Grammy winner, slackers take Tucson stages this weekend

Here are three shows heading our way that frankly have us a little excited.

Raitt brings ‘Just Like That’ tour to Tucson

And just like that, the world can change.

It’s something the Grammy-winning, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Americana rocker Bonnie Raitt knows all too well.

On her latest album, 2022’s “Just Like That,” Raitt, like the rest of her musical brethren, was coming out of the pandemic and all of the political and social unrest it birthed.

The album’s title song fit her mindset, she said in liner notes, “because there’s never been a time that made me look around and say, ‘Nobody saw this coming’ — where all of a sudden, everything shifted.”

“Just Like That,” which won a trio of Grammys in 2023 (Best Americana Performance, Best American Roots Song and Song of the Year for the album’s title track), is Raitt’s 18th career album and first since 2016’s “Dig In Deep.”

Raitt is set to take the stage at Linda Ronstadt Music Hall, 260 S. Church Ave., at 8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 7; blues/Americana singer James Hunter opens the show. There are limited tickets available through ticketmaster.com starting at $190.

A back-to-school bash for all you slackers

Slacker University isn’t a real place; it’s a state of mind and on Saturday, Sept. 7, it’s putting on what is being billed as Tucson’s biggest back-to-school party.

Never mind that we’ve been back in school for two weeks, the party at Rialto Theatre, 318 E. Congress St., kinda gets us.

We are still very much in summertime vacation mode, so even though the homework is starting to pile up, Slacker U knows we need just a little nudge — some of us need a hard push, if we’re being honest — to get in the right mindset.

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Slacker University travels around the country with its cast of high-energy DJs spinning EDM, pop, rock and rap to college-age (18-plus) audiences. Expect stage effects, including bubbles and balloons and LED light shows, as well as a chance to sing “Bear Down” at the top of our lungs.

The party is from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. and admission is $15 and $20 through rialtotheatre.com or liveslacker.com.

Mexican pop singer plays with lights, new concept

Gloria Trevi is making her first post-pandemic Tucson appearance on Friday, Sept. 6, when her “Mi Soundtrack Tour” pulls into the AVA at Casino del Sol.

It will be her first show here since she sold out the AVA in 2019 and comes in the homestretch of Trevi’s 32-city North American tour that started in Hidalgo, Texas, in January and ends in Washington State on Sept. 22.

Reviews hint that this is a bold venture for Trevi, a show that marries avant-garde with modern show concepts that include projections of screaming headlines, some of them not flattering to the singer, and footage of a young Trevi.

Accompanied by a nine-piece band and six dancers, Trevi is expected to perform a two-hour show complete with smoke, lights and a diamond-shaped floor created by LED lights.

Then there are the costume changes, which some reviews noted added color and context to her show.

The gates of the AVA, 5655 W. Valencia Road, open at 7 p.m., and the show begins at 8. Tickets are $50-$150 through casinodelsol.com.