Abba Arena, London
June 5, 2025

My love of Abba has been previously documented. So when staying in London for the first time in a number of years, there was one item essential on the to-do list. Attend the Abba Voyage show, recreating the band in their late seventies prime. It was an ambitious endeavour, utilizing motion capture, work by Industrial Light and Magic, and digital projection in a three thousand capacity, custom-built venue, taking six years from concept to opening, and at a total cost estimated to be $175 million. That’s a lot of effort, but has paid off. Since opening in May 2022, the show has played seven times a week at 99% capacity. At an average ticket price of close to three figures… Well, do the math.

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I’m making a strenuous effort to avoid spoilers this year, or even discussions which might end up giving any indication of the winner. So, no browsing the Eurovision subreddit, or checking the betting odds, and I’ve avoided Googling the show too much, so that my news feed doesn’t include any hints as to the outcome. Whether I will be able to sustain this, until the point when we will be able to catch up on the show – either very late Saturday night Arizona time, or some point on Sunday – remains to be seen. I may have to go completely dark on social media once it starts, just to be sure. I know too many people who are fans of the show on some level to take the risk…

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Orpheum Theater, Phoenix
April 14th, 2025

The last time I saw Kraftwerk live, I was thoroughly unimpressed. It was July 1991, at Brixton Academy, and my twenty-something self left disgruntled, “What was the point?,” I muttered. “That wasn’t a concert.” Three decades later, Kraftwerk haven’t changed. At least, not in style. The only member remaining from that line-up is Ralf Hütter, which is why a friend refers to them as the ‘band of Theseus‘. Though given a defining trait is the group’s entirely deliberate lack of stage presence, few musical ensembles are better built to cope with personnel changes. But I did warn Chris beforehand what she should expect, based on my earlier experience. Kraftwerk will take the stage at 8 pm, on the dot. They will not interact with the audience in any way. They will play for two hours in front of their video wall. They will leave.

Turns out this was almost entirely spot-on, and the same as in 1991. Except, this time I really enjoyed it.

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Footprint Center, Phoenix
October 29th, 2024

The latest in our ongoing series of “Guess We’d Better See Them Before They Die” concerts, brings us what is intended to Jeff Lynne’s farewell series of shows, the appropriately named “Over and Out” tour. As ever, you’re never quite sure whether to believe an artist when they say they’re quitting. But with Lynne turning 77 next month, and never a particular fan of playing live (he basically didn’t for two decades), it’s credible this could be the last chance to see him. If so, Phoenix was his final performance in America. It wasn’t originally intended that way, but the concert was rescheduled from October 21st due to illness, pushing it to the end of the tour dates.

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Arizona Financial Theater
July 3rd 2024

Our latest venture into the world of geriatric pop took us to the Venue Formerly Known as the Dodge Theater in downtown Phoenix for a gathering of 80’s greats, Okay, for some loose definition of “greats”, revolving around, “People you might have heard of.” Possibly. Well, I was fairly stoked anyway, finally getting to see Thomas Dolby, a mere 43 years after Europe and the Pirate Twins became one of my earliest exposures to synth-pop. It still kicks ass now. Unfortunately, in an equally throwback spirit, a couple of members of his crew tested positive for COVID, forcing Mr. Dolby to drop out. Oh, well, sure he’ll be back around in another 43 years. I’ll only be one hundred and one.

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