The best and biggest concerts playing metro Phoenix in January 2023

Two of Motown's most iconic artists — the Temptations and the man who wrote their first chart-topping entry on the Hot 100, Smokey Robinson — will swing through metro Phoenix in a month whose other highlights range from Jazz Is Dead doing Grateful Dead covers to Carin Leon fresh from winning Best Regional Mexican Song at the Latin Grammys.

Our guide to January concerts also features shows by R&B star Ari Lennox, alternative hip-hop great Open Mike Eagle, jazz legend Terence Blanchard, an art-punk group whose name we can't reveal in full and a former member of the Grateful Dead, Bruce Hornsby.

Here are the best concerts in Phoenix in January 2023.

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Open Mike Eagle

The alternative hip-hop sensation is still going strong a decade down the road from the career-defining "Unapologetic Art Rap," as evidenced on this year's excellent "Component System with the Auto Reverse." Highlights range from Madlib-produced, Fonzie-referencing "Circuit City," where he sets the tone with "I'm a brand new man doing the same thing," to the introspective self-awareness of "I Retired Then I Changed My Mind."

Details: 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 6. Valley Bar, 130 N. Central Ave., Phoenix. $17. valleybarphx.com.

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The Iron Maidens

As the title of their debut album summed it up, they are "The World's Only Female Tribute to Iron Maiden." And they do it well, covering classics from all eras of the British metal legends' career, encompassing their biggest hits and fan favorites, with a stage show that includes appearances by Maiden mascot Eddie, the Grim Reaper, the devil and more.

Details: 8 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 7. Marquee Theatre, 730 N. Mill Ave., Tempe. $25 and up. 480-829-0607, luckymanonline.com.

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The Sound of Animals Fighting

Rich Balling of Rx Bandits launched this experimental art-punk supergroup in 2006, often keeping the individual musicians' identities concealed behind animal masks. This is one of 13 shows they'll play this month in support of an EP released last year. That EP was the first new music they'd released since 2008's art-damaged neo-prog masterstroke "The Ocean and the Sun."

Details: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 11. Marquee Theatre, 730 N. Mill Ave., Tempe. $32.50. 480-829-0607, luckymanonline.com.

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The Temptations

The Temptations are among the biggest-selling singing groups in history. They topped the Hot 100 with four enduring Motown classics — “My Girl,” “I Can’t Get Next to You,” “Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)” and “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone” — and placed 12 other singles in the Top 10. Founding member Otis Williams is the last Temptation standing from their '60s prime, although Ron Tyson has been their lead tenor since the early '80s.

Details: 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 12. Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts, 7380 E. Second St. $50-$95. 480-499-8587, scottsdaleperformingarts.org.

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George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic

After announcing his retirement in 2018, George Clinton assembled the latest edition of Parliament Funkadelic for the One Nation Under a Groove Tour in 2019, playing sold-out gigs across the country. As our headline noted when that tour hit Phoenix, "George Clinton doesn't seem ready to give up the funk on Parliament Funkadelic farewell tour." And here we are. The last time was a blast. This should be every bit as entertaining.

Details: 8 p.m. Friday, Jan. 13. Celebrity Theatre, 440 N. 32nd St., Phoenix. $38-$69. 602-267-1600, celebritytheatre.com.

Jazz Is Dead

This all-star ensemble is celebrating its 25th year of exploring the music of the Grateful Dead through instrumental covers of their songs while also honoring the 50th anniversary of the Dead album "Wake of the Flood," their first release after the death of Ron "Pigpen" McKernan. It's an underrated treasure of an album that always struck me as sounding a bit like the Kinks. And that can only be a good thing.

Details: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 17. Celebrity Theatre, 440 N. 32nd St., Phoenix. $75. 602-267-1600, celebritytheatre.com.

Why Bonnie

These Brooklyn-by-way-of-Austin-Texas rockers are touring the States in support of "90 in November," a full-length debut written mostly during lockdown. Singer-guitarist Blair Howerton's introspective lyrics are delivered in a way that makes it feel like she's confiding in a friend while the songs arrive at an unlikely middle ground between Americana twang and the fuzz-laden haze of '90s shoegaze.

