The 15 Best Concerts in Phoenix This Week

Up for a live music adventure or down to see a show? You can do both over the next seven nights as plenty of concert action will happen at Valley music venues from Friday, September 20, to Thursday, September 26.

If you’re feeling adventurous, consider attending the live music marathon taking place from Friday through early Sunday morning at Trunk Space during the annual Indie 500. Close to 100 different local acts and artists will perform on multiple stages over the course of the 33-hour event. Meanwhile, Toto, DeVotchKa, Random Rab, The Vibrators, Paul Cauthen, Tash Sultana, and DJ Three will be lighting up stages at local concert spots.

Other concert highlights over the next seven nights include gigs by icons like Jeff Beck and Peter Frampton, the latter of whom will be performing his final Valley show ever. You can also check out such names as Pokey LaFarge, Tank and the Bangas, Gary Clark Jr., Marc Rebillet, and The Regrettes in concert as well.

Details about each of these shows can be found below. And for even more live music happening around the Valley, hit up Phoenix New Times' online concert calendar.

Paul Cauthen

Friday, September 20
Valley Bar

Paul Cauthen doesn’t want to be called an artist. He’d rather be known as a Texas redneck, a beer-drinking NASCAR fan who makes honest music. Even raised in a family of preachers and dropping albums with names like Have Mercy and My Gospel, he’s earned the outlaw-country brand by doing plenty of drugs and suffering his share of benders and breakups; he even did time in the clinker as a youngin’ after being busted with weed in Texas. Whether he likes it or not, Cauthen’s an artist, and he’s making country music his way. He’s one of the few country musicians rebellious enough to call out fascists, racists, and bigots as they worm their way into the halls of power. Cauthen’s Friday night show at Valley Bar starts at 7:30 p.m. and Some Dark Hollow will open. Tickets are $15. Kyle Harris

DeVotchKa

Friday, September 20
The Pressroom

DeVotchKa have been viewed as curious outsiders for the bulk of their career because of their unorthodox instrumentation and their deliberate, unlikely melding of disparate styles. Ambitious music scribes have crafted effusive similes invoking terms such as "exotic" and "worldly." but they're emblematic of the diverse cultural fusion this country was built upon. They're currently touring behind their most recent album, This Night Falls Forever. They visit The Pressroom on Friday night. The Joy Formidable opens the 8 p.m. show. Tickets are $30. Dave Herrera

The Vibrators

Friday, September 20
Yucca Tap Room in Tempe

In the mid-1970s, punk began barreling down pop culture’s smooth sheen highway like a disruptive battering ram. And the taunting Vibrators, now touring with their blistering Nigel Bennett (formerly of the Members), Pete Honkamaki, and John ‘Eddie’ Edwards line-up, have spent more than 40 years not as careerists cashing in but as true-to-form sensei/teachers of punk’s promise to create a malleable sonic space for all types. That includes maladjusted low life to spiky-haired art attackers as well as mom and dads with hell-raising tendencies.

They've managed to subscribe to the past’s ethos while provoking and whipping up new generations who remain fervent followers of the band’s palpable, high-energy, melodic adventures across time and place. And their latest adventures bring them to Yucca Tap Room in Tempe on Friday. The Dead End, Johnny Hootrock, and Good Men Die Like Dogs will open the show, which starts at 8 p.m. Tickets are $10 in advance, $13 at the door. David Ensminger

Random Rab

Friday, September 20
Last Exit Live

If getting lost in a sea of trance-inducing beats and out-of-this-world mixing is what you crave, look no further than Random Rab. The genre-bending instrumental electronica artist and producer is proof that auditory stimulation in a large room full of dancing people can evoke emotion like no other while challenging listeners to think outside the box and work towards changing the world as a whole. It's a musical adventure worth taking. It will commence at 8 p.m. on Friday. Drumspyder and ifandonlyifwill also perform. Tickets are $18. Britt Chester

Indie 500

Friday, September 20, to Sunday, September 22
The Trunk Space

Started in 2014 at the original Trunk Space on Grand Avenue, the Indie 500 is part local music showcase and batshit-crazy musical marathon. A huge roster of local and touring acts assemble to play music across two stages at the Trunk Space and the adjacent Grace Luthern Church in downtown Phoenix, keeping a continuous flow of music going until 500 songs are played in a row.

