Live music has returned to metro Phoenix area
Live music has been creeping back into the local scene for several months now, mostly local artists playing unplugged sets at restaurants.
But with Gov. Doug Ducey’s order lifting all remaining COVID-19 restrictions on businesses and events in Arizona, that trend is likely to accelerate despite a number of prominent Valley venues saying they intend to hold off until things seem safer.
Even though Ducey rescinded restrictions, he still urged Arizonans in a tweet to continue following state and CDC guidelines. Those practices include wearing a mask, maintaining social distancing, frequently washing hands, staying home if sick and getting vaccinated as soon as possible.
Tempe’s Marquee Theatre celebrated its return to active duty Tuesday, March 30, with a free concert by tribute acts the Ultimate Bon Jovi and Animal Magnetism.
For now, the Marquee will operate at 40 percent of its normal capacity while recommending that patrons spread out and socially distance during events.
All staff and patrons will have their temperature taken prior to entry and anyone over 100.4 degrees will be denied entry. All staff will wear masks at all times and all patrons are required to wear masks except when actively eating and drinking.
Relentless Beats has a series of socially distanced events at Rawhide Events Center and reduced-capacity, masks-required shows at Sunbar.
The Celebrity Theatre and the Nash are staging outdoor concerts while Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts and the Musical Instrument Museum are staging limited capacity events with social distancing.
The Allman Betts Band
If that name seems a little familiar, that’s because these Southern Rock revivalists are actual descendants of the legendary Allman Brothers Band. The sons of Gregg Allman, Dickie Betts and Berry Oakley are touring in support of last year’s “Bless Your Heart,” a sophomore effort they recorded live to tape at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio. Classic Rock Magazine says: “They’ve filtered their inheritance through their own jam-band generation, and the sound is
heavier, muddier at times.”
Details: 8 p.m. Friday, April 9. Marquee Theatre, 730 N. Mill Ave., Tempe. $49. 480-829-0607, luckymanonline.com. Masks required except when actively eating or drinking.
Francine Reed
A touring member of Lyle Lovett and his Large Band since the ‘80s, Francine Reed was born in Illinois but raised in
Phoenix as part of a musical family. She and sister Margo grew up singing in church, inspired by their gospel-singing father. Reed was inducted to the Arizona Blues Hall of Fame in 1997, but she’s also known for singing gospel, jazz and R&B, appearing on recordings by Delbert McClinton, Willie Nelson and Roy Orbison. This is part of the Nash’s Jazz Under the Stars series in the garden at the Arizona Jewish Historical Society. The event is sold out but available for streaming.
Details: 3 p.m. Sunday, April 11. Venue 122, Arizona Jewish Historical Society, 122 E. Culver Street, Phoenix. SOLD OUT but streaming. 602-795-0464, thenash.org.
Parking Lot Country Jam
Local country acts Matt Farris and Shari Rowe share an outdoor stage in the Celebrity Theatre parking lot. Rowe recently shared a music video for “Long Hugs,” underscoring an uplifting chorus of “Life is short/Give long hug,” with social media photos of hugs shared all over the world. It’s sweet. Farris teamed with “The Voice” Season 18 R&B singer Darious Lyles on last year’s heartfelt prayer for healing, “We Need Love.”
Details: 6:30 p.m. Friday, April 16. Celebrity Theatre, 440 N. 32nd St., Phoenix. $125-$175. 602-267-1600, celebritytheatre.com. Masks required.
Lil Durk
This Chicago rapper topped the rap and hip-hop/R&B charts in December with “The Voice,” which spun off three hit singles — “Stay Down,” “Backdoor” and the title track. He also had a feature
on Drake’s Grammy-nominated “Laugh Now Cry Later,” a performance praised by Pitchfork as the “perfect counterpart” to Drake. This is an outdoor pod experience.
Details: 6 p.m. Saturday, April 17. Celebrity Theatre, 440 N. 32nd St., Phoenix. $125-$175. 602-267-1600, celebritytheatre.com. Masks required.
EDX + Wolfgang Gartner
Mixmag hailed Swedish DJ EDX as a “genius,” and he brought in his first Grammy nomination for his remix of the Charlie Puth track “How Long” in 2019. Gartner has sent eight songs to the top at Beatport, including the best-selling EDM track of 2009 on Beatport, “Wolfgang’s 5th Symphony.” He’s done remix work for Black Eyed Peas, Timbaland and Britney Spears) and earned a Grammy nomination for a remix of Andy Caldwell’s “Funk Nasty.”
Details: 8 p.m. Saturday, April 17. Marquee Theatre, 730 N. Mill Ave., Tempe. $49. 480-829-0607, luckymanonline.com. Masks required except when actively eating or drinking.
