Clicks From The Pit

In This Moment + NOTHING MORE + Sleep Token & Cherry Bombs at House of Blues Las Vegas
2022-10-14 17:00 - 23:30 (America/Phoenix) | House of Blues Las Vegas, 3950 Las Vegas Blvd, Las Vegas, NV, 89119, United States
Initially conceived as a metalcore counterpart to Evanescence, In This Moment moved into more melodic territory with its fantastical 2008 breakthrough album The Dream. Though capable of throat-scraping screams, vocalist Maria Brink shone brightest on mature and atmospheric material, putting In This Moment in the running as a promising goth rock band. The Los Angeles-based act also widened its exposure by touring with the like-minded Lacuna Coil as well as metal veterans Megadeth and Ozzy Osbourne.
Born of a chance meeting and the innate musical rapport established between vocalist Maria Brink and lead guitarist Chris Howorth, In This Moment quickly grew from local cult favorites performing in Los Angeles clubs to a MySpace phenomenon before landing a deal with Century Media. Along the way, the group was fleshed out by rhythm guitarist Blake Bunzel, bassist Jesse Landry, and drummer Jeff Fabb. In This Moment embarked on several U.S. tours with the likes of Diecast and 36 Crazyfists and gradually honed its melodic metalcore songwriting for their 2007 debut album, Beautiful Tragedy. The band supported it on the Hot Chicks of Metal Tour, featuring Lacuna Coil and Within Temptation, among others. The Dream arrived in 2008 and became their breakthrough as well as their first on the album charts. It was followed by the Top 40 A Star-Crossed Wasteland in 2010.
Multiple changes to the band’s original line-up took place in their earliest years, with Landry leaving the band in 2009, replaced by new bassist Kyle Konkiel. Konkiel only lasted a year before he too left the band and was replaced by Travis Johnson in 2010. One of the largest line-up shifts occurred when founding members Jeff Fabb and Blake Bunzel left in 2011. Their replacements — drummer Tom Hane and guitarist Randy Weitzel — stepped in to complete the recording of electro-charged fourth album Blood in 2012. The album was a Top 20 hit.
The group moved to a major label, Atlantic, for their fifth studio long-player, 2014’s Black Widow, and were rewarded with placement inside the Top 10. In 2016, Hane left the band and former 3 by Design drummer Kent Diimmel took over. In June 2017, the band dropped the single “Roots” in anticipation of the release of sixth full-length Ritual, which arrived in July and hit number 23 on the chart. The following year, recording for their seventh album coincided with a tour, teasing the theme of “mother” in its stage show. The band pushed their sound into heavier territory, including on the single “The In-Between” and the album Mother, which appeared in March 2020.

Employing a powerful blend of twisty progressive rock, explosive heavy metal, and soaring, radio-ready alt-rock, hard-hitting, forward-thinking San Antonio-based quartet Nothing More invokes names like System Of A Down, Thirty Seconds To Mars, Incubus, The Mars Volta, and Killswitch Engage. Formed around the talents of longtime friends Jonny Hawkins, Daniel Oliver, Mark Vollelunga, and Ben Anderson, the band spent years honing their sound and skills, and sharpening their worldview on the road, adopting a strict D.I.Y. ethic and issuing their music independently. In 2013 they inked a deal with the Eleven Seven Label Group, the home of acts like Five Finger Death Punch, Sixx:A.M.., Papa Roach, and HELLYEAH, and released their eponymous debut for the label, along with the fiery first single “This Is the Time (Ballast),” the following year. It proved to be a breakout release for the veteran band, charting well and introducing them to a much wider audience. Led by the single “Go to War,” Nothing More returned with their follow-up, The Stories We Tell Ourselves, in September 2017.

Sleep Token are a masked, anonymous collective of musicians; united by their worship of an ancient deity crudely dubbed “Sleep”, since no modern tongue can properly express its name.
This being once held great power, bestowing ancient civilizations with the gift of dreams, and the curse of nightmares.
Even today, though faded from prominence, ‘Sleep’ yet lurks in the subconscious minds of man, woman, and child alike. Fragments of beauty, horror, anguish, pain, happiness, joy, anger, disgust, and fear coalesce to create expansive, emotionally textured music that simultaneously embodies the darkest, and the brightest abstract thoughts. He has seen them. He has felt them. He is everywhere.
Sleep Token, led by the perpetually tormented Vessel, creates music that brings to the fore our most submerged thoughts and feelings, coaxing them from the desolate, terrifying caves of our subconscious mind.