There are roughly 100 artists and acts playing this year’s Indie 500, which kicks off on Friday at 4 p.m. with a set by folk-punk performer Andy Warpigs and goes until 1 a.m. on Sunday. Each participating musician or band will play five songs during their set before the next one gets their turn. The lineup ranges from off-kilter pop wizards (Dinosaur Love), dance party-starters (The Doyenne), and local legends (Treasure MammaL, Ryan Avery), and groups with names both bizarre (Candy Corn Vampires) and clever (Audrey Heartburn, George Washingtub)

That’s a whole lotta bang for your buck as $10 will allow you to see the whole event. And those bucks go to a good cause: keeping one of the Valley’s most vital all-ages spaces alive and kicking for years to come. (The full lineup and schedule can be found here.) Ashley Naftule

Toto

Saturday, September 21
Celebrity Theatre

Thanks to Weezer, Toto are hip once again. Last year, Rivers Cuomo and the boys released note-for-note covers of “Africa” and “Rosanna,” two of Toto’s most recognizable songs. “Africa” was a mega-hit, to say the least, racking up millions of views on YouTube. Chalk it up as another part of the band’s history, which started when they came together as sidemen and studio musicians. Then they started popping out hits in the late 1970s. The current version of the group features Joseph Williams on vocals, Steve Lukather on guitar and Steve Porcaro on keyboards. Aided by touring musicians on drums, percussion, keyboards, and backing vocals, Toto’s current tour brings them to the Valley on Saturday night. Tickets are $40-$80. Eric Grubbs

DJ Three

Saturday, September 21
Monarch Theatre

You'd be hard-pressed to find a more encyclopedic guru of house and techno than Christopher Milo, better known as DJ Three. And it's no surprise, given that he's one of the most highly regarded tastemakers on the underground EDM scene in America. The Florida native has been commanding dancefloors since the early '90s. Plus, Milo's now-defunct Hallucination Limited imprint was instrumental in pushing quality underground sounds by the likes of Terry Francis, Reverse Commuter, and his productions as Second-Hand Satellites with Sean Cusick. Milo’s scheduled to perform at Monarch Theatre on Saturday night with support from locals Edward Navarro and DJ Snicklefritz. Doors are at 9 p.m. and tickets are $10-$15. Sean Levisman

Tash Sultana

Saturday, September 21
The Van Buren

Swing by The Van Buren on Saturday night and you'll hear the celebrated solo sounds of Australia's Tash Sultana filling the downtown Phoenix concert venue. Sultana may only have one full-length album (last year's Flow State) out, but she's been moving more tickets than acts that have been around for over a decade. She's done more with the hit track "Jungle" than most people could, her two EPs (2013's Yin Yang and 2016's Notion) are both highly entertaining. She's rumored to have a crazy live show where she plays a variety of instruments as a one-woman musical dynamo. Her show at The Van Buren, which kicks off at 8 p.m. with a set by The Teskey Brothers, is sold out but tickets can be had on the secondary market. David Garrick

The Regrettes

Sunday, September 22
Crescent Ballroom

If you take one message away from listening to Los Angeles rockers The Regrettes, it should be this: Don’t fuck with The Regrettes — they do not have time for your bullshit. The band’s garage punk is hardly straightforward. A lot of its fuel comes from the spirits of ’50sand ’60s doo-wop and the riot grrrl sounds of the 1990s. Through their sonic mix, what they’ve been delivering in the last few years as a band are songs that encourage finding and utilizing your power. Catch ’em live on Sunday night at the Crescent Ballroom as they rock their you-do-you message, driven by fed-up angst. The show is at 7:30 p.m. and Greer opens. Admission is $16. Amy Young

