Best Phoenix Concerts This Weekend: David Archuleta, Tatiana Crespo, Mary Xmas

Yes, Virginia, there will be live music in the Valley over Christmas weekend. Most shows happening from Friday, December 23, to Sunday, December 25, will be of the local variety, though, owing to big-name concert tours taking a break for the holidays. Still, there are many memorable gigs worth attending, including geek rapper Mega Ran teaming up with jazz/funk ensemble 8-Bit Mammoth and singer-songwriter Tatiana Crespo’s tribute to the traditional Mexican celebration of Las Posadas.

Other highlights include pop singer David Archuleta bringing his holiday tour to town and the return of the infamous local holiday rave Mary Xmas.

Read on for more details or check out Phoenix New Times’ concert calendar for more shows this weekend.

8-Bit Mammoth and Mega Ran

Friday, December 23
Crescent Ballroom, 308 North Second AvenueFresh off of staging a holiday tour of Arizona venues alongside Valley rock band Sundressed, rapper Mega Ran is teaming up with another local indie act. This weekend, he’ll join with local ensemble 8-Bit Mammoth for an evening of nerdy music at the Crescent Ballroom. Each will offer separate, but equally geeky, sets: Mega Ran will rock the mic with some of his raps – which are inspired by such subject matters as cartoons, wrestling, and comic books – while 8-Bit Mammoth performs jazzy interpretations of video game music and the score from popular anime series Cowboy Bebop. 8 p.m., $15 via seetickets.us. Benjamin Leatherman

David Archuleta

Friday, December 23
Chandler Center for the Arts, 250 North Arizona Avenue, ChandlerPop singer David Archuleta can seem almost aggressively normal at first but consider his strange career trajectory. He’s been winning singing competitions since he was 10 years old; he hit the height of his fame in 2008 after finishing second on American Idol, and right as his career seemed poised to jump to the next level he went on hiatus for two years to be a Mormon missionary. Now he’s back to serenade us with holiday classic after classic with his award-winning vocal prowess. The Miami-born Archuleta has recorded a pair of holiday albums so far (Christmas from the Heart and Winter is in the Air) and he’ll be performing songs from both at Chandler Center for the Arts for his The More The Merrier Christmas Tour. He might also throw in a few of his hits like “Crush” into the setlist, but come prepared to sing along as he applies the full force of his octaves to tunes about all snowmen, drummer boys, and partridges in a pear tree you can handle. 7:30 p.m., $39.90-$79.90 via ticketmaster.com. Ashley Naftule

Mary Xmas

Friday, December 23
Endgame, 1233 South Alma School Drive in MesaThe local raver scene turns out en masse around Christmas each year for Mary Xmas, the infamous holiday-themed dance party that dates back to 1999 and offers kandi kids and EDM nerds the chance to dance in a Christmas-inspired wonderland. Recent years have seen the event staged as a desert party, but the 2022 edition this weekend is happening inside Endgame in Mesa. There will be three stages, snowball fights, and other holiday fun. The lineup includes sets from more than 20 local DJs – including Dirty Mind Tricks, Sid Snow, Rutroh, Tempest, Motorer, Flex, Baylienz, Decibel Wubz, Heavy Yeti, Why So Serious?, Shomeister, and Desert Hydra – and the soundtrack will include many rave-friendly genres, ranging from happy hardcore to drum ‘n’ bass. 8:30 p.m., $30 via eventbrite.com. Benjamin Leatherman

Big Pete Pearson

Friday, December 23
Westside Blues & Jazz, 17045 North 59th Avenue, #104, GlendaleBorn in 1936 in Jamaica, raised in Texas, and based in Phoenix, Big Pete Pearson is a living legend and reigning statesman of the blues. Likely among the last of the breed of Chicago-style bluesmen, Pearson has a burly, somewhat raspy, heartfelt bellow of a voice in the vein of late icons Muddy Waters and Junior Wells. His songs are usual 12-bar rants about big-legged women, romantic discord, partying, fealty, and man’s eternal quest for his baby – but another thing Big Pete corroborates: ’tain’t what you say, but the way you say it. Pearson breathes fire (and a bit of drollness) into routine subject matter, while his accompanists stoke the flames with urgent, terse string-bending and cracking drums. This week, you can spend an evening in the company of this local living legend during his latest show at Glendale’s Westside Blues & Jazz. 7:30 p.m., $20 via eventbrite.com. Mark Keresman

Las Posadas: An Evening With Tatiana Crespo

Saturday, December 24
Crescent Ballroom, 308 North Second AvenueIn terms of both cultural and economic staying power, few Christmas songs can compete with Jose Feliciano’s immortal “Feliz Navidad.” Decades after its release the song still tops charts and is as inescapable during the holiday seasons as “Last Christmas” or that utterly interminable Paul McCartney song. If you love “Feliz Navidad” and wish you could hear more holiday songs crooned en Español, Tatiana Crespo has quite the Christmas present in store for you. A Phoenix singer-songwriter and member of the band Las Chollas Peligrosas, Crespo will offer her take on the traditional Mexican celebration of Las Posadas. The event, which takes place inside the Crescent Ballroom’s lounge, will include her performing holiday songs in Spanish and English. Come on out to hear one of the Valley’s finest voices breathe new life into these standards while also enjoying tamales, champurrado, and ponche from the Crescent’s kitchen. 8 p.m., free. Ashley Naftule