Cherry Bombs bring an entire new way to experience rock and roll music – combining daredevil arts with feminine power, fearless and dynamic performances feature dance, fire, aerial, grinding, stilt walking, and so much more.

Cutting their teeth in the world of motorcycle rallies, they soon climbed the ranks of live entertainment by being the first group of its kind to bag a national tour with Buckcherry and Black Stone Cherry in 2016. Since then, Cherry Bombs have appeared in performances and tours nationally and internationally (Stone Sour/Steel Panther, Corey Taylor, KnotFest Mexico, ForceFest Mexico, KnotFest Colombia), on television (AEW), and in numerous music videos (Corey Taylor, 21 Savage, Fozzy, Moonshine Bandits).

2019 saw the premiere of the YouTube docu-series titled, “Girl Gang”, which pulled the curtain back to reveal what it takes to put on such a unique show. The series has been met with overwhelmingly positive reception for its raw storytelling and willingness of the performers to show vulnerability. Episodes focus on the inner-workings of Cherry Bombs, including the adventures, challenges, and triumphs they experience. With four seasons of “Girl Gang” out, fans anxiously await the next one with each passing year.

Like many in the industry, the pandemic of 2020 forced Cherry Bombs to cancel their tour. However, they adapted quickly, and filmed their headlining show, “Macabarét” – a story of karma wrapped in temptation, action, and danger around every corner. This “eyegasm” of a movie was streamed worldwide and met with rave reviews, cementing it to become an annual event every October.

For 2022, Cherry Bombs will be hitting the road nationally, and, for the first time- reaching their fans across the pond as they travel to select cities in the UK.

Bring Me The Horizon + Knocked Loose & grandson at Arizona Financial Theatre
2022-10-07 18:30 - 23:30 | Arizona Financial Theatre, 400 W Washington St, Phoenix, AZ, 85004, United States
BRIT and Grammy-nominated, multi-platinum-selling quintet Bring Me The Horizon is one of the most electrifying and successful rock bands to emerge from the UK. The group released their gold-certified sixth studio album, amo, in 2019, which debuted at Number 1 in 17 markets and was named “one of the most anticipated albums of 2019” by Billboard, with NME describing it as “bold, brilliant and boundary-pushing.” amo garnered the band their second Grammy nomination for ‘Best Rock Album’ after the LP’s first single, “MANTRA,” earned them a nod for ‘Best Rock Song’ in 2018. The Sheffield 5-piece also received their first BRIT Award nomination for ‘Best Group’ this year. Bring Me The Horizon has sold over 4 million albums globally to date, played sold-out shows in over 40 countries, including two sold out nights at London’s O2 and one night at The Forum in Los Angeles, wowed a traditionally non-rock crowd at Glastonbury Festival in 2016 and 2018, and stole the show at high profile festivals across Europe all summer 2019. amo followed 2016’s critically acclaimed, Platinum-certified That’s The Spirit, which entered the UK charts and the US Billboard album chart at Number Two. They have now also amassed over 1 billion video views on YouTube. Bring Me The Horizon are vocalist Oli Sykes, guitarist Lee Malia, bassist Matt Kean, drummer Mat Nicholls, and keyboardist Jordan Fish.

For A Tear in the Fabric of Life, Knocked Loose wanted to do something different. Or they may have been forced to. With quarantine upending their extensive touring schedule — “we’ve kind of been consistently on the road since 2014,” says vocalist Bryan Garris — the group found themselves in early 2020 sequestered near Louisville, in Oldham County, Ky., where they’re from. By June, they were hunkered down in a cabin in Pigeon Forge, Tenn., focused on writing a concept album. By the end of September they had finished recording.
What they came up with is a six song-EP that expands on the narratives hinted at on A Different Shade of Blue, their 2019 full length, and grows beyond them sonically. It’s the band’s most dynamic and contained offering to date, and a balancing act: a mid-length EP with grand ambitions and scope, one full of new sonic elements and a cohesive aesthetic that hangs onto Knocked Loose’s trademark anthemic delivery.

