And, as is the norm for March, there will also be a huge influx of indie musicians and bands in the coming weeks, many of which will make a stop in the Valley on their way to and from this year’s South by Southwest.
Who else is coming to town to perform over the next few weeks? Read for our rundown of March’s biggest shows or check out Phoenix New Times’ concert listings for more live music this month.
Thee Sacred Souls
Wednesday, March 8The Van Buren, 401 West Van Buren StreetSome musicians feel out of time, like they’ve fallen through a crack in the space-time continuum and landed in the 2020s. The trio of players behind Thee Sacred Souls — vocalist Josh Lane, bassist Sal Samano, and drummer Alex Garcia — conjure up a sultry, velvet-soft style of R&B that would have sounded right at home on the mid-century pop charts next to golden age Stax and Motown jams. Lane has a falsetto with legs, his voice crooning over Samano and Garcia’s nimble rhythmic interplay like an even smoother Curtis Mayfield. On their self-titled 2022 album, Thee Sacred Souls kick out waterbed grooves, or the kind of plush music you can sink into. Produced by Daptone label co-founder Gabriel Roth, the record has all the sweetness and grit of classic 60’s soul with a little something extra: the trio injects bits of Chicano and Panama soul in their songs, adding a bit of Latin swing and international flavor to their vintage American soul stylings. Who needs a time machine when you can just press play on Thee Sacred Souls? With Jalen N'Gonda; 8 p.m., $75 via livenation.com. Ashley Naftule
Jimmy Buffett
Thursday, March 9Footprint Center, 201 East Jefferson StreetYou can sum up Jimmy Buffett's concerts with one simple word: party. The music legend’s gigs are known for being a place where his legion of fans (a.k.a. “Parrot Heads”) can relax and enjoy a cold one together while singing along to “Margaritaville,” “Cheeseburger in Paradise,” “A Pirate Looks at Forty,” “Fins,” or other favorites from his repertoire. Beach balls will be bounced. Hawaiian shirts, leis, and straw hats will be worn. And a good time will be had by all. Such a scene will unfold inside Footprint Center in early March when Buffett brings the Coral Reefers Band to town in support of his most recent album, 2020’s Life on the Flip Side. Feel free to bring along your shark fins as you search for your lost shaker of salt. 8 p.m., $31-$170 via ticketmaster.com. Phoenix New Times
Styx
Thursday, March 9, and Friday, March 10Celebrity Theatre, 440 North 32nd StreetThe key to any band’s longevity is the ability to maintain a core sound while changing to lure new generations of fans. The Rolling Stones are the quintessential example, having survived 50 years on gritty rock roll licks that receive fresh infusions of timely sound forms (from country to disco) to keep the band in popular focus. Other long-running bands find the challenge of remaining vital enough to avoid the county fair circuit a bit more daunting. After changing a few members over the years or taking a hiatus, the task can seem insurmountable. Styx has managed to stay relevant, though, despite those obstacles by updating its sound on new albums, but also by reworking and re-recording the classic hits that made them one of the biggest acts of the ’70s and ’80s. This is illustrated on their current tour, which features a mix of old favorites (including “Come Sail Away,” “Blue Collar Man,” and “Crystal Ball”) and new material from their upcoming album, Crash of the Crown, being performed. 7:30 p.m., $40-$125 via etix.com. Glenn BurnSilver
Escape the Fate
Friday, March 10Crescent Ballroom, 308 North Second AvenueOne of the best recurring jokes in 1984’s This is Spinal Tap is the band’s cursed history with drummers— replacing each after they suffer one calamity after another. Escape the Fate’s band history suffers from a similar curse, but one that afflicts every member except frontman Craig Mabbit. The hard rock band has experienced a series of high-profile and messy bandmate departures over the years, perhaps none more infamous than lead singer Ronnie Radke (and future Saraya boyfriend, wrestling fans) getting kicked out for his toxic and violent criminal behavior. What’s surprising about Escape the Fate is that you can’t hear the turmoil in the music. They sound remarkably consistent over their seven studio albums, as Mabbit and company refine their style of metalcore music. They sound like a hard rock radio station’s entire playlist distilled into one band: screamo vocals, chunky brick guitars straight out of the rap-rock era, and dry and hard drums. It’s a very meat-and-potatoes headbanging sound that’s sure to scratch your itch if you still listen to The Used, Dragonforce, and Greeley Estates. With Not Nearly, Inept Hero, and Jane ‘n’ the Jungle; 8 p.m., tickets are available on the secondary market. Ashley Naftule
Carrie Underwood
