To think, a year ago we were all binge-watching “The Queen’s Gambit” on Netflix and dreaming of the return of live music to downtown’s Rialto Theatre and Hotel Congress.
Dreams do come true.
On Saturday, Oct. 23, we get to decide if we will catch local bands covering other local bands at “Tucson Does Tucson” on Congress’s Plaza Stage, or rocking tejano with the Kumbia Kings and Grupo Metal featuring Chris Perez at the AVA at Casino del Sol.
But that’s not all: Before you decide, you might want to ask yourself is you’re in the mood for some big-name hip-hop action flavored with a little reggae, which is on tap for the West Coast Music Festival at the Rillito Race Track; or get an early start to your weekend with rebel country singer Gary Alan at Tucson Music Hall, with Tucson's own Drew Cooper opening the show.
See what we mean? We went from drought to drowning. Frankly, we prefer the latter, so we’re going to break down the whos and wheres of each so you can decide how to spend your Saturday night.
West Coast Music Festival 2021
Rillito Race Track, 4502 N. First Ave. Gates open at 3 p.m. Tickets are $51 to $400 through westcoastmusicfest.com
Who: The lineup is top shelf — The Game (Compton native Jayceon Terrell Taylor) shares top bill with veteran Detroit rapper Xzibit and Too $hort, the LA rapper who’s been making music since the early ‘80s. Add in the young guns of OT Genasis, Mexican-American rapper King Lil G, L.A. rapper RJMrLA, the West Coast duo BlueBucksClan (DJ and Jeeezy), Yhung T.O. known for his vocal rapping, and the rising teen rapper Malaynah.
Tucson Do Yourself
Hotel Congress Plaza Stage, 311 E. Congress St., 7 p.m., doors open at 6:30; $10 at hotelcongress.com
Who: Hotel Congress was all set to host a star-studded release party for the “Whole Enchilada” CD and book chronicling Tucson’s live music history. But that event got pushed back to next March courtesy some production issues.
So David Slutes, Congress’s resident music historian/freaky fan/and one of those legendary musicians (Sidewinders) switched gears and decided to recruit some local musicians to cover the hits of other local musicians. Which means that Golden Boots will cover Barely Bipedal, and Los Esplifs will channel Sergio Mendoza and Orkesta Mendoza.
Mariachi Luz de Luna has the enviable task of covering Lala Guerrero, while Birds and Arrows tackles Sidewinders and Nightweather dips into Mesquite. Tom Walbank will revisit Rainer while the TireBiters featuring Lex Browning from Poco get to channel Peter McLaughlin.
Kumbia Kings with Grupo Metal featuring Chris Perez
AVA at Casino del Sol, 5655 W. Valencia Road, 8 p.m. $35 through casinodelsol.com
Who: Chris Perez, the husband of the late Tejano superstar Selena, brings his latest project to the stage with the renowned LA cumbia group that dominated Latin pop charts in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Gary Allan
Tucson Music Hall, 260 S. Church Ave., 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 22. $39 to $76 through ticketmaster.com
Who: Start your weekend early with Gary Allan featuring Tucson's own Drew Cooper opening. Cooper was originally planning to spend his Saturday night with his Safford buddies The Cole Trains, but their show at the Rialto Theatre was cancelled Tuesday due to fan complaints about the independent venue's COVID protocols. The Rialto, Fox and Congress all require that audience members show proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test taken 72 hours before the show.
Allan, who for years spent his December birthday in Tucson, is bringing us his "Ruthless Tour," celebrating his months-old album "Ruthless." It was his first studio album in eight years.