Grandson is the pseudonym of Canadian/American alternative artist Jordan Benjamin. He takes elements of his rock and roll, hip hop and electronic music roots and combines them to tell stories of reclaiming power over one’s life, confronting social issues facing his generation, and opening up about struggles with addiction and mental health. Since releasing his Modern Tragedy EP series, grandson has toured extensively across North America, Russia, and Europe, accumulated hundreds of millions of streams online, and received co-signs from the biggest names in rock and roll and progressive politics, from Tom Morello to Bernie Sanders. Now, grandson has released his debut album, Death Of An Optimist. This body of work conflates personal anxieties with political realities. As the protagonist, grandson simultaneously explores the dark underbelly of his unrelenting optimism for change, by creating an antagonist, X. An ambitious project, grandson delivers a subtle A-side/B-side structure totaling twelve tracks, following grandson and X’s dueling world views. Through DOAO, grandson delivers an overwhelming urgency to do something, “After the hardest year of our lives, it’s time to confront the reflection staring back at you, because only in doing so can you know who you truly are,” he says. Showcasing a conflicted soul for intense scrutiny has the benefit of not dictating what is right or wrong. It just shows that we’re in this together.”

Stevie Nicks + Vanessa Carlton at Ak-Chin Pavilion
2022-10-06 20:00 - 23:30 | Ak-Chin Pavilion, 2121 N 83rd Ave, Phoenix, AZ, 85035, United States
Famed for her mystical chanteuse image, singer/songwriter Stevie Nicks enjoyed phenomenal success not only as a solo artist but also as a key member of Fleetwood Mac. Possessed of a raspy croon, Nicks had a duo with Lindsey Buckingham in the early ’70s, releasing an excellent folk-pop album as Buckingham Nicks before the pair were absorbed into veteran U.K. group Fleetwood Mac. Nicks’ and Buckingham‘s talents helped steer the band to superstardom with the enormous hit albums Fleetwood Mac and Rumours. In the ’80s, Nicks ventured out on her own, scoring numerous hit singles and ultimately leaving the band. In the late ’90s, however, she reunited with her Fleetwood friends, who began performing and recording with renewed vigor.
Stephanie Lynn Nicks was born May 26, 1948, in Phoenix, Arizona; the granddaughter of a frustrated country singer, she began performing at the age of four, and occasionally sang at the tavern owned by her parents. Nicks started writing songs in her midteens, and joined her first group, the Changing Times, while attending high school in California.
During her senior year, Nicks met fellow student Lindsey Buckingham, with whom she formed the band Fritz along with friends Javier Pacheco and Calvin Roper. Between 1968 and 1971, the group became a popular attraction on the West Coast music scene, opening for Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Creedence Clearwater Revival. Ultimately, tensions arose over the amount of attention paid by fans to Nicks’ pouty allure, and after three years Fritz disbanded; Buckingham remained her partner, however, and they soon became a romantic couple.
