The 10 Best Concerts in Phoenix This Weekend

Up for an adventure and a little bit of a road trip? This year’s Country Thunder Arizona music festival is taking place over the next few days and it's one of the biggest concerts happening in the Valley this weekend. If you’re hoping to stay closer to home, however, there are plenty of other worthwhile shows and music events happening from Friday, April 12, to Sunday, April 14.

Infamous grindcore act Graf Orlock will be performing at The Lunchbox, Railroad Earth will stage their first Valley show since the untimely passing of their co-founding member Andy Goessling died last year, and local indie band Troubled Minds will celebrate the release of its new EP.

There will also be pool parties and EDM events aplenty, including the latest Bubble Bobble foam party.

Details about each of these shows and events can be found below in our list of the best concerts happening in the Valley this weekend. And for even more live music around town, hit up Phoenix New Times' online concert calendar.

EDM star Guy Gerber.

Courtesy of Infamous PR

Guy Gerber
Friday, April 12
Shady Park in Tempe

Guy Gerber might appear to be just another suave-looking European DJ. But the world-traveling techno spinner from Tel Aviv has been a badass in the EDM world for more than a decade. He's also the founder of his own EDM label, Supplement Facts. However, much of the mainstream learned Gerber’s name after his unlikely collaboration with Diddy on their ballyhooed 2014 album, 11:11. Over the past several years, Gerber has been a man of the people, spinning his high-energy melodic mixes of tech house, deep house, and progressive house at a multitude of club gigs and festivals. He hits Shady Park in Tempe this weekend for a Friday night gig that kicks off at 9 p.m. Tickets are $30. Nate Jackson

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The members of Graf Orlock.

Courtesy of Vitriol Records

Graf Orlock
Friday, April 12
The Lunchbox

Graf Orlock play grindcore inspired by their favorite action movies. On their 2012 Los Angeles EP, for instance, the group focused on Michael Mann's 1995 cops-and-robbers masterpiece, Heat. Dialogue and samples from the film are twisted into a vicious commentary on how fucked up Los Angeles can be. The chaos is almost as brutal as that film's pivotal shootout scene. Other releases feature snippets from such action flicks as The Terminator, Aliens, and RoboCop. Despite the shtick, Graf Orlock’s rock is hard, fast, and fierce, which leaves their listeners and audiences breathless. Frontman Karl Bournze is equally as fearsome, eschewing stage banter and displaying a level of anger and ferocity during Graf Orlock’s sets. He gets up close and personal during the set with everyone in the crowd, even the people hanging out at the back of the crowd. Consider yourself warned. Jason Roche

Troubled Minds (EP Release Show)
Friday, April 12
The Rebel Lounge

The Phoenix pop punk and emo rockers Troubled Minds hit the ground running in 2019 with fresh material when they dropped their single “Exit Stage Left” in February. Now, the group is gearing up to celebrate the release of their newest EP, A Call to Anywhere At All. Local punk rock group Audrey Heartburn will also be releasing a new EP at the show. Fans of emo music can stick around afterward for a night emo music from DJs spinning sad boi/gurl bangers. Julian Hernandez

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Dierks Bentley headlines Country Thunder on Saturday night.

Melissa Fossum

Country Thunder 2019
Friday, April 12, to Sunday, April 14
Canyon Moon Ranch in Florence

The big names of contemporary and throwback country music are once again rounding up at Canyon Moon Ranch in Florence for the annual Country Thunder music festival. Over 100,000 country and western fans are expected to the festival grounds from Friday, April 12, to Sunday, April 14, for 10-gallon headliners such as Tim McGraw, Clay Walker, Chris Stapleton, and homegrown star Dierks Bentley. In addition to country stars taking the main stage, Country Thunder 2019 also offers retail vendors, partner activities, on-site bars, a food court, and additional entertainers and a side stage featuring local country bands. Lauren Cusimano

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Bubble Bobble 11 is scheduled to take place this weekend.

Benjamin Leatherman

Bubble Bobble 11
Saturday, April 13
Club Red in Mesa

Typically, there are three things your average EDM aficionado wants out of a dance party experience: top-shelf DJs; music that’s loud, fast, and hard; and sufficient room for shaking their booty. This weekend’s Bubble Bobble 11 will offer all those things in abundance, plus a super-sized sea of soapy foam. The long-running foam party has been taking place almost annually since the mid-aughts and is inspired by the famous video game series of the same name.

