Ticket Insider

Upcoming concerts in Phoenix for September!

September 3rd, 2008 Posted by: Dust Devil

Hello all,

September is going to be a good, busy month in Phoenix (and elsewhere) for some quality music. Get out your calenders and mark off these dates.

September 13 and 14 = Monolith Festival; Morrison, CO; Red Rocks Amphitheatre. I simply can’t reiterate enough how GREAT a festival this is and how pumped I am to be going again this year. Two days of great music with over 60 bands, including Tokyo Police Club, Silversun Pickups, the Fratellis and Snowden. If you have never been to Red Rocks, this is a great way to introduce yourself to what I believe is the greatest concert venue around. I highly recommend going both days and getting the VIP Gold Pass. They cost $225 and the amenities are tremendous, including VIP parking (trust me from experience, that alone makes the VIP pass a great buy!), a sampler CD, access to the VIP After Hours Party on Saturday and unlimited use of the oxygen bar. Go to this festival!

The rest are local (Phoenix) shows.

September 12 = Kristen Hersh; The Modified. Lead singer of the legendary and phenomenal Throwing Muses, Kristen Hersh has a dynamic voice and writes some fantastic lyrics. Her solo work has the same intensity, but the music is delivered in a more subdued manner. I saw Throwing Muses twice, the first time back in 1991 when one of my best friends “proposed” to then Muses guitarist, later of Belly fame Tanya Donnelly, and was blown away on each occasion. This will be my first opportunity to see her perform solo and I am truly excited. She will do well in an intimate setting like the Modified, which remains one of my favorite local venues.

September 19 = The Hives; Marquee Theatre. This a band that I have never had the chance to see live. It’s too bad that they were lumped into the trendy garage rock scene from a few years ago, along with The Vines. The media in this country sure do know how to kill music due to over-exposure. Case in point; look at what they did to grunge and the 80’s retro scene. I am glad the Hives survived that BS and continue to rock, because they blend garage with punk in a very unique manner and are just flat out fun to listen to.

September 20 = Deftones; Peoria Sports Complex. It is going to kill me to go to this show, but I have yet to see the Deftones and I really like this band. They are playing as part of the 98 KUPD End of Summer Scorcher with several other bands, many of which truly stink and shall remain nameless on this blog. I am not a big fan of the whole “nu-metal” scene, but a few bands take that style and make it sound worthwhile. The Deftones do so and do it well, mixing mid-tempo hardcore, introspective lyrics and some dynamic play. The White Pony disc sounds as fresh today as it did when it came out in 2000.

September 29 = Ra Ra Riot; The Modified. Well, I have posted on three different occasions now about this great band. What more can be said? They are incredible, their newest release The Rhumb Line is simply fantastic and both times I have seen them they lit up the stage. Go see and support this great band!

September 30 = David Byrne; Orpheum Theatre or Sigur Ros; Marquee Theatre. What a bummer, two shows I really want to see, but on the same evening. Sorry Sigur Ros, but I personally have to go to the David Byrne show. Folks, please go to one or the other, both will be great concerts. The Dust Devil has to choose David Byrne based on legendary status (the Talking Heads), but more important, June 6, 1990, I saw David Byrne play at Mesa Amphitheatre on the Rei Momo tour. That concert just barely finished out of my Top Ten All Time Best Concerts (see previous post for that list). He was absolutely spectacular that evening. If you have not seen David Byrne and are unsure about going, pick up a copy of Stop Making Sense on DVD, one of the, if not the best concert film of all time.

All in all a great month for music in the Valley of the Sun! Enjoy!

Cheers,
The Dust Devil

Filed under: Concert Tour Announcements