After moving to Los Angeles, the duo recorded its 1973 debut LP, Buckingham Nicks. Despite a cover that featured the couple nude, the album flopped, but it caught the attention of the members of Fleetwood Mac, who invited Buckingham and Nicks to join their ranks in 1974. In quick time, the revitalized group achieved unparalleled success: after the LP Fleetwood Mac topped the charts in 1975, the band recorded 1977’s Rumours, which sold over 17 million copies and stood for several years as the best-selling album of all time.
Major hit singles like “Dreams” and “Rhiannon” made Nicks a focal point of Fleetwood Mac, and in 1981 she took time off from the group to record her solo debut, Bella Donna, which hit number one on the strength of the Top 20 hits “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around” (a duet with Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers), “Leather and Lace” (a duet with Don Henley), and “Edge of Seventeen (Just Like the White Winged Dove).” After a return to Fleetwood Mac for the 1982 album Mirage (which featured her hit “Gypsy”), Nicks released her second solo effort, The Wild Heart, highlighted by the Top Five smash “Stand Back.” Rock a Little, which featured the single “Talk to Me,” followed in 1985.
After a long hiatus (during which time Nicks was treated for a chemical dependency problem), Fleetwood Mac reunited for the album Tango in the Night; The Other Side of the Mirror, Nicks’ first solo record in four years, followed in 1989. After a series of lineup changes and dropping sales figures, she left Fleetwood Mac in 1993 and issued Street Angel a year later. In 1997, she rejoined the reunited Fleetwood Mac on tour and on the album The Dance. In 1998 Nicks, along with her Fleetwood Mac bandmates, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the same year that her three-disc Enchanted box set landed in stores.
Nicks returned to the studio in 2001 with friends Macy Gray, Sarah McLachlan, Sheryl Crow, and Dixie Chick Natalie Maines for the solo album Trouble in Shangri-La, and again in 2003 for the Fleetwood Mac reunion album Say You Will. Reprise released the CD/DVD Crystal Visions: The Very Best of Stevie Nicks in 2007, but it wasn’t until 2011 — almost a decade to the day after Trouble in Shangri-La’s release — that Nicks returned with a new solo album. Produced by Dave Stewart and Glen Ballard, In Your Dreams found her singing a mix of Bob Dylan-inspired folk songs, Italian love ballads, and rock anthems. In Your Dreams debuted at six on Billboard’s Top 200 and generated an adult contemporary hit in “Secret Love.” Nicks rejoined Fleetwood Mac in 2013 for the Extended Play release and a reunion tour that eventually blossomed into a full reunion with Christine McVie. In 2014, Nicks released 24 Karat Gold: Songs from the Vault, a collection of newly recorded versions of old songs; it debuted at seven on the Billboard charts. In 2015, she continued to tour with the reunited Fleetwood Mac and the following year her first two albums, Bella Donna and The Wild Heart, were given deluxe reissues.
In 2016 and 2017, Nicks toured with the Pretenders. As Fleetwood Mac was gearing up for a 50th Anniversary tour in 2018, the group parted ways with Lindsey Buckingham, replacing him with Neil Finn and Mike Campbell. Nicks was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as a solo act in 2019, making her the first woman to be inducted twice. To accompany her induction, Rhino/WMG released the anthology Stand Back: 1981-2017. In October 2020, she released the song “Show Them the Way,” which featured contributions from Dave Grohl and Dave Stewart. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi

