Looking for something to do this weekend on the live music and nightlife front? Your options include album release shows by local bands and artists, electronic dance music sessions, and the chance to sail the yacht rock seas. A fixture of the Valley’s hip-hop scene is also celebrating a big milestone, and Desert Ridge Marketplace mixing live art with live sounds.
Here are our picks for the best concerts and music events in metro Phoenix from Friday, May 7, to Sunday, May 9.
Music + Murals
Friday, May 7Desert Ridge Marketplace, 21001 North Tatum Boulevard, 480-513-7586
The mural spaces throughout Desert Ridge Marketplace in north Phoenix will get a fresh coat of paint courtesy of local artists like Gina Ribaudo, Francisco Garcia, Ruth Ann Sturgill, and Lucretia Torva. Each painter will create music-themed murals while a roster of local bands and performers across multiple genres – including Isaiah Tilson, Victor Navarro, KC Angels, and Holly Schranz – do their thing at venues like CB Live and the District Stage. Admission is free to the event, which starts at 5 p.m. The full schedule and lineup is available here. Benjamin Leatherman
Banana Gun (EP Release Show)
Friday, May 7, and Saturday, May 8Last Exit Live, 717 South Central Avenue, 602-271-7000
Local indie rockers Banana Gun have a new EP coming out. To celebrate the release of Rules, the band is taking the stage at central Phoenix venue Last Exit Live for a pair of release shows on Friday, May 7, and Saturday, May 8. Arizona musician Brandon Decker (who performs as decker.) is the special guest. Cost is $15 plus fees, or $30 plus fees for a ticket and Rules on vinyl. The doors open at 8 p.m. each night for the 9 p.m. shows. Jennifer Goldberg
Yachtley Crew
Friday, May 7, and Saturday, May 8Marquee Theatre in Tempe
The Marquee will transform into a Catalina wine mixer writ large as this L.A.-based yacht rock tribute drops anchor in Tempe for a two-night set. Adorned in costumes and armed with a boatload of covers of soft rock’s greatest hits, the sextet (which features such members as “Sailor Hawkins,” “Pauly Shores,” and “Baba Buoy”) will charm you with their cheese. Feel free to sway to such throwback radio favorites by Hall and Oates, Looking Glass, and Air Supply during your musical cruise. Yachtley Crew will set sail at 8:30 p.m. each night. General admission is $30 and balcony seating is $95. Benjamin Leatherman
Bob Domestic's 40th
Saturday, May 8Yucca Tap Room, 29 West Southern Avenue, Tempe, 480-967-4777
Local rapper and promoter Robert Evers, better known as Bob Domestic, turning 40 years old and is marking the occasion with a night of hip-hop and rock at Yucca Tap this weekend. The Valley’s Hollowpoint Vigils, The Sound Bombers, and rapper Span Phly are scheduled to perform with DJ J-20 spinning between sets with live accompaniment from drummer Jerevicious. The birthday blowout starts at 9 p.m. and there’s no cover. Benjamin Leatherman
Re:Sound Music & Friends – Days Into Nights
Saturday, May 8From The Rooftop, 222 East Portland Street, 602-675-3500
Michael Hooker lives and breathes house music, especially tracks of a deep, melodic, and evocative nature. Said subgenres fill the mixes the British-born DJ and producer posts online and are featured in the albums released on his label Re:Sound Music. This weekend, Hooker and fellow local DJs HoodyHoo and [BRKT] will celebrate the release of Re:Sound Selects 005, the label’s latest EP and its first project in 14 months, at the Cambria Hotel’s rooftop bar on Saturday. All three will be in the mix along with Dustin Moye, Yahra, and Hakak. The affair starts at 6 p.m. and goes on until midnight. Admission is $20. Benjamin Leatherman
The Return of TreeHouse Sundays
Sunday, May 9Shady Park, 26 East University Drive, Tempe, 480-474-4222
Fast fact: Shady Park’s long-running electronic dance music weekly TreeHouse Sundays was one of the last DJ events to take place before the pandemic first affected Arizona in March 2020. (Employees of the Tempe spot reportedly pulled the plug on the event between DJ sets mere hours after Arizona Governor Doug Ducey began urging events with more than 50 people to shut down.)
More than a year later, TreeHouse Sundays (and EDM in general) returns to Shady Park this weekend when house music DJ/producer John Summit performs an afternoon-long set within the bar/restaurant’s outdoor “bar park.” Expect a mix of tech-house, bass house, and deep house, as well as back-to-back sessions by locals like Cormac and Anatta. Gates open at 3 p.m. Tickets are available here. Benjamin Leatherman