Saturday, March 11Desert Diamond Arena, 9400 West Maryland Avenue, GlendaleIt's easy to write off an act that becomes famous because of its success on American Idol. That is to say that most Idol contestants' careers have proved short and boring. Carrie Underwood, then, is one of the exceptions to the rule. The 39-year-old country superstar not only sold the most albums of any woman in country music, she's also headlined numerous hit tours. Her latest swings through the Valley in late March in support of Denim & Rhinestones, her ninth studio album. Fellow country music star Jimmie Allen opens. 7:30 p.m., $39-$352 via ticketmaster.com. Phoenix New Times
Tank and the Bangas
Sunday, March 12Crescent Ballroom, 308 North Second AvenueFirst, they were Liberated Soul Collective. Then, they were BlackStar Bangas. They finally settled on their current name: Tank and the Bangas. With vocalist Tarriona “Tank” Bell at the forefront, the New Orleans-based ensemble merge elements of funk, soul, and hip-hop to tell stories with passion and ferocity that contain both power and wit. The Bangas are many in number and diverse in style. This small army of skillful musicians and background singers create a fusion of soulful sounds that weave through Bell’s vocals. There’s a whole cast of characters living in her vocal cords. She can break your heart with a rich soulful bellow, or make you laugh when she delivers some lyrics with a childish sass. It’s like Aretha Franklin’s ghost and Nicki Minaj had a fight and then became besties. With McKinley Dixon, 8 p.m., $25-$38 via seetickets.us. Amy Young
Drug Church
Monday, March 13The Nile Theater, 105 West Main Street, MesaAside from Protomartyr’s Joe Casey, nobody in the post-hardcore/modern punk scene writes lyrics better than Drug Church's Patrick Kindlon. The Albany band have a distinct sound: rusted, grungy guitars buzzing over sludgy rhythms and Kindlon's can-you-believe-this-shit bellow. Their 2018 track "Weed Pin" turns a disgruntled lab tech's woes into a generational "Slack Motherfucker" style anti-work anthem thanks to Kindlon’s iconic "I SHOULD'VE STARTED A CHEMICAL FIRE" shout. Their latest album, 2022’s Hygiene, breezes by in under a half hour but is packed with dense riffs and interesting lyrical threads to untangle. In most situations, calling something a “cancel culture record” would be a huge red flag but Kindlon’s musings on separating the art from the artist on “Detective Lieutenant” or coming to grips with the skeletons in your closet in “Super Saturated” are far more nuanced and empathetic than someone like Dave Chappelle grousing about being silenced on social media. The band sounds tighter than ever on Hygiene, conjuring up a muscular and fast-moving racket that keeps pace with Kindlon’s manic preaching of the gospel of Drug Church. With Prince Daddy and the Hyena, Anxious, and Webbed Wing; 6:30 p.m., $22 via simpletix.com. Ashley Naftule
ATLiens
Friday, March 17The Van Buren, 401 West Van Buren StreetEarthlings of the Valley, you’re about to experience a close encounter with a pair of bass oddities. The otherworldly dance music beings known as ATLiens will descend from the heavens and invade downtown Phoenix venue The Van Buren later this month. The masked duo won’t be bearing messages of peace and intergalactic unity, but rather auditory assaults of trap-laced dubstep and bass music that will probe minds and induce massive amounts of headbanging, fist-pumping, and other frenetic body movement. Consider acquainting yourself with their colonization procedures by listening to the various EPs they’ve released over the years (including 2018’s Invasion and 2019’s Ghost Planey) or checking out their SoundCloud or Spotify accounts to prepare yourself for their impending arrival. With HOL!, JKL & HYDE, Dark Mark, and Nightglider; 9 p.m., $25 via livenation.com. Benjamin Leatherman
Taylor Swift
Friday, March 17, and Saturday, March 18State Farm Stadium, 1 Cardinals Drive, GlendaleYou know Taylor Swift? That's right, the artist who currently has a few different songs in the Billboard Hot 100. Well, she’s kicking off her Eras tour in the Valley later this month with a pair of concerts at State Farm Stadium in Glendale. Paramore and GAYLE are scheduled to be the supporting acts. And what will she be performing? Swift has reportedly stated the tour will be a “journey through all of my musical eras,” which Billboard speculates will include hits from her 10 previous studio albums. If you’re planning to join T-Swizzle on this trip through her career, it's going to be an expensive journey. Tickets in the nosebleed sections for either concert are currently between $300 to $500 while floor seats are $1,000 or more. 6:30 p.m. Jennifer Goldberg and Benjamin Leatherman
Together Pangea