“Always building up, falling apart. Love is an art,” sings Vanessa Carlton on the title track of her sixth album, Love Is An Art. Like the record itself, the song is a meditation on the eternal seesaw that is human connection: the push, the pull, the balance, the bottoming out. It’s that constantly evolving nature of love, expectations and compassion that Carlton analyzes from all angles on Love Is An Art, from romantic, to parental, to the friends that hold us up and the leaders that repeatedly let us down. And on tracks like the album’s opener, “I Can’t Stay the Same,” that also includes the relationship with the person staring back at us in the mirror, each and every morning.
Produced by Dave Fridmann (MGMT, Flaming Lips), Love Is An Art finds Carlton reckoning with toxic relationships (the confessional “Miner’s Canary”), eternal partnership (“Companion Star”) and the children who fill the world with love and grace while politicians fill their pockets (the passionate “Die, Dinosaur,” written after the shootings in Parkland, Florida). And true to Carlton’s skill as both a lyricist and an instrumentalist, the arrangements on Love Is An Art tell these tales as vibrantly as the words themselves: piano parts that speak of rage and tenderness, synths that burst and glow like dawn.

Knotfest Roadshow at Ak-Chin Pavilion
2022-10-02 18:30 - 23:30 | Ak-Chin Pavilion, 2121 N 83rd Ave, Phoenix, AZ, 85035, United States
There was never a band like SLIPKNOT, and there will never be another. Like a spore out of the Midwest, they’ve quietly bloomed into the most uncompromising, undeniable, and unique presence on the planet whose influence transcends genres and generations. Since sowing the seeds for revolution in Iowa during 1999, these musical outliers have captured a GRAMMY Award alongside 10 nominations, scored 12 Platinum / 41 Gold album certifications around the world, and logged over 8.5 billion global streams and 3.5 billion video views to date – unprecedented for a rock act in this generation or any other. Rolling Stone cited the seminal platinum-selling 2001 album Iowa among “The 100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time,” while The Ringer attested, “They’re the most important heavy band of their era.” In addition to marking the group’s third consecutive #1 debut on the Billboard Top 200, their sixth full-length album, WE ARE NOT YOUR KIND, bowed at #1 in twelve countries worldwide in 2019. Selling out shows on multiple continents, they deliver an irreplicable multi-sensory experience on tour and through their own festival KNOTFEST. With their seventh album THE END, SO FAR, SLIPKNOT are back, and nothing will be the same again.

Like the undead slashers celebrated in their songs, Ice Nine Kills return with The Silver Scream 2: Welcome To Horrorwood, a sequel of gruesome movie-sized proportion to The Silver Scream. The new album carves out a fresh, bloody homage to the VHS celluloid classics that possessed singer Spencer Charnas at an early age, with a devilish new twist.
Ice Nine Kills make music both timeless and timely, mixing metal, hardcore, and punk, with accessible power. New anthems like “Rainy Day” and “Hip To Be Scared” demonstrate Spencer’s fascination with fright, pop culture obsession, and his expertise with inescapably wicked melodic hooks and clever twists of phrase. Producer Drew Fulk returned for Welcome To Horrorwood which includes cameos from members of Papa Roach, Cannibal Corpse, Atreyu, Fit For A King, and Senses Fail.
Decadent, devious, and fiercely insane, Ice Nine Kills celebrate pop culture’s darkest edges, mining a cinephile library’s worth of iconic horror on The Silver Scream and its sequel. The creative marriage made in hell of music and fiction began in earnest with the Every Trick In The Book, which brought the previous three records’ themes to new levels.
The band’s synergy of music and lifestyle draws favorable comparisons to Slipknot and Rob Zombie. Visionary trailblazers and multimedia raconteurs, INK built a thrilling world for a growing legion of devoted true believers, with theatrical shows, high-concept videos, and inventive band-to-fan communion.

A sweeping self-awareness and expansive creativity are at the heart of CROWN THE EMPIRE, the modern post-metalcore anthem makers who embrace their dirty rock roots and stadium-ready melodies with bold courage.   What began as high-school pals posting clips on YouTube has grown to over 60 million views on the platform alone; endless streams of songs like “Machines,” “Hologram,” and “Voices”; and several Billboard 200 accomplishments, including a Number 1 debut on the Top Rock Charts. Alternative Press anointed them as Best Breakthrough Band and with good reason. Praised enthusiastically as “thrilling,” “progressive,” and “dynamic,” by tastemaker genre publications like Rock Sound, Kerrang! and Outburn (who, like AltPress, put the band on their cover), Crown The Empire climbed to the top of an emergent style by jettisoning the scene’s most formulaic traits.   A cinematic sensibility permeates each chapter in the band’s story, from the epic thematic darkness of their earlier work to the sci-fi dystopian ambience of new songs like “20/20.” Super-intense and high-energy songs will always remain a part of the Crown The Empire mission statement. It’s a journey that’s been marked by growth at every turn, coalescing into the modern incarnation of Crown The Empire, a band that’s built to last.

Bad Bunny at Chase Field
2022-09-28 18:00 - 23:30 | Chase Field, 401 E Jefferson St, Phoenix, AZ, 85003, United States
Bad Bunny is a young urban music singer, rapper and producer originally from Puerto Rico. This talented artist has demonstrated his already overwhelming power, influence and demand with completely sold-out concerts all over Europe, Latin America and the U.S.   Some of his most recognized singles include “Soy Peor,” “Diles,” “Tu No Metes Cabra,” “Chambea” and Mia thats out with Drake. Bad Bunny has had a short but stunning career with colossal amounts of success

