Tucson, AZ – June 12, 2025
Thursday, June 12th could have been a typical night, but luckily for us Tucsonians Kurt Vile decided to start his tour at our historic Rialto Theatre with a headlining show before joining as a supporting act for The Pixies.
It was a very warm evening in our desert city, but inside of the Rialto Theatre it was dim and inviting, like walking into the middle of someone else’s dream. Every inch of the venue was filled with whispers of admiration for what was about to unfold, the soft chatter of voices rising and falling, stories from previous Kurt Vile concertgoers being shared with newcomers helped build the anticipation. The energy brewing felt like a kind of spell being quietly cast as everyone was excited to experience the myth of Kurt Vile.
Myth began to take shape the moment Kurt Vile stepped onto the stage. There was no spectacle, no announcement, just his presence as he came out with his recognizable head of long puffy hair, wearing a flannel and some chucks. His laid back demeanor disarms you at first. Here stands a Philly native with his guitar ready to melt a few faces and rearrange a few brains. Joined on stage by his longtime band, The Violators, they brought with them a magnetic pull so subtle that the audience didn’t even notice they were being pulled closer and closer to the barricades near the front like an answer to a beckoning call before a single note was even played.
One moment I caught myself admiring the massive pedal board sitting in front of Vile and then the opening notes of “Back to Moon Beach” began to bloom slowly, it felt like a slow expansion and suddenly everything clicked into place. I was immediately drawn into the experience as the performers on stage each began to play their instruments perfectly and Vile sang with a gentle and dreamy tone to match the feeling of this dreamy opening track. That desert warmth we left behind outside now pulsed within us, echoing through the chords and the gentle lighting of the stage, nothing too fancy, had just enough variation to let the music on the stage be the true spectacle. Our collective heartbeat synced as Vile sang about a beach on the moon, and it didn’t just feel surreal, the moment felt beautiful and for a split second I forgot that I was supposed to be taking photos of the performance.
The electrifying charm carried us through the many landscapes of his massive pedal board, armed to the teeth with effects, the hazy guitar riffs would suddenly turn into an eruption of colorful sounds, massive waves of energy and powerful riffs. His unique singing style felt like he was having a conversation with us, a shared thought layered on top of psychedelic dreamsounds and I noticed that everyone in the crowd was fully engaged as his set kept evolving. At times, songs like “Mount Airy Hill (Way Gone)” and “Blackberry Song” felt like slow moving clouds; at others, songs like “KV Crimes” cracked open into storms of fuzz and feedback that shook the spell without ever breaking the immersion, he would sing gently and then suddenly yell out from the top of his lungs as his songs would build up into incredible climax.
In between songs Vile spoke about how happy he was to be back playing in Tucson, his appreciation for the crowd felt as genuine as his guitar playing skills. Always smiling and chuckling as he spoke out into the crowd, it genuinely felt like an old buddy coming back into town and sharing every detail of where he’s been, what he has seen and experienced. His discography is so expansive that I truly believe there is a Kurt Vile record for just about anyone, that is how likeable he was on stage. Every single song resonated differently with different pockets of the crowd.
However, no Kurt Vile set is complete without the performance of “Pretty Pimpin”, a tune that is so perfectly constructed that it’s impossible not to wonder if he traveled to a different planet and brought back with him musical knowledge from afar. I saw people in the crowd get up from the seated section of the venue and join others to sing along with Kurt and his band. It was beautiful to witness the power of his music inject this wholesome energy into the room.
I am still caught in that perfect cloud of guitar magic and musical craftsmanship, when my favorite track “Like Exploding Stones” started playing I was fully immersed, my camera was tucked away so that I could live in this moment and have my own memory of it. Experiences like these are the reason I love experiencing live music, we get to escape from the world outside and exist within these intimate memories. Kurt Vile is a wizard, a guitar god, a master, he is a humble creature that just wants to shred on his guitar and I was lucky to be there to watch his moves.
