The 2023 edition of Coachella, which takes place in Indio, California, on April 14-16 and April 21-23, is sold out. It’s always sold out. Fortunately for local music fans, the festival’s lower-card bands – and, sometimes, headliners – often take advantage of the one-week lull between their weekend performances to do a quick show in Arizona. Coachella “runoff,” if you will. If you can’t make it to Indio, here’s a quick glimpse of the best groups making the drive.
April 19
Big Wild
Massachusetts native Jackson Stell started as a hip-hop producer but gained fame for his remix of ODESZA’s “Say My Name.” His 2019 breakthrough Superdream, inspired by his cancer diagnosis, is equally funky and psychedelic.
8 p.m., $29.50, The Van Buren, 401 W. Van Buren St., Phoenix, thevanburenphx.com
April 19
Sofi Tukker
Want to feel old? Tucker Halpern, one-half of this pop-EDM duo, cited *NSYNC as an influence on the horn-infused title track of their latest album Wet Tennis. And to be fair, the song, with sultry vocals by Sophie Hawley-Weld, sounds like something Justin Timberlake would have done before he started acting.
8 p.m., $33.50-$38, Marquee Theatre, 730 N. Mill Ave., Tempe, marqueetheatreaz.com
April 25
Yves Tumor
Sean Bowie, who uses the pronouns they/them, creates wild and percussive music that feels simultaneously soulful and industrial. Their fourth album, Praise a Lord Who Chews but Which Does Not Consume; (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds), will be out in March.
8 p.m., $33.50-$38, Marquee Theatre, 730 N. Mill Ave., Tempe, marqueetheatreaz.com
