with the touring grind. On average, he plays between 110 and 130 shows a year, which inevitably results in some wear-and-tear on his hands. "When we have a lot of back-to-back shows, sometimes my fingertips get a little raw," he says. "You really want to dig in and give it your all, so there are times when the fingers get tender, but when you start playing, the adrenaline kicks in and you feel no pain." Howard Hardee
Gary Allan
Thursday, May 2Mesa Amphitheatre
Country superstar Gary Allan has been a hit-making machine for two decades now. The 51-year-old California native has finely walked the line between stadium filler and perpetual critical favorite with little following.
Due to the tragedy surrounding the 2004 suicide of his third wife, Angela, he became an even more compelling figure. While he didn't seek out the extra attention that came from such horrific personal turmoil, the albums in the aftermath of such heartbreak took on extra meaning whether he wanted them to or not. In light of those circumstances, even the relatively schlocky "Best I Ever Had," a cover of the mom-rock group Vertical Herizon's 2001 hit song, became a powerful statement.
Darkness in some form or another has been something Allan has dealt heavily in before the loss of Angela, though. In his earliest days of recording on a large scale, Allan regularly sang with a sadness that he barely kept hidden. Sometimes the darkness was hit-you-over-the-head obvious, and while at other times much less so. Allan's even used darkness as a tool instead of a thematic feeling or vibe. Kelly Dearmore