Saturday, March 18Last Exit Live, 717 South Central Avenue“I’ve been living beside you, baby now, for a long time,” Together Pangea’s William Keegan sings on “One Way or Another” off the band’s 2021 album Dye. “Pulling weeds in the tall tall grass, trying to make this place mine.” The desire for community is all over Dye, as the Santa Clarita sing about love and alienation — whether it's railing about superstition tearing people apart on “Rapture” or reflecting on the connections you can make on the road in “Alabama.” All of this is delivered with a garage rock crunch and power pop hooks. Together Pangea came up in the same Burger Records scene in California that produced fellow garage rock firebrands like The Black Lips, Ty Segall, Mikal Cronin, and Wavves. They share the same knack for writing catchy bubblegum melodies as many of the other Burger bands, but they eschew the harsher production you’d hear on something like Segall’s Melted for a poppier, sweeter sound. Together Pangea will rock your socks off but won’t make your ears bleed. With Ultra Q and Diva Bleach; 8:30 p.m., $18/$22 via eventbrite.com. Ashley Naftule
Vance Joy
Saturday, March 18Arizona Financial Theatre, 400 West WashingtonJames Gabriel Keogh didn’t always have his heart set on musical success. Before taking on the mantle of Vance Joy and making a splash in Australia’s music scene, Keogh was devoted to all things “footy.” A football player, he competed with several Australian rules teams before deciding to kick toward a new kind of goal. Back in 2013, his track “Riptide,” off his debut EP God Loves You When You're Dancing, blew up worldwide. Its mellow vibe, insistent acoustic riff, and folksy melodies made it stand out in an era where bands across the world were adopting a stomp-and-clap-on-the-porch, “Mumfordcore” sound. A central part of Joy's appeal is the warmth of his vocals. He sings with an open-hearted sincerity, his voice plaintive and yearning without sliding into mawkishness. With three albums under his belt so far, Joy's developed a relaxed yet passionate sound. He sings with the intimacy of a close friend sharing their innermost thoughts, crooning over a bed of twanging strings, sparse pianos, and drums that kick as hard as Joy’s old teammates. 8 p.m., $49.50-$173.50 via livenation.com. Ashley Naftule
Titus Andronicus
Tuesday, March 21The Rebel Lounge, 2303 East Indian School RoadSince the mid-2000s, the band of punk troubadours led by Patrick Stickles have put together some of the most conceptually audacious punk records in the genre’s history. There was 2009’s The Monitor, an album about a Civil War naval battle between two ironclad ships (yes, really). Then there was The Most Lamentable Tragedy, perhaps the first record that could be described as a “punk opera” about lots of things, but mostly Stickles’ mental health struggles. Their work is uncompromising, dense, literary, and fucking fun. Titus Andronicus are the real deal. Stickles and Company will be touring behind their latest album, last year’s The Will to Live, which was produced by famed sound engineer Howard Bilerman. With Country Westerns; 8 p.m., $18/$20 via seetickets.us. Douglas Markowitz
The War and Treaty
Tuesday, March 21Crescent Ballroom, 308 North Second AvenueBickering couples can make great music (case in point: Richard and Linda Thompson, or most of the Fleetwood Mac oeuvre). Soul duo Michael Trotter Jr. and Tanya Trotter named themselves after fighting about changing their name, but by all accounts have a much healthier and stable relationship than Buckingham and Nicks. Their voices meld seamlessly together across their body of work; if they weren’t already married, their voices would have eloped by now. Hailing from Albion, Michigan, the Trotters are a soul band who aren’t afraid to mix in some Americana, country, and rock into their R&B. "Lover's Game" plays like the perfect roadhouse jam: you can practically hear the Bud Lights clinking on the bar counter. "That's How Love Is Made" is a secular love song that taps into the transcendent power of gospel voices and arms out-stretched to cling to something greater than two people. War is in their name but few people sound as at peace with the world as these two. With Kat & Alex; 8 p.m., $25/$28 via seetickets.us. Ashley Naftule
Mapache
Tuesday, March 21Valley Bar, 130 North Central AvenueThe members of Mapache love their dog, Roscoe — an old Boston Terrier who's toured with them and been the subject of several past songs. On the band's latest album, 2022's Roscoe's Dream, the good boy takes the spotlight as the band's four-legged muse through a series of gentle songs that swirl together Deadhead vibes, the Joshua Tree country-rock of Gram Parsons, doo-wop harmonies, and Latin rock. "I love my dog/Keepin' the policeman out," they sing on "I Love My Dog." A good boy, and a based one at that. Roscoe’s Dream builds on the hazy California sounds of 2020's From Liberty Sleep, which saw Mapache bring together Laurel Canyon folk-rock sounds with a south-of-the-border flair. Songs like “Man and Woman” are pure songcraft, the kind of easy-going yet deftly constructed tune that most songwriters would give their eye-teeth to write. The Eagles may have sung “Take It Easy” but Mapache adopted that as their credo, their vibe, their modus operandi. They make an art form out of being mellow and low-key. 7:30 p.m., $18/$20 via seetickets.us. Ashley Naftule
Singer-songwriter Andy Grammer co-headlines the inaugural Bases & Brews Music Fest.
