Mesa – Every Show Joe

Apes of the State Down in the Underground

March 15, 2023March 26, 2023 Every Show JoeA Better Problem, Apes of the State, Arizona, Dana Skully and the Tiger Sharks, Emo, Folk Punk, Indie Rock, Mesa, Nile Underground, Punk, Punk Rock

Three years ago, things had ground to a halt as we worked to slow the spread of a newly discovered virus and waited for science to bring solutions while we tried to mitigate the worse of it. It meant we had a lot more time for finding music, whether it was new to you or just in general newly formed. Between the many livestreams that musicians had turned to and just looking at the “You may also like” sections of music services, it felt like I stumbled onto a treasure…

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Punk In Drublic Returns To Phoenix

March 23, 2022March 23, 2022 Every Show JoeArizona, Authority Zero, Bell Bank Park, Bouncing Souls, Lagwagon, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, Mesa, NOFX, Punk, Punk in Drublic, Punk Rock, Reggae Rock, Rock 'n Roll, Ska, The Last Gang, Venomous Pinks, Winterhaven

1994 was an important year in the resurgence of a punk rock that had gone back underground the latter half of the eighties. It marked a couple seminal albums released that year, including Green Day’s Dookie, Bad Religion’s Stranger Than Fiction and Offspring’s Smash. Another one of those big albums was NOFX’s Punk In Drublic. In the time since its release, the album has crossed the one million threshold and stands a fan favorite in punk circles. Beginning in 2017, it became the name of a punk rock and craft…

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Flogging Molly Returns With Violent Femmes To Mesa!

October 11, 2021October 11, 2021 Every Show JoeAdolescents, Arizona, Bad Cop Bad Cop, Celtic Punk, CJ Ramone, Flogging Molly, Folk Music, Folk Punk, Garage Rock, Indie Rock, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, Mesa, Mesa Amphitheatre, The Damned, Thick, Violent Femmes

Sometimes you know you miss things, but until they are before your eyes you don’t realize how much you missed them. When it came to the tour with Violent Femmes and Flogging Molly, a pair of them in the form of Me First and the Gimme Gimmes and Flogging Molly brought out that exact feeling for me. However, that was in part because I had never seen Thick or Violent Femmes before. I was in for a treat with the four combined this Friday night. Our openers were a band…

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AJJ’s Knife Man 10th Anniversary Tour Hits The Nile

October 8, 2021October 8, 2021 Every Show JoeAJJ, Arizona, Emperor X, Folk Music, Folk Punk, Mesa, nile theater, Punk Rock

It has been a little bit since last AJJ played a hometown show. Of course, there was the before vaccine times of Covid and where everything came to a grinding halt for the safety of one another. So it was an understandable longer time. However, a really cool thing about AJJ during that time is they did weekly streams with Sean and occasionally more on their Instagram through the entire quarantining period. On a similar safety note with this tour, they are working to make it vaccinated only and ask…

Concerts

This Is A Protest Song

November 26, 2019November 26, 2019 Every Show JoeArizona, Bad Times, Folk, Folk Punk, Harley Poe, Homeless Gospel Choir, Mesa, nile theater, Punk

It has been a while since I last attended a night of completely folk punk bands. The last time was back in June when Escape from the Zoo played the Trunk Space. Like that night, Bad Times played. Although in that case, it was just Diego. For this night, not only did we get all of Bad Times, but there was a first for me with Harley Poe and a favorite in the Homeless Gospel Choir. Opening up was the new look at Bad Times. Taking away the solo performance,…

Concerts

A Night of Storytelling

October 31, 2019October 31, 2019 Every Show JoeArizona, Folk, Folk Punk, Frank Turner, Frank Turner and the Sleeping Souls, Ikeda Theater, Kayleigh Goldsworthy, Mesa, Mesa Arts Center, Rock 'n Roll

Authenticity goes a long way. It is being true to oneself. It is not giving another version of you in front of others. For some people, they have a public version and a private version of themselves. This is the case with musicians, where the lyrics written are not always about oneself. They may be telling a story or creating a persona different from their own. With Frank Turner, he puts himself into his lyrics and is true to who he is during any performance. His latest visit in a…

Concerts

Down In The Underground

October 20, 2019October 21, 2019 Every Show JoeArizona, Garage Rock, Masked Intruder, Mesa, Nile Underground, Potty Mouth, Punk, Rock 'n Roll, The Bombpops

Sometimes you just got to power through the pain for things you love. That applies to this night’s show in two ways. First, I was two days removed from spraining my knee in the pit at Agent Orange. However, I’d been looking forward to seeing friends in the Bombpops and these three bands together for about two months. I wasn’t going to miss the opportunity to be there even if I had to wear a compression brace to be able stand for it. Second, it was the Nile Underground. If…

Concerts

Long Time Anticipation

October 18, 2019October 18, 2019 Every Show JoeArizona, Celtic Punk, Club Red, Mesa, Punk, Stiff Little Fingers, The Avengers

There are bands that when they come to town, it makes for a night to not miss. Perhaps it is because they are your favorite band. Perhaps it is the time passed since they last visited. It might be they put one magical performance every single time. In the case of this pair of bands, it is the latter two. It has been a big gap for The Avengers and Stiff Little Finger’s last visit, as a full band, to Phoenix. Up first were the Bay Area punk rockers, The…

Concerts

Watching An Icon

December 31, 2018January 3, 2019 Every Show JoeArizona, Club Red, Doyle, Doyle Wolfgang Von Frankenstein, Hardcore, Hardcore Punk, Mesa, Metal, Punk, Rock, Sanitation Squad, The Dead Beat Hymns, The Misfits

In the world of music there are icons and those that most would argue defined a type of music. In the larger spectrum, probably see the names of Elvis Presley and the Beatles thrown into that discussion. However, in the world of punk rock, the Misfits defined what horror punk is. In addition, they brought a look and names to the mix that forever cemented their icon status. Since the time of the band, three of them split off to form their own projects. One member to do this was…

Concerts

The Warmth of a Basement Show

June 13, 2018June 13, 2018 Every Show JoeArizona, Eye Rake, Hardcore, HiGH, Mesa, Nile Underground, PEARS, Punk, Robot re(Pair)

Basement shows are a staple of music in various cities around the country. However, here in Phoenix, we have about two venues that count as basements. The first is a more recent one, the Valley Bar, and the second one is the Nile Underground, with a bit of age and history to it. One downside of a basement in a historic building is the ventilation and air conditioning doesn’t usually make it all the way down. For the music fans in Phoenix and a couple bands, this ends up a…