Alesso, a DJ and dance music producer from Stockholm, Sweden, has achieved cross-genre success, blending progressive house with pop and scoring worldwide hits in collaboration with a wide range of artists. His earliest pop hits included 2012’s “Calling (Lose My Mind)” (with Sebastian Ingrosso and Ryan Tedder) and 2013’s “Under Control” (with Calvin Harris and Hurts), the latter of which reached number one in the U.K. He opened for Madonna during several British and Russian dates on her 2012 MDNA Tour, and performed at major festivals such as Coachella, Creamfields, and Electric Daisy Carnival. “Heroes (We Could Be),” a 2014 single featuring Tove Lo, became his first U.S. Top 40 hit, preceding his 2015 debut full-length, Forever. His next major international hit, 2017’s “Let Me Go,” was a collaboration with actress Hailee Steinfeld and country duo Florida Georgia Line. He also released two mixtapes, Progresso, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2.
Alessandro Lindblad, more commonly known as Alesso, is a DJ and dance music producer from Stockholm. His career quickly gained mainstream recognition for his remixes of Tiësto, Swedish House Mafia, and Avicii, as well as his own productions. His first major achievement came in 2011, when his remix of Nadia Ali‘s track “Pressure” was one of the most successful EDM efforts of the year. Later in 2011, he placed in DJ Mag’s Top 100 list, debuting at number 70. Early 2012 started well for him when he was named an MTV “one to watch,” made his first BBC Radio 1 essential mix, and earned the Track of the Year award on Zane Lowe‘s prime-time Radio 1 slot for the single “Calling (Lose My Mind).” Alesso also managed to move up many notches in DJ Mag’s DJ of the Year listings to number 20. He leaped to major success when he had a U.K. chart number one with his collaborative single “Under Control” alongside Calvin Harris and Hurts.
In 2014, Alesso inked a deal with Def Jam Recordings, and in 2015 he issued his debut album, Forever, which included the singles “Tear the Roof Up,” “Cool,” and “Heroes (We Could Be),” the latter of which featured Swedish pop star Tove Lo. The following year, he released a pair of collaborations with prominent Asian pop stars. A version of “I Wanna Know” featuring Taiwanese singer Jolin Tsai on vocals was promoted in Ibiza and Shanghai, while “Years” received a K-pop revamp with EXO‘s Chen. In 2017, Alesso scored a modest hit on the all-star collaboration “Let Me Go,” which featured Hailee Steinfeld, Andrew Watt, and Florida Georgia Line. The track hit the Top 40 across the globe, rising to number six on the Billboard Dance/Electronic chart. After closing out that year with the Anitta collaboration “Is That for Me,” he returned in 2018 with the solo singles “Remedy” and “Tilted Towers.”
In early 2019, Alesso released the mixtape Progresso, Vol. 1. Several non-album tracks arrived in 2020, including “In the Middle” with Sumr Camp, “Midnight” featuring Liam Payne, and “The End” featuring Charlotte Lawrence. Progresso, Vol. 2 arrived in June 2021 and was followed by more non-album tracks, including “Leave a Little Love” with Armin van Buuren, “Going Dumb” with Corsak and Stray Kids, and “Chasing Stars” with Marshmello and James Bay. ~ James Pearce, Rovi

SABATON at Arizona Financial Theatre
2022-09-24 20:00 - 23:30 | Arizona Financial Theatre, 400 W Washington St, Phoenix, AZ, 85004, United States
In over two decades since their launch, Swedish metallers Sabaton have carved out a reputation as one of the hardest working bands in the business – gaining a legion of loyal fans across the globe, delivering ten highly-rated studio albums (including two certified platinum-sellers), and scoring multiple industry award wins and nominations… not to mention launching their own annual festival and cruise.
Combining soaring power riffs with vocalist Joakim Brodén’s instantly-recognisable gruff baritone, the band refuses to be simply slotted into a genre. Fans need only know them as Sabaton: the heavy metal band that sings of real life wars and the people who played a part in them – of gruelling campaigns and dazzling acts of bravery, of magnificent victories and touching personal struggles – true stories more fantastic than any fiction.
Sabaton are perhaps best known for their electrifying live shows, combining accomplished musical performances and a finely-crafted stage show – including their full-sized tank drum-riser – with energy and laughter. The band has headlined as far afield as North America, Australia and Japan, and regularly fills arenas and takes top-billed slots at festivals across Europe. They are also a favourite support act for metal titans Iron Maiden and Scorpions. Sabaton’s live show has won top industry accolades in Germany (Metal Hammer Award), Sweden (Bandit Rock Award), as well as being nominated for two Metal Hammer Golden Gods awards in the UK.

