Top Five Must-See Thanksgiving Shows

By Benjamin Leatherman Mon., Nov. 19 2012 at 4:00 AM

Categories: Show Preview

Egyptian Lover is scheduled to perform on Wednesday at the Monarch Theatre.

Curious about what's going on around town during the Thanksgiving holiday music-wise? Plenty, to say the least, as local bands and DJs are gearing up for gigs on both the evening before Turkey Day on Wednesday and during Thanksgiving night on Thursday.

Need some suggestions as to how to rock, dance, or krump in the Valley of the Sun while everyone else is sleeping off their overdose of tryptophan? Worry not, as we have a list of five gigs worth checking over the two-day holiday on.

Wednesday, November 21: Trapt @ Pub Rock
You may not be familiar with the name, but chances are you're more familiar with the band Trapt than you realize, especially if you've been to the movies in the past seven years. The band's 2003 single "Headstrong" has been featured on the soundtrack to such cinema classics as Never Back Down and Grind. "Headstrong" has also replaced Drowning Pool's "Bodies" as the song you are most likely to hear during the movie trailer for a film that involves a lot of kicking. Thanks in large part to the exposure brought on by being featured in every terrible action movie of the past seven years, "Headstrong" is the still the band's biggest single. But the California alt-rockers are not content to resign themselves to one-hit-wonder status just yet. They released No Apologies in 2010, which tracked as high as No. 7 on the Billboard rock charts, and are preparing to drop Reborn in January (the band's first disc with new drummer Dylan Howard). In the meantime, Trapt will headline a special Thanksgiving Eve charity concert being put on by hard rock station KUPD, which will also feature a gig by morning jock John Holmberg's band Sodomizing Linda. -- Michael Escoto