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Part II of live music in Arizona for September and October!

August 25th, 2009 Posted by: Dust Devil

All right my friends,

I gave you a day to take in the schedule of great concerts in Arizona for the month of September. It gets even better now! Lace up your shoes, here we go!

October 1; Sonic Youth; Marquee Theatre and October 2; Rialto Theatre (Tucson). After my disaster in Denver of July 31, seeing a whopping 4 1/2 songs of Sonic Youth’s set, I may very well go to both of these shows. I do know that the little tidbit I saw was so intense, so loud, so incredible, that the entire set is sure to be an exceptional event! Check out their new album The Eternal when you get a chance. It may be a tad more mellow than what the world is used to from Sonic Youth, but it is just as good. If they pull out The Sprawl and ‘Cross the Breeze from Daydream Nation again I may lose it.

October 4; Star Wars in Concert; Jobing.com Arena. Wow, what a colossal event we have here! The John Williams score for the six incredible movies of the Star Wars saga comes to life. A full symphony orchestra and choir will present music from all six films. Narrating the proceedings will be none other than Anthony Daniels, the actor who played C-3PO in all the Star Wars films. Anything having to do with the saga is over the top, and accompanying the music for the delight of the audience will be a three-story tall high-def LED superscreen. Again, WOW!

October 9; Sunny Day Real Estate and the Jealous Sound; Marquee Theatre. Yes, I will be seeing this same show a week later when I am in Seattle, but this concert could very easily be a part of a one-time tour, so as a fan I have a responsibility to check it out more than once. Sunny Day Real Estate had a brief but brilliant career with the original line-up. SDRE splintered in 1995, but reunited two years later to record a third album. The problem is the reunion did not include bassist Nate Mendel, who was enjoying a successful career in the Foo Fighters. The remaining 3/4 of Sunny Day Real Estate recorded two albums together before breaking up once again in 2001.

I have seen that reunited version of SDRE, and indeed they were brilliant. But, I wished for just one opportunity to see the Real McCoy. Well, eight years later we have it! All four members playing together for one reunion tour, undoubtedly focusing on material from Diary and LP2 (The Pink Album) when Nate was still in the band.

Opening is the Jealous Sound, a very good indie-rock/emo band out of Los Angeles. I saw this band when they toured in support of their great 2003 release, Kill Them With Kindness.

October 12; New Model Army; Club Mardi Gras. It is hard to believe that this great post-punk band, having played their first gig in 1980, is still around nearly thirty years later! A band that has stuck to its ideals and indie roots in a savage manner, New Model Army had a string of brilliant singles in the late eighties, including White Coats, The Hunt, I Love the World and 51st State. Time and time again this band, who for years found it difficult to even secure a visa to tour the states, has graced Arizona with live shows. The Dust Devil, for whatever reason, has always found an excuse not to go. Well, not this time.

October 20; U2; University of Phoenix Stadium. Sure to be the biggest concert (at least spectacle-wise) of the year, Bono and Co. do know how to deliver a massive show to their fans. The last time I saw U2 in concert was in 1992 during the Zoo TV tour. After having seen this band on five previous occasions (four times during The Joshua Tree tour), all incredible shows, I left Sun Devil Stadium 17 years ago knowing I had just witnessed one of the worst shows of my life. I am wary, but from talking to friends U2 has made a return to being a legitimate live force.

October 21; Monsters of Folk; Orpheum Theatre. Take the musical talents of My Morning Jacket’s Jim James, Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis from Bright Eyes, and M. Ward. Mix those artists together and you have one of the latest supergroups, Monsters of Folk. Time will tell if this formula will work, but after checking out the three tracks currently loaded on the Monsters of Folk MySpace page, particularly the track Dear God (Sincerely M.O.F.), the Dust Devil believes this band has some serious potential to dominate.

October 21; The Pogues; Marquee Theatre. Tough choice on this evening, two potentially great shows on the same night. Ridiculous. The Pogues may win out for the Dust Devil here due to the fact they have been around, on and off, since 1982, and I have never had the pleasure of seeing them live. A great Irish folk band with a heavy punk rock influence, The Pogues created some great music in the eighties. If I Should Fall From Grace With God, released in 1987, remains a favorite of the Dust Devil 22 years later. Hopefully Shane MacGowan will not demand The Pogues are allowed to drink onstage so they will actually play here in Arizona this time!

October 24; Agent Orange; Jugheads. Agent Orange is one of my all-time favorite bands, creating an incredible mix of punk, surf and rock and roll. Seeing this band Thanksgiving weekend of 2008 proved to me that founding member Mike Palm is still a great vocalist and even better guitarist. The classic Living in Darkness line-up has not been together for over twenty years, but as long as Palm continues to play Agent Orange will always be a force in surf punk. If you have never heard anything by Agent Orange, do yourself a favor and find the double CD Sonic Snake Session. Disc One contains the When You Least Expect It ep and the album This Is the Voice, both with Agent Orange’s classic line-up. Disc Two is a live concert disc, originally released as Real Live Sound. Great live album, and this disc is the one recording with Brett Liles on bass and Derek O’Brien on the drums, both former members of Social Distortion.

October 30; Port O’Brien; The Modified. A very cool band out of California, Port O’Brien creates a nice mix of indie and folk music. I wanted to see these guys at the 2008 Monolith Festival, but by the time I arrived in Colorado and made my way to Red Rocks, they had already played their set. Check out their track I Woke Up Today on their MySpace page, great stuff!

A lot of concerts, so pick out a good one or ten and check the venue websites for details and tickets. If a show sells out, there are always other good options for concert tickets!

And just think, in between all this are the four shows I get to see in Seattle. Holy mackerel! Enjoy my friends, a great time for music in the Valley of the Sun.

Cheers!
The Dust Devil

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