Millions of tiny bubbles will rain down from the ceiling of Club Red in Mesa on Saturday, April 13, covering electronic dance music fans with an overwhelming amount of suds. Meanwhile, headlining DJs like Scott Brown, Hixxy, and Mitomoro will be dispensing beats to keep the dance floor moving as they serve up beats and bass. A cadre of local DJs and EDM artists will also perform, including Dark Mark, Fairydvst, Raichu, Underdown, Maromi, Big Stabes, Disco Stu, S33D, Sparrow, Distorter, and Cik. Bust a move starting at 8 p.m. Presale general admission is $22 and premium tickets and party packages are $50 to $180. Benjamin Leatherman

Railroad Earth
Saturday, April 13
The Van Buren

Longtime followers of jamgrass titans Railroad Earth aren't surprised by the band's resilient spirit since co-founding member Andy Goessling died last fall on the second day of the band's own fall festival, called Hillberry. That resilience has carried them through a difficult winter and follows them to Arizona as Railroad Earth continues their spring tour in Phoenix this weekend.

Even in the midst of palpable grief, though, Railroad Earth's five remaining members are carrying on. Healing and going forward since Goessling's death after a battle with cancer have been difficult, not just for the band as a group but for the individual members, bassist Andrew Altman says. "It's very complicated, how losing a fellow band member changes you," says Altman, a member of RRE since 2010. "I know it sounds cliché, but clichés exist for a reason. You really do realize what matters and what doesn't."

Their healing process has been more of an unspoken thing, Altman says, but it's happening, in a lot of small ways. For example, earlier this year, Railroad Earth recorded a new album at The Parlor Recording Studio in New Orleans. Meanwhile, just like a well-written song that inspires the listener to acknowledge an ugly truth but find a way to celebrate anyway, Railroad Earth will continue as a living example of the resilience that has been part of their sound since 2001.

"The energy these past several months has been different and uplifting, as far as it being a new chapter,” Altman says. “It’s not a chapter we would choose, of course, but given that we were forced into this situation, we’re making the most of it.” Kristal Kuykendall

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Lil Xan

Courtesy of APA Agency

DUB Show Tour
Saturday, April 13
Phoenix Convention Center

The M.O. of the annual DUB Show Tour is simple: showcasing hot custom cars and even hotter hip-hop talents. You’ll get both on Saturday, April 13, when this year’s tour hits downtown Phoenix. Hundreds of customized, modified, and exotic cars and motorcycles of the imported and domestic variety — including plenty of lowriders, cherry rides, and amazing-looking whips — will be on display inside the south building of the Phoenix Convention Center. Meanwhile, a lineup of burgeoning rap stars and hip-hop artists like Trippie Redd, Lil Xan, OT Genasis, Mellow Man Ace, Coca Vango, and Dani Leigh will perform. The show goes from 4 to 9 p.m. General Admission is $20 in advance, $25 day of. A speed pass (which includes express entry and a free T-shirt) is $35 and VIP tickets (which offer front-row seating and other perks) are $75. Benjamin Leatherman

Borgeous
Sunday, April 13
Maya Day & Nightclub in Scottsdale

Borgeous weaves together mixes of big room house, four-on-the-floor beats and electro in hit signature tracks like “Tsunami” (his 2013 collaboration with DVBBS that scorched the charts) and "Feel So Good." He’ll likely weave both tracks blasting from the sound system at Maya in Scottsdale during his set during the latest Soundwave pool party on Sunday. The afternoon-long event will also feature sessions by local DJs, as well as the usual poolside shenanigans. Gates open at noon and tickets are $10. Benjamin Leatherman

Jackyl
Sunday, April 14
BLK Live in Scottsdale

The chainsaw was immortalized by Leatherface in movies about Texas massacres. But credit for sinking its teeth into music belongs solely to the members of Jackyl – or, more specifically, their power-tool-wielding frontman, onetime Playgirl centerfold Jesse James Dupree. These good ol' boys from the land of Skynyrd carved their trademark sound from Down Under influences and Down South style.

Jackyl's self-titled 1992 debut, which featured Dupree's innovative chain-saw solo on "The Lumberjack," spliced traditional metal with Southern-fried boogie, old-school blues and Hank Williams Jr.-style grooves. Dupree and company's tongue-in-cheek attitude was matched only by their outrageous antics, such as chiseling Jackyl's name into a Longhorn Steakhouse table. That little prank resulted in a million-dollar lawsuit. But the band's most notable achievement to date, playing 100 shows in 50 days and 21 shows in 24 hours, both Guinness World Records, is evidence that this multiplatinum crew have earned their reputation the hard way – through hardcore touring. Catalina Soltero

The being known as Space Jesus.

Courtesy of Insomniac

Space Jesus
Sunday, April 13
The Pressroom

Brooklyn-based Space Jesus has landed on Earth to deliver EDM from the edges of the solar system. Being able to effortlessly move from high tempo and phaser-heavy electro to his preferred bass-heavy music in a single set, Space Jesus delivers psychedelic trances wherever he performs. If feeling your body rattle to bass-heavy, midtempo EDM is your way of preparing for the work week ahead, Sunday’s set with Space Jesus and Pittsburgh dubstep hero Buku will have you feeling refreshed. Julian Hernandez

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