Details: 8 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 19. Valley Bar, 130 N. Central Ave., Phoenix. $16. valleybarphx.com.

Bruce Hornsby & the Noisemakers

He may be best remembered in the mainstream for “The Way It is,” a triple-platinum debut whose title track topped Billboard’s Hot 100 in 1986, followed by hit singles “Mandolin Rain” and “The Valley Road.” But he's still challenging himself and listeners decades later, diving into bluegrass, jazz, classical and even electronica along the road to this year's "'Flicted," which features Hornsby rapping on a hip-hop reinvention of Chuck Berry's "Too Much Monkey Business."

Details: 8 p.m. Friday, Jan. 20. Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts, 7380 E. Second St. $75-$85. 480-499-8587, scottsdaleperformingarts.org.

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Canceled: Tropical (Expletive) Storm

These Australian art-punk heroes whose full name cannot be printed on a family-friendly website are touring the States in support of "Deep States," a glorious racket of feedback-laden noise-guitar cacophony, the lyrics often slurred beyond the point of comprehension. It's a brilliant mess that's all but guaranteed to be much messier in person. On a good night. (This tour was canceled due to bassist Fiona Kitschin being diagnosed with breast cancer).

Details: 8 p.m. Friday, Jan. 20. Rebel Lounge, 2303 E. Indian School Road, Phoenix. $18. 602-296-7013, therebellounge.com.

Carin Leon

Carin Leon won Best Regional Mexican Song at the 23rd annual Latin Grammy Awards in late November 2022 for the Matisse collaboration "Como lo Hice Yo" and spent three weeks topping the Regional Mexican Songs chart earlier last year with a feature on the Banda MS track "Ojos Cerrados." He returns to Glendale on the En Concierto Tour.

Details: 8 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 21. Desert Diamond Arena, 9400 W. Maryland Ave., Glendale. $39 and up. 623-772-3800, ticketmaster.com.

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Smokey Robinson

Bob Dylan is said to have called him "America's greatest living poet." And Dylan would know. In addition to being Hitsville's greatest lyricist, Robinson did as much as anyone this side of Berry Gordy Jr. to establish Motown as the Sound of Young America, supplying classic early hits for the Temptations while running his own songs up the pop charts with the Miracles, from “Shop Around” to "Tears of a Clown," “You’ve Really Got a Hold on Me” and “The Tracks of My Tears.”

Details: 8 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 21. Mesa Arts Center, 1 E. Main St. $65-$125. 480-644-6500, mesaartscenter.com.

Terence Blanchard

This Grammy-winning jazz trumpeter launched his career in the '80s as a member of the Lionel Hampton Orchestra and the Jazz Messengers, going on to earn two Oscar nominations for his scores two Spike Lee films. He's playing two shows at the MIM Music Theatre on a tour in support of "Absence," a masterful tribute to Wayne Shorter, in collaboration with the E-Collective and the Grammy-winning chamber group Turtle Island Quartet.

Details: 7 and 9 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 21. MIM Music Theater, Musical Instrument Museum, 4725 E. Mayo Blvd., Phoenix. $44.50-$54.50. 480-478-6000, mim.org.

Aaron Lewis

After making a name for himself as the Vedderesque voice of such post-grunge rock-radio staples as "It's Been Awhile" and "Right Here," the Staind singer went country with some help from Charlie Daniels and George Jones on the platinum “Country Boy,” which charted higher on Billboard’s rock chart than its country chart. He's also known for his unwavering support of Donald Trump and wearing MAGA hats on stage.

Details: 8 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 21. Talking Stick Resort, Loop 101 and Pima Road, Salt River Reservation. Verified resale ticket prices vary. 480-850-7734, talkingstickresort.com.

Chris Cagle

This Nashville singer topped the country charts in 2002 with a breakup ballad titled "I Breathe In, I Breathe Out" from his debut album, "Play It Loud." He had a string of Top 10 entries on the country charts through 2007, including "Laredo," "What a Beautiful Day," "Chicks Dig It" and "What Kinda Gone." He retired from music in 2015, but apparently, that didn't stick.

