​48 Hours Festival was insane. Picture this: more than 20 heavy-hitting rock bands, VIP pool cabanas in the middle of a Vegas parking lot, and lounges with such names as Debauchery and the Godfather, moonshine, strippers, and massages, all fenced in at the Luxor Festival Grounds in Las Vegas.

After learning that Tempe-based Eyes Set to Kill was playing the festival--and considering we desert-dwellers are only a mere five hours from Sin City--I decided it was a prime excuse to get some great live backstage views, provide a play-by-play for Up On the Sun readers, and, well, go to Vegas.

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Dawes and Blitzen Trapper
Crescent Ballroom
Monday, October 10, 2011

When you catch onto a band in its early stages, they become bigger in your head than they actually are in real life. For me, one of those bands has always been Blitzen Trapper. Their indie folk sound is exactly in line with what's popular in music today, yet the band is still breaking in smaller venues like Phoenix's new Crescent Ballroom.

It just makes it all the better when you show up to a show and it's far more intimate than you imagined. But, if you look at it as a competition, co-headliner Dawes stole the show. Fronted by Taylor Goldsmith, who seems to worship at the Vocal Alter of Springsteen, the band belts out folky tunes covered with grime and authenticity. Lyrically literal and a bit trite, the band played a combination of songs from their 2009 disc, North Hills, and this year's Nothing is Wrong.

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Maria Vassett

Coheed & Cambria's Claudio Sanchez performs at the Marquee Theatre

​Coheed & Cambria 

Marquee Theatre, Tempe 

Monday, May 9, 2011

My two previous attempts at seeing Coheed & Cambria perform live were marred by bad luck. 

The first time I went to a Coheed show, about three years ago, I brought a girl I was sweet on. Much to my dismay, she decided she wanted to leave about a half-hour into Coheed's thus-far-amazing set, and being the sap that I am, I relented.

The second time I tried to see them, almost exactly a year ago, I lined up reviewer tickets through one of the opening bands. Somehow, said band's guest list never made its way to the box office, leaving me and the photographer shit out of luck (although it didn't prevent me from penning an imaginary concert review, which also showcased my incredible artistic talent).

As the old saying goes, "third time's a charm," and last night, I finally got to experience Coheed & Cambria in all their prog-tastic glory.

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Jet Life Tour

Clubhouse

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Jet LifeMore >>

Mike R. Meyer

James Hetfield of Metallica performs at The Big 4 Festival in Indio.

​The Big 4 Festival (Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax)
Empire Polo Grounds, Indio, California
Saturday, April 23, 2011

It's not an understatement to say that yesterday's Big 4 Festival was an event nearly three decades in the making. Since the advent of thrash metal in the early 1980s, four bands have towered above the pack: Metallica, Megadeth, Anthrax and Slayer.

Unfortunately, due to a combination of hurt feelings, bad blood and natural rivalries among the bands, the "Big Four" had never shared the same stage in the U.S. before last night. In fact, prior to last summer's Sonisphere festival in Europe, they had never shared the same stage anywhere. Thankfully, cooler heads -- not to mention the promise of a huge payday -- ultimately prevailed to bring us yesterday's epic event.

I'm actually among the thousands of people lucky enough -- and old enough -- to have seen three of the Big Four tour together 20 years ago on the Clash of the Titans tour, which featured Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax rotating as headliners from stop to stop. Ironically, on the night I saw them in Omaha, Nebraska, the three bands played in the same order as they did at the Big 4 Festival: Anthrax took the stage first, followed by Megadeth, with Slayer closing out the night. I was a fan of all three bands at the time, but I admit, I was definitely looking forward to seeing Slayer and Megadeth more than Anthrax. Much to my surprise, Anthrax stole the show that night with an incredible, high-energy set that gave me a greater respect for the group. And this time?

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Michael Lopez

It's amazing how something so idyllic can be so much fun

​Dear Coachella,More >>

Michael Lopez

The Ferris Wheel at night

​Two down, one to go. Saturday at Coachella was yet another success with even more of what made Friday such a positive, affirming experience. Friday, then, was no fluke -- this year's Coachella is doing everything right, as far as last year is concerned. There's not much I can say about the general feeling and the schematics of everything on the polo grounds that I haven't already said.More >>

The Main Stage at Dusk

​The 2011 Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival got underway yesterday with the bad taste from 2010's fiasco still in the mouths of many -- myself included. It didn't help that Paul Tollett -- head of the festival's producer Goldenvoice -- recently admitted that he believes as many as 105,000 people were on the festival grounds on any given day last year -- a pretty awful number considering tickets sold out at 75,0000 and Goldenvoice only has a permit for 80,000 to be allowed on the festival grounds. That number is infuriating to many long-time festival attendees who had to witness the catastrophe of 2010, sharing the same space with some 30,000 people who either gate-crashed, sneaked their way in or simply took advantage of Friday afternoon's gigantic lapse in security.

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Christopher Hassiotis

Will Cullen Hart of the Olivia Tremor Control and Circulatory System.

Elephant 6 Holiday Surprise Tour

The Duce

Friday, March 4

"Can you turn up the toy piano?" is not a request many soundmen get, or that many bands make, so it's probably a good thing that the Elephant 6 Holiday Surprise Tour brought their own technician all the way from Athens, Ga.

Stalwarts of the late-'90s and early-'00s college radio scene, this tour (the second of its type) swung through Phoenix last night, bringing members of bands like the Olivia Tremor Control, Neutral Milk Hotel, Elf Power, The Music Tapes and Of Montreal together at the improbable venue the Duce -- how often does a band get a chance to play on a boxing ring?

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Maria Vassett

Death Angel performing at The Clubhouse on February 19, 2011.

​Death Angel
Clubhouse Music Venue
February 19, 2011

It took me 24 years to finally see Death Angel perform live, but all things considered, it was well worth the wait. If any show is capable of whetting one's appetite for this April's Big 4 extravaganza in Indio, California, this was it. The Bay Area thrash veterans put on a show to remember in front of a raucous crowd at the Clubhouse last night.

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