Wheelwright
This is the first live event at the Rebel Lounge in over a year. Wheelwright is Jared Kolesar of Jared & The Mill and a rotating cast of musicians that may include his former bandmates on occasion. Wheelwright’s Facebook page says he’s still “carrying the same spirit with me” and in fact, he recently re-released the old band’s cover of Billie Eilish’s “When The Party’s Over” as a Wheelwright song. He’s shared two new originals so far and they definitely carry some of that same spirit as promised but filtered through an edgier production style.
Details: 6:30 p.m. Saturday, April 17. Rebel Lounge, 2303 E. Indian School Road, Phoenix. $20-$70. 602-296-7013, therebellounge.com. Masks required.
Singer-Songwriters in the Round
Brian Chartrand of the Sweet Remains and Live From Laurel Canyon is joined by Matthew Thornton of Vinyl Station and Jay Allan for the third installment in a series highlighting local songwriting talent. This is a socially distanced event and guests are encouraged to wear a mask.
Details: 7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, April 17-18. MIM Music Theater, Musical Instrument Museum, 4725 E. Mayo Blvd., Phoenix. $28.50-$33.50. 480478-6000, mim.org.
Spafford
These Prescott-based electro-funk sensations have been tearing up the jam-rock circuit for a few years, earning a spot at the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in 2018. That same year, the Huffington Post wrote, “Spafford is the latest buzzword in the jam-band scene. I’m not surprised in the slightest that everyone is freaking out so hard for this four-piece funk-rock group ... Their sound is like everything and nothing you’ve heard before.” This is part of the Marquee dine-out concert series.
Details: 6:30 and 8 p.m. Tuesday, April 20; 8 p.m. Wednesday, April 21. Marquee Theatre, 730 N. Mill Ave., Tempe. $40-$60; $60-$95 for a two-day package. 480-829-0607, luckymanonline.com. Masks required except when actively eating or drinking.
Alice Cooper’s Coopstock
This is the shock-rock legend’s annual spring fundraiser for Alice Cooper’s Solid Rock Teen Center, which provides free music, arts and dance programming for youth aged 12 to 20. This year’s benefit is targeted at raising funds for a second location coming to Mesa in May. Cooper will headline the event, which also features Kiss guitarist Tommy Thayer, Lou Gramm of Foreigner and Asia featuring John Payne. Unlike previous years, this year’s concert will be held outdoors. Masks are required to enter.
Details: 6 p.m. Saturday,
Las Sendas Golf Club, 7555
Crest Drive,
Mesa. $89-$200. 602-522-9200, alicecoopersolidrock.com.
Cypress Hill
April 24. E. Eagle
These hip-hop sensations were at the forefront of the West Coast rap scene in the early ‘90s, sending both sides of their debut single – “How I Could Just Kill a Man” and “The Phuncky Feel One” – to the top of Billboard’s rap charts. Their biggest hit is the classic “Insane in the Membrane” from their second album. A review at Mojo responded to their latest effort, the suitably trippy “Elephants on Acid,” by saying it finds them “not only recapturing the dynamism and urgency of their early ‘90s heyday, but also taking that energy somewhere completely new.”
Details: 5 p.m. Saturday, April 24. Marquee Theatre, 730 N. Mill Ave., Tempe. $40-$60; $60-$95 for a two-day package. 480-829-0607, luckymanonline.com. Masks required except when actively eating or drinking.
Rufus Wainwright
Hailed by Elton John as no less than “the greatest songwriter on the planet,” Wainwright is here for a socially distanced event titled Oh Solo Wainwright: An Evening with Rufus. The son of Loudon Wainwright III and Kate McGarrigle of the McGarrigle Sisters, Wainwright earned his latest Grammy nomination for last year’s “Unfollow the Rules.” Clash Magazine said that the album “feels like a gentle stroll through the various stages of Rufus’s career; far from creating the impression of Rufus covering his own back catalog, the effect is like a timely reminder of everything that’s wonderful about Wainwright.”
Details: 8 p.m. Friday, April 30; 5 and 8 p.m. Saturday, May 1. Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts, 7380 E. Second St. $55-$75. 480-499-8587, scottsdaleperformingarts.org.
Roger Clyne & the Peacemakers
This year marked the 25th anniversary of “Fizzy Fuzzy Big & Buzzy,” Roger Clyne’s major-label debut at the helm of his previous band, the Refreshments. He and that band’s drummer P.H. Naffah launched the Peacemakers in 1998 and hit the ground running the following year with a debut called “Honky Tonk Union.” Clyne is in the midst of working on the Peacemakers’ first album since 2017’s “Native Heart,” of which he told us, “I’m sitting on about 10 or a dozen songs that we have demoed for ourselves.”
Details: 8 p.m. Friday, April 30 and Saturday, May 1. Marquee Theatre, 730 N. Mill Ave., Tempe. $50. 480-8290607, luckymanonline.com. Masks required except when actively eating or drinking.
Reach the reporter at ed.masley@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-4495. Follow him on Twitter @EdMasley.