The Brickhouse in downtown Phoenix was more like an oven on a recent Friday night. Many people cleared the room before the headliner Talib Kweli even entered the stage, as the temperature rose well past 100 degrees. Yet Kweli, with his predictably smooth rhymes and easy backbeats, managed to pull off a compelling show despite the elements and those who stayed were lyrically impressed.
Clarence Greenwood, a.k.a. Citizen Cope, did not seem to mind, or perhaps notice, that the Marquee Theater was only about half full for his June 6 performance in Tempe, AZ. Only the tallest people in the crowd, who could turn around and see the definitive line where the audience stopped and the empty portion of the room began, really had a sense of the sparse attendance
An eclectic mix of solemn indie rockers and enthralled teenage girls made up the crowd at Celebrity Theater on Wednesday, April 11. While many shows in Phoenix fail to draw the numbers expected by avid music fans, The Shins were welcomed by a lively sellout audience for an "in the round" performance.
