MUSIC

Top weekend concert picks for Phoenix: Rihanna! Secret Posies Pop Up Show! Jim Adkins! Flatbush Zombies!

Ed Masley
The Republic | azcentral.com
5/1: RIHANNA | The Barbadian singer has been steaming up the pop charts since 2005 when her double-platinum debut, "Pon de Replay," peaked at No. 2 on Billboard's Hot 100. The following year, she topped that chart with "SOS." Her biggest hits include multiplatinum chart-toppers "Umbrella," "Take a Bow," "Disturbia," "Rude Boy," "Only Girl (In the World)," "What's My Name," "S&M," "We Found Love" and "Diamonds." “FourFiveSeconds,” the first single from her new album, "Anti," featured guest appearances from Kanye West and Paul McCartney, going double platinum and hitting No. 4 on Billboard’s Hot 100. A second hit, “Bitch Better Have My Money,” peaked at No. 15, going platinum. | Details: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 1.  Talking Stick Resort Arena (formerly US Airways Center), 201 E. Jefferson St., Phoenix. $25.75-$146.25. 800-745-3000, ticketmaster.com.

Rihanna is headed to Talking Stick Resort Arena in a weekend that also features Valley concerts by Chilean rockers La Ley, the Posies, Kevin Gates and Flatbush Zombies. Here's a look at those and other weekend picks.

Best Rihanna singles of all time (so far) from 'Pon de Replay' to 'Work' and 'Kiss It Better'

4/28: Paper Foxes

If you miss them on that Bear Ghost show, a fate do not recommend, they have their own headlining Valley Bar show with Bad Neighbors and the Psychedelephants. Two things that grabbed my attention while watching them cover a set of Rolling Stones songs at the Crescent Ballroom earlier this year were their amazing rhythm section and one of the Valley's most watchable front men. Last year's "Love & Schizophrenia," a four-song EP, doesn't sound a thing like "Paint It, Black" or "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction." But not in a bad way. The opening track, "Bologna Pantalones (I'm Shaking)," is primal garage-punk with the attitude it takes to pull that off. And the tracks that follow more than live up to the promise of that introduction, from the wordless falsetto on the chorus hook of the brilliantly titled "Wes Anderson Cooper" to the slow-burning swagger and throat-shredding shrieks of the EP-closing "'Til Death Do We Party."

Details: 7 p.m. Thursday, April 28. Valley Bar, 130 N. Central Ave., Phoenix. $5. Valleybarphx.com.

4/29: Kevin Gates

Straight outta Baton Rouge, Gates followed through on a string of career-building mixtape by hitting the charts at No. 2 in January with his first proper studio release, "Islah." The album sent two singles to the Top 10 of the Billboard rap charts, with the second of those singles, "2 Phones," giving Gates his first Top 40 entry on the Hot 100. Pitchfork said his hook-writing is "sterling" while Spin called the album "the most-balanced Kevin Gates project to date, discovering an equilibrium between his pummelers and his caressers we didn’t previously know was possible."

Details: 9 p.m. Friday, April 29. Livewire, 7320 E. Indian Plaza, Scottsdale. $30. 480-361-9783, livewireaz.com.

4/30: Jim Adkins

The leader of Jimmy Eat World did a solo tour last year, playing new solo material, Jimmy Eat World songs and covers. He also released a series of digital singles — three originals and covers of songs by the Everly Brothers, Beck and Cyndi Lauper. As Adkins explained the motivation behind the solo tour and singles in a press release, "2015 seemed like as good a time as any to take a second and experiment with life outside the pattern. In the past I have been involved with solo work, playing mostly benefit concerts locally in my home of Arizona. Toward the end of our last European tour I decided to stick around and play a solo show in Berlin. I thought to myself: Hey, this is different and also pretty fun…I could keep going. So why not?"

Details: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 30. Valley Bar, 130 N. Central Ave., Phoenix. $20; $19 in advance. Valleybarphx.com.