Marc Rebillet

Monday, September 23
Crescent Ballroom

To label Marc Rebillet as a DJ is a bit restrictive. He uses a loop station to make music, but that’s where the relationship to other DJs ends. Rebillet also employs a piano, his impressive vocals, and myriad of other instruments to create catchy, improvised songs about love, buttholes, herpes and more. Fans love every funky beat and absurd improvisation. In a little over a year, he has developed a following that includes legions of international fans, well over 100,000 followers on Instagram — including Iron Fist and Game of Thrones actor Finn Jones. His following here in the Valley is likely to turn out in droves when he performs at the Crescent Ballroom on Monday, September 23. Michael Hooker opens the evening, which gets going at 8 p.m. Tickets are $15. Tyler Hicks

Gary Clark Jr.

Tuesday, September 24
Comerica Theatre

Since 2011, singer-songwriter and guitarist Gary Clark Jr. has brandished his passions through searing guitar licks and catchy melodies, making a name for himself in the blues scene via emotive techniques reminiscent of his earliest idol, Jimi Hendrix. Building on the guitar god’s techniques, Clark developed his style and quickly rose through the ranks of rock royalty, playing with greats such as Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, and B.B. King. He was nominated for two Grammys and won the award for Best Traditional R&B Performance for “Please Come Home” in 2013. On his latest album, This Land, Clark expands his emotionally charged lyrics to address racism, inequality, and his disdain for the Trump administration. “There was a lot of things happening like Charlottesville, Dakota pipeline, the wall, Colin Kaepernick, cops, and shootings,” Clark says. “Just little things that I’ve dealt with over the years.” Tickets are $39.50-$69.50. Wendy Rhodes

Jeff Beck

Tuesday, September 24
Celebrity Theatre

There is no shortage of articles or opinions lauding the superb guitar playing skills of Jeff Beck. He's part of what one might call the Divine Three (along with fellow guitar gods Jimmy Page and Eric Clapton). But Beck is the lone member of that league who never quite grasped the gold ring of wide commercial adoration.

After leaving an indelible mark on '60s British Invasion psychedelic rock with The Yardbirds on fuzz-addled songs like "Over Under Sideways Down," Beck set up shop as the solo artist he remains to this day. Tiring of vocal-driven rock songs (and probably vocalists, having unleashed Rod Stewart on the world), Beck set aside rock for jazz fusion and instrumental rock, the field he still plows today. Catch him in concert at Celebrity Theatre on Tuesday, September 24. Dan Reed opens the evening at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $35-$179. Doug Davis

Pokey LaFarge

Thursday, September 26
MIM Music Theater

It’d be easy to write off Midwestern-born singer-songwriter Pokey LaFarge as an archetypical hipster, a one-man Mumford & Sons, complete with banjo, fedora and bow tie. But of course, nothing could be further from the truth. Combining elements of modern Americana music with deeper cuts into ragtime, early jazz, folk-blues, and just a vaudevillian touch of warbling rockabilly, LaFarge will be playing solo during his upcoming show at the MIM Music Theater on Thursday, September 26, so his set may lack some of the sonic impact of his 2017 release Manic Revelations but will be worthy of your attendance. Start time is 7:30 p.m. and tickets are $33.50-$38.50. Nicholas Bostick

Tank and the Bangas

Thursday, September 26
The Van Buren

First, 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 five-piece 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. Blackalicious and Alfred Banks will open the 8 p.m. concert. Tickets are $30-$35. Amy Young

Peter Frampton

Thursday, September 26
Comerica Theatre

Rock legend Peter Frampton announced earlier this year that he’s was diagnosed with the degenerative muscle disease inclusion body myositis. It will likely prevent him from continued touring in the future. Frampton is spending 2019 on an extended farewell tour that will bring a plethora of emotion to the proceedings. Expect to hear many of hits, particularly those on Frampton Comes Alive, his 1976 live album that’s still one of the best-selling releases of all time. He'll perform at Comerica Theatre in downtown Phoenix on Thursday, September 26 with Jason Bonham's Led Zeppelin Evening opening. The show is at 7:30 p.m. and tickets are $39.50-$350. Jeff Strowe