Formed by composer Mark Jansen after leaving @AfterForever back in 2002, Epica quickly gained attention outside their home country, taking big steps towards becoming the leading symphonic metal superpower they have long proven to be. On their past seven records so far, they soared from gothic undertones to a broad, epic and triumphant amalgamation of all things monolithic, establishing their unique brand of Simone Simons’ unparalleled vocal excellence with a band both ready to tear down venues around the globe while at the same time installing orchestral splendour, progressive elegance, oriental enchantment, cinematic soundscapes and colossal fury into their trailblazing bombshell sound.
For the first time in years, they congregated in a villa in the pastoral beauty of rural Holland, setting up their temporary studio in several rooms. Thus, “Omega” is an album of unity, of friendship, of the close bond the members share. And in the middle of a world in turmoil, of a cataclysmic change in society, Epica somehow managed to create their most spectacular album yet. An album that is seamlessly bringing together metal and orchestra, choir and oriental instruments to a perfect storm constantly emitting goose bumps. Add to that specifically written suites for orchestra and choir, a wide range of ethnic instruments recorded around the world by some of the best native musicians out there and you get something like the ultimate Epica album you never dared dream of.

CHVRCHES at Marquee Theatre
2022-09-24 19:00 - 23:30 | Marquee Theatre, 730 N Mill Ave, Tempe, AZ, 85281, United States
Crafting songs with big synths and bigger melodies, Chvrches combine their indie roots with their love of chart-friendly pop. The mix of Lauren Mayberry’s crystalline, emotive vocals and the sweeping synths of Iain Cook and Martin Doherty on 2013’s bittersweet yet anthemic debut album The Bones of What You Believe bridged the gap between the classic synth pop of Depeche Mode and New Order and the brash, EDM-influenced sounds of the early 2010s, influencing countless contemporaries along the way. Later, Chvrches brought an extra sheen to their music without sacrificing any of its depth. They went all in on their pop leanings on 2018’s Love Is Dead, where their collaborators ranged from pop producer Greg Kurstin to the National‘s Matt Berninger. On 2021’s Screen Violence, Chvrches sharpened the edges and hooks of their songs as they reaffirmed their place as synth pop standard-bearers.
Before Chvrches formed, keyboardist/vocalist Iain Cook and keyboardist/vocalist Martin Doherty became friends in 2003 while studying at Glasgow’s University of Strathclyde. The pair forged their musical partnership when Doherty asked Cook to produce his band Julia Thirteen. Though little came of the sessions, they continued to work together, and became members of the band Aereogramme. By 2007, they had left that group, with Doherty joining the Twilight Sad as a touring member and Cook becoming a composer for film and television. Seeking a change from alternative rock, they founded their own experimental synth project. In September 2011, the pair invited vocalist Lauren Mayberry, who’d previously played with the band Blue Sky Archives and holds a law degree as well as a Master’s degree in journalism, to sing on some demos. The sessions went so well that the trio christened itself Chvrches — spelling it with a “v” instead of a “u” to differentiate themselves in internet searches — and began writing songs inspired by Prince, Depeche Mode, and Kate Bush.
In May 2012, Chvrches posted their first song “Lies” online. It quickly became a viral hit and received airplay on BBC Radio 1. The band’s official debut single, “The Mother We Share,” appeared in November 2012 and was also an online hit. Late that year, Chvrches were among the acts selected for the BBC’s Sound of 2013, ultimately finishing fifth. In January 2013, the band signed with Glassnote and soon embarked on an international tour that included a performance at that year’s South by Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas. That March saw the release of the Recover EP, and Chvrches’ debut album The Bones of What You Believe appeared that September. Recorded in Glasgow’s Alucard Studio with a handful synths including a Minimoog Voyager, the album debuted at number nine on the U.K. albums chart and was later certified gold in the U.K. It also entered the Top 20 on the charts in Canada, Australia, and the United States, among other countries. “The Mother We Share” also charted in the U.S., Japan, Belgium, and the U.K., where it was a Top 40 hit; in July 2014, the song was featured in the opening ceremony for the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. Later in the year, the band contributed the track “Get Away” to the re-scored soundtrack to Nicolas Winding Refn’s influential 2011 film Drive, and covered Bauhaus‘ “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” for the movie Vampire Academy: Blood Sisters.