4/30: La Ley

These Chilean rockers won a Grammy for the soundtrack to an "MTV Unplugged" performance they did in 2001. This tour is in support of a reunion effort called "Adaptacion," their first album since 2003.

Details: 8 p.m. Saturday, April 30. Comerica Theatre, 400 W. Washington St., Phoenix. $35-$45. 602-379-2800, concerts.livenation.com.

4/30: 112

This R&B quartet took home a Grammy back in 1997 for their featured role in "I'll Be Missing You," a multi-platinum tribute to the late great Notorious B.I.G. recorded by Puff Daddy and Faith Evans. And by that point, they'd already hit the mainstream with a breakthrough single, "Only You," that featured Biggie on the guest rap. Other notable hits include "Cupid," "Love Me" and "Peaches & Cream."

Details: 8:30 p.m. Saturday, April 30. Celebrity Theatre, 440 N. 32nd St., Phoenix. $20-$25. 602-267-1600, celebritytheatre.com.

5/1: Rihanna

The Barbadian singer has been steaming up the pop charts since 2005 when her double-platinum debut, "Pon de Replay," peaked at No. 2 on Billboard's Hot 100. The following year, she topped that chart with "SOS," her first of 14 singles to hit No. 1, including this year's "Work." Rihanna's biggest hits include multiplatinum chart-toppers "Umbrella," "Take a Bow," "Disturbia," "Rude Boy," "Only Girl (In the World)," "What's My Name," "S&M," "We Found Love" and "Diamonds." At 28, she's topped the Hot 100 more times than Beyonce, Michael Jackson and Madonna.

Best Rihanna singles of all time (so far) from 'Pon de Replay' to 'Work' and 'Kiss It Better'

Details: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 1.  Talking Stick Resort Arena (formerly US Airways Center), 201 E. Jefferson St., Phoenix. $25.75-$146.25. 800-745-3000, ticketmaster.com.

5/1: Posies Secret Pop Up Show

These power-pop legends will sneak into Phoenix for a Pop Up Secret Show in support of their eighth album, "Solid States," which hits the streets officially May 20 but will be available at this performance. None of these full-band performances will be in clubs. They're playing alternative locations in each city, with the actual address released to ticket holders not more than 24 hours in advance. That means we don't have very many of the necessary details. It could be a photography studio, a comfy living room, a house boat, a rehearsal studio, a deli, Sheriff Joe's house. But it will not be a proper rock club. The Posies' Ken Stringfellow says of "Solid States," “So many things have changed, either by choice or by circumstance, in the six years between this album and the one before it. We’ve had two bandmates die, a divorce and remarriage, a transoceanic move. There’s been good things and difficult things, but nothing is in the same place for us. So it makes sense that this record would sound different from its predecessors."

Details: Tickets are $32.64-$80 at www.eventbrite.com/e/the-posies-secret-pop-up-show-tickets-23341506073.

5/1: Flatbush Zombies

Brooklyn rappers Meechy Darko, Zombie Juice and Erick "The Architect" Elliott are touring on “3001: A Laced Odyssey,” their first proper studio album, following a pair of mixtapes. There’s a heavy psychedelic vibe to Flatbush Zombies’ brand of hip-hop, from the music itself to lyrics celebrating acid (“Acid, Acid, change yo’ life”). As HipHopDX raved,  “The 12-song mind trip is hodgepodge of haunting strings, ambient sounds fit for a sci-fi film and hard-hitting drums.”

Details: 8 p.m. Sunday, May 1. Marquee Theatre, 730 N. Mill Ave., Tempe. $23. 480-829-0607, luckymanonline.com.

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May concert guide for Phoenix: Rihanna, Pentatonix, Kenny Chesney, Lil Wayne, Lamb of God, and Tyler, the Creator

Reach the reporter at ed.masley@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-4495. Twitter.com/EdMasley.