Hollywood Records
Bases & Brews Music Fest
Friday, March 24, to Sunday, March 26Mark Coronado Park, 15850 North Bullard Avenue, SurpriseAs it turns out, the Valley’s annual Cactus League is popular enough to merit two separate baseball-themed music festivals. But while last month's Innings Festival served as the musical kickoff to spring training, this three-day event in Surprise will mark its end. According to Bases & Brews’ promoters, the music festival will offer sets by a variety of local musicians and bands each day, capped off by big-name headliners like Andy Grammer, Chris Lane, Walk the Moon, and Lovelytheband. There will also be carnival rides, midway games, food vendors, and more. 4 p.m. on March 24 and 10 a.m. on March 25 and 26, $20-$150 via go.ordermytix.com. Benjamin Leatherman
Yeat
Sunday, March 26Arizona Financial Theatre, 400 West Washington StreetYou think social media is your ally? You merely adopted it. Noah Olivier Smith (aka Yeat) was born in it, molded by it. An algorithmic weirdo, Yeat got on people’s radars thanks to YouTube and his tracks “Money So Big” and “Get Busy” going viral on TikTok, but it’s his talent for picking unusual beats and displaying an off-kilter personality in his verses that keeps him in the conversation. Drawing influence from T-Pain's mastery of Auto-Tune and Playboi Carti's hard-edged style, Yeat’s carved a distinct niche for himself with a series of mixtapes and albums that combine synths, hard beats, auto-tuned vocals, and clever wordplay. His stage name is a portmanteau of "yeet" and "heat," Yeat throws fire over the clattering productions on 2023's AfterLyfe. He raps over "rage beats," a popular style of SoundCloud rap that draws on EDM-influenced beats and boisterous vocals. He shit-talks and boasts over big beats with the ease of a trapeze artist, never falling out of the pocket or losing his cool. 8 p.m., $49.50-$173.50 via livenation.com. Ashley Naftule
Harry Mack
Monday, March 27The Van Buren, 401 West Van Buren StreetIn a different age, a rapper busting freestyles on The Ellen DeGeneres Show would be a laughing stock at best, a poseur and a sellout at worst. But nobody’s making money in music anymore, so if you have to go on Ellen and spit freestyles based on suggestions from a daytime talk show audience, well, you do what you gotta do. Harry Mack is no stranger to rap hustling with zero shame: the freestyle star made his name off of doing his Guerilla Bars videos on YouTube. Give Mack a suggestion like a xylophone and he’ll fire off a tongue-twisting rap off the top of his dome. Mack’s mastery of improvised rap has placed him in the orbit of huge rap artists like Kendrick Lamar and Joey Bada$$. Mack’s live performances are a live-wire, no-net environment where he takes suggestions from the crowd and spins them into hard-hitting original raps. You could even ask him to rap about his experience rapping on Ellen’s show if you wanna get real meta with it. 8:30 p.m., $47 via livenation.com. Ashley Naftule
Weyes Blood
Tuesday, March 28The Van Buren, 401 West Van Buren StreetIt’s always the stray sheep that sing better spirituals than the ones that stay with the flock. Raised in a born-again household, Weyes Blood’s Natalie Laura Mering drifted away from dogma to pursue a life of music, becoming a familiar face on the underground noise scene before starting Weyes Blood. The music Mering makes might be “profane” but it has a sacred glow to it: her music gestures and struggles toward transcendence with a sincerity and force that most Christian rock/pop musicians couldn’t muster in their most devout dreams. Building off on the cinematic majesty of 2019’s Titanic Rising, 2022’s And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow finds Mering deepening her exploration of chamber pop sounds. Strings and orchestral flourishes ring out alongside washes of strange electronic music and samples of bird songs. As beautiful as these songs are, there are sharp barbs and thorns in them, which should come as no surprise considering Mering has frequently cited noise mavericks Wolf Eyes as a formative influence. With Vagabon; 8 p.m., $24-$27.60 via livenation.com. Ashley Naftule