In January 2015, Chvrches began working on new material at Alucard Studios, which they were able to upgrade thanks to the success of The Bones of What You Believe. Taking inspiration from Quincy Jones‘ lean yet massive-sounding production style, their second album, Every Open Eye, appeared in September 2015. The album debuted at number four in the U.K., reached number eight on the Billboard 200 Albums chart in the U.S., and also became a Top Ten hit in Australia, Ireland, Scotland, and New Zealand. Every Open Eye’s singles included a version of “Bury It” that featured Paramore‘s Hayley Williams.
In 2016, Chvrches performed at Royal Albert Hall for the first time and collaborated with Solar Fields on “Warning Call,” which appeared in the video game Mirror’s Edge Catalyst. The following year, the band contributed a cover of Tegan and Sara‘s “Call It Off” to the tenth anniversary edition of the duo’s album The Con, and went into the studio with producer Greg Kurstin and collaborator Dave Stewart to work on their third album. Boasting a bigger, more straightforward sound than their previous releases, 2018’s Love Is Dead included the singles “Get Out” and “My Enemy,” a duet with the National‘s Matt Berninger. The album debuted at number seven in the U.K. and topped Billboard’s Top Rock Albums and Alternative Albums charts in the States. Late that year, Chvrches released the Hansa Session EP. Named after the Berlin studio where it was recorded (and which also hosted David Bowie and Nick Cave, among other artists), it featured acoustic and string-driven arrangements of several of Love Is Dead songs. In 2019, the band performed with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra to commemorate the launch of the BBC Scotland television channel; they appeared on Marshmello‘s “Here with Me” and contributed the single “Death Stranding” to the album Death Stranding: Timefall, a set of songs inspired by the action video game of the same name. Early in 2020, Chvrches started recording album number four, with Doherty and Mayberry in Los Angeles and Cook in Glasgow. Featuring a darker sound as well as a collaboration with the Cure‘s Robert Smith, Screen Violence appeared in August 2021

Damage Inc at Marquee Theatre
2022-09-17 17:00 - 23:30 | Marquee Theatre, 730 N Mill Ave, Tempe, AZ, 85281, United States
For over fifteen years, international Metallica tribute band, Damage Inc Southern California’s Tribute to Metallica, has performed for thousands of fans across the US, Canada and Mexico.
Selected by Metallica to perform at …And Tributes for All concert in San Francisco as part of Metallica’s San Francisco Weekend Takeover 2021.
Featured on AXS.tv’s WORLD’S GREATEST TRIBUTE BANDS – Season 1
Featured on AXS.tv’s WORLD’S GREATEST TRIBUTE BANDS – Season 8
Named one of LA Weekly’s top 20 tribute bands (2015)

Twenty One Pilots at Footprint Center
2022-09-16 20:00 - 23:30 | Mortgage Matchup Center, 201 E Jefferson St, Phoenix, AZ, 85004, United States
Twenty One Pilots shook the world with the release of their 2015 LP BLURRYFACE, an album that would go on to sell over 7 million copies worldwide and earn the band their first ever GRAMMY® Award as they shattered longstanding chart records, and captivated audiences worldwide on sold-out arena runs and at international festivals. Now three years later, the duo of Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun have returned to write the next chapter of their story with TRENCH, the band’s highly anticipated new studio album. TRENCH finds Twenty One Pilots fearlessly reimagining the possibilities of their music through the same candid expression and genuine identity that helped to cement their place as one of the largest bands in the world.