Details: 8 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 21. Wild Horse Pass Hotel & Casino, 5040 Wild Horse Pass Blvd., Gila River Reservation. $25 and up. 800-946-4452, playatgila.com.

Yonder Mountain String Band

The hard-touring jamgrass sensations from Nederland, Colorado, are in the running for Best Bluegrass Album at Grammys thanks to "Get Yourself Outside," an album that grew from a series of online interactions between the members of the band during lockdown. After setting the tone with "Has the world turned upside down?," they move from strength to strength with ample space for jamming on primarily acoustic instruments.

Details: 8 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 21. Marquee Theatre, 730 N. Mill Ave., Tempe. $30-$60. 480-829-0607, luckymanonline.com.

Unwritten Law

The SoCal punk veterans are touring the states in support of "The Hum." Their first album in more than a decade, "The Hum" is a bit of a concept album that finds them filtering their classic punk approach through the melodic sensibilities of power-pop with a slight hint of '90s alternative-rock and a winning foray into ska-punk on "Ghosted."

Details: 7 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 22. Crescent Ballroom, 308 N. Second Ave., Phoenix. $25. 602-716-2222, crescentphx.com.

Dry Cleaning

Led by Florence Shaw's primarily spoken-word delivery, these British post-punks are touring the States in support of one 2022's most intriguing rock releases, "Stumpwork." It may be Shaw's dispassionate delivery that reaches out and grabs you by the collar, saying, "This is different, innit?", the end result is all the more compelling for the way her bandmates underscore the conversation, from the jagged edge of "Gary Ashby" to the jangle of a "Kwenchy Kups."

Details: 8 p.m. Monday, Jan. 23. Crescent Ballroom, 308 N. Second Ave., Phoenix. $25; $22 in advance. 602-716-2222, crescentphx.com.

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The Robert Cray Band

It’s been 35 years since “Strong Persuader” took this soulful blues guitarist to the mainstream, largely on the strength of “Smoking Gun,” a breakthrough single that remains his biggest hit. Cray may never top the double-platinum benchmark set by “Strong Persuader.” But "That's What I Heard," the album this tour is supporting, proves that Cray is as strong a persuader as ever.

Details: 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 26. Celebrity Theatre, 440 N. 32nd St., Phoenix. $35-$65. 602-267-1600, celebritytheatre.com.

Will Sheff

The leader of Okkervil River is taking his first solo album, "Nothing Special," on the road, promising to dust off some crowd-pleasing Okkervil staples while bringing his solo material to the stage at the helm of a full band. "Nothing Special" is anything but, playing to the strength that those indie darling matter in the first place while favoring a more measured approach in fully realized arrangements that often build to a majestic climax.

Details: 8 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 26. Valley Bar, 130 N. Central Ave., Phoenix. $17. valleybarphx.com.

Ari Lennox

The first woman signed to J. Cole's Dreamville Records is touring the States in support of a brilliant new album called "Age/Sex/Location," which features guest appearances by kindred spirits Chlöe, Lucky Daye and Summer Walker. It's the sort of record that should speak directly to an Erykah Badu fan. It spawned her biggest hit, the Shirley Brown-sampling hip-hop soul masterstroke "Pressure." And the rest of the album is just as inspired.

Details: 8 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 28. The Van Buren, 401 W. Van Buren St., Phoenix. Verified resale ticket prices vary. 866-468-3399, thevanburenphx.com.

Lalah Hathaway

The five-time Grammy winner arrives in Chandler fresh from sharing a holiday present with fans − a soulful duet with her father, the late Donny Hathaway, on his seasonal standard, "This Christmas." The R&B star is reportedly working on her first full-length effort since "Honestly," a 2017 release that earned the singer two more Grammy nominations.

Details: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 28. Chandler Center for the Arts, 250 N. Arizona Ave. $48-$78. 480-782-2680, chandlercenter.org.

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

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Best Phoenix concerts in January 2023: Carin Leon, Smokey Robinson