Details about each of these concerts can be found below. You can check out Phoenix New Times’ online listings for more live music around town this weekend.
The King Khan & BBQ Show
Friday, September 30Valley Bar, 130 North Central AvenueWhen it comes to making the sounds of yesterday sound raunchy and new, few do it with as much vigor and panache as The King Khan & BBQ Show. A collaboration between King Khan and Mark Sultan (a.k.a. BBQ), the stripped-down duo play a manic double-fisted style of garage music. Mixing punk, blues, surf, and doo-wop, the pair accent the guitar-driven rave-ups with Khan’s theatrical zest. The frontman pulls vintage James Brown moves live: falling to his knees, spins, the cape thrown over his crouching body, the works. The man even rocks a cane on occasion, and it takes some considerable chutzpah to wield a cane in the 21st century. While the pair broke up briefly in 2010, and haven't released a new album since 2015's Bad New Boys, they still hit the road on occasion. Right now the dirtbag duo have got more eyes and ears on them thanks to their 2007 single "Love You So" becoming an unlikely TikTok hit. No matter how much technology and social mores change, there will always be a need for a cool dude who wails like he just got his nuts caught in a zipper, a job King Khan is perfectly suited for. With Miranda and the Beat; 7 p.m., tickets are available on the secondary market. Ashley Naftule
Burning Bush
Friday, September 30The Rhythm Room, 1019 East Indian School RoadIf you were going to compile a list of acts considered “forerunners of the Riot Grrrl movement,” it'd be pretty short, even for one spanning 20-some years: Poly Styrene, The Slits, Au Pairs, The Raincoats, and Bush Tetras, just to name a few. Don'tcha despair, Phoenix, you do have one local band on this elite list, Burning Bush. They were poppy, they were punky but always kicked ass with a sense of purpose. Thomascyne Ryther (guitar, vocals), Denise Tanguay (bass, vocals), and Audrey Creed (drums) came together in 1987 and pretty much stood alone for all their time in this music scene. If you were around in the late '80s and early '90s, you would've seen them most likely at Tempe’s now-defunct Sun Club. And of course, they played protest rallies. These days, all three members might be scattered across the country (Tanguay lives in San Diego, Ryther in Portland, and Creed in Flagstaff) but they’ll reunite this weekend for two shows in Arizona, including a gig on Friday night at The Rhythm Room with support from locals Fat Grey Cat and Yvonne Champagne. 8 p.m., $8 at the door. Serene Dominic
St. Vincent
Friday, September 30Marquee Theatre, 730 North Mill Avenue, TempeWhen Daddy's Home, St. Vincent's sixth studio album, dropped in 2021, it was met with a mixed reception. Ever the chameleon, St. Vincent’s Annie Clark switched up her style once again — trading in her icy, synthetic pop-star persona and guitar hero gymnastics for a more funk-driven, '70s rock style. Call it her own take on Young Americans, Bowie’s dalliance with blue-eyed soul and American pop sophistication. The new retro sound took some getting used to; frankly, a lot of it sounded like an experiment in genre dress-up, someone raiding the “disco” section at Party City and turning that experience into an album. Live, the new songs hit differently. When St. Vincent played Innings Festival last year, her set was one of the highlights of the weekend. The backup singers, the ’70s adult-contemporary vibes, Clark’s swagger: Everything clicked in-person. Daddy’s Home cuts like "Pay Your Way in Pain" and "The Melting of the Sun" sounded just right next to older sainted cuts like "Your Lips Are Red" and "Fast Slow Disco." Guess some daddies are at their best when they’re away from home. 8 p.m., $49.50-$69.50 via ticketweb.com. Ashley Naftule
$uicideboy$
Saturday, October 1Phoenix Raceway, 7602 Jimmie Johnson Drive, AvondaleUpdating the Southern horrorcore aesthetic of Three 6 Mafia for the era of peak trap, the New Orleans-raised duo of $lick $loth and Ruby da Cherry have racked up millions of plays on SoundCloud and Spotify and toured the world. These guys are insanely prolific; they’ve released half a dozen albums and a series of 30-plus EPs, most of which are titled Kill Yourself, and their songs rarely pass the three-minute mark. On Friday night, they’re scheduled to headline an outdoor mini-festival of sorts at Phoenix Raceway in Avondale with a lineup of hip-hop artists and SoundCloud rappers like Ski Mask The Slump God, $NOT, Code Orange, and Maxo Kream providing support. 7 p.m., $85-$220 via tixr.com. Douglas Markowitz
Suzanne Vega
Saturday, October 1, and Sunday, October 2Musical Instrument Museum, 4725 East Mayo BoulevardSuzanne Vega is as much an actor as she is a songwriter. She gets deep under the skin of her characters, giving their stories an intimacy and immediacy that makes them feel more like true confessions than works of fiction. That theatrical immersion makes a lot of sense when you consider the singer-songwriter’s own history with film and theater: She auditioned for the lead role in Desperately Seeking Susan before Madonna was cast, and almost played opposite Tom Cruise in The Color of Money. While her onscreen career never quite took off, her work as a musician is a different story. Vega’s folk-influenced artistry struck a nerve in the late ’80s until her commercial breakthrough came with “Tom’s Diner.” The moody a cappella song was transformed by English duo DNA into one of the most unlikely dance hits of the ’90s. That song also has the distinction of being used as a test during the creation of the MP3, which is why she’s sometimes hailed as the mother of the audio format. Vega is still a theater kid at heart, though: Her most recent release, 2016’s Lover, Beloved, is a concept album based on a play she wrote about the author Carson McCullers. 7:30 p.m. Saturday; 7 p.m. Sunday, tickets are available on the secondary market. Ashley Naftule
Knotfest Roadshow
Sunday, October 2Ak-Chin Pavilion, 2121 North 83rd AvenueWhen Slipknot’s annual Knotfest Roadshow tour rolled into the Valley in November, it brought chaos and pyromania to Ak-Chin Pavilion. During the headlining set by the masked metal band, fans started circle pits and a raging bonfire in the massive crowd. No joke. Lawn chairs and other detritus were set ablaze as metalheads and onlookers cheered. Nobody was injured, though, and the Phoenix Fire Department eventually extinguished the towering inferno. Will things be just as wild when this year’s edition of the tour — which also features sets by metalcore acts Ice Nine Kills and Crown the Empire — returns to town this weekend? Probably, but here's hoping local metalheads stick with throwing up devil horns instead of engaging in felonious acts of arson. 6:30 p.m., $29.50 via livenation.com. Benjamin Leatherman
Steve Vai
Sunday, October 2Celebrity Theatre, 440 North 32nd StreetSteve Vai’s spot in rock ‘n’ roll history is etched in stone. The six-string virtuoso and living guitar god has recorded, performed, and toured alongside the likes of Frank Zappa, Alice Cooper, Public Image Ltd, Motörhead, Polyphia, and Spinal Tap, as well as such decidedly non-rockers as Randy Jackson and Mary J. Blige. Vai’s epic career, which spans four decades, started with a gig as Zappa’s transcriptionist that led to a three-year stint in the eclectic legend’s band. He then spent the next decade playing with David Lee Roth, Alcatrazz, and Whitesnake, as well as recording his best-known album, 1990's Passion and Warfare, and designing the influential JEM guitar for Ibanez. The Grammy winner has put out 10 more records since then, all of which showcase his consummate guitar artistry and penchant for noodling. That’s especially true of his latest release, Inviolate, which has been described as featuring “crackling licks and slick octaves.” 7:30 p.m., $40-$80 via etix.com. Benjamin Leatherman
