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Phoenix

Presented by Verizon Wireless Theater at Verizon Wireless Theater

April 30, 2010

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Verizon Wireless Theater  presents Phoenix.  With Two Door Cinema Club.

Phoenix is a Grammy Award-winning French alternative rock band founded by Thomas Mars, Deck D'Arcy, Christian Mazzalai and Laurent Brancowitz in Versailles. Vocalist Thomas Mars, bassist Deck d'Arcy, and guitarist Christian Mazzalai started as a garage band based out of Mars' house in the suburbs of Paris. In 1995, Laurent Brancowitz, Mazzalai's older brother, permanently joined the band on guitar after the end of the short-lived band Darlin' he formed with Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo (who together became Daft Punk).

The group got their touring start on the French bar circuit doing Hank Williams and Prince covers. Two years later the band took on the name Phoenix and pressed 500 copies of a single on their own label, Ghettoblaster. Shortly after, they were signed to the Paris-based Source Records. Phoenix became well acquainted with labelmates Air when they acted as their backing band on several U.K. TV appearances.[2] They were the backing band for a remix of Air's "Kelly Watch the Stars" single. Soon after, Phoenix released their 2000 debut album United.

Following their two singles "If I Ever Feel Better" and "Too Young", United was released in 2000. Their track "Too Young" was in the OST for the movie Lost in Translation, and was also played in the movie Shallow Hal. The second album, Alphabetical, released in 2004, saw the band reach more mainstream success, with the singles "Everything Is Everything" and "Run Run Run" reaching some alternative rock airplay charts. Hedi Slimane commissioned a special mix of their song "Victim of the Crime" as the soundtrack to one of his runway shows for Dior Homme.

Following Alphabetical, the band toured three continents, playing 150 dates. This tour was followed up with a live album, Live! Thirty Days Ago, released only 30 days after the end of the tour. Phoenix then spent time in Berlin during the summer of 2005, making use of Planet Roc studios to produce their third album, It's Never Been Like That. To promote the release of It's Never Been Like That, Phoenix toured the United States and Europe in 2006.

In early 2009, it was announced that the band was returning with a new album titled Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, which was released on May 25, 2009[3]. The album was recorded in Paris by Cassius's Philippe Zdar who co-produced and mixed the album.The track "1901", a tribute to early Paris, was released on February 23, 2009, as a free download prior to the release of the first single, and aired for the first time on Australian radio station Triple J.

Their track "1901" was used for the theatrical trailer of the film New York, I Love You and has been featured in commercials for the 2010 Cadillac SRX. "Lisztomania" was used for a Where The Wild Things Are trailer, the season premiere of Cougar Town, an episode from the first season of USA Network's Royal Pains, and was also featured in the season six finale of HBO's Entourage. An excerpt from "Love Like a Sunset" can be heard in the Ghost Town episode of the tenth CSI:Crime Scene Investigation season. This instumental of this song is also used in the 606 football podcast on BBC 5 live.

To promote the album with live performances, Phoenix performed "Lisztomania", "1901", and "Too Young" on Saturday Night Live on April 4. They also performed "Lisztomania" on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, "Girlfriend" on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson and "1901" on The Late Show with David Letterman and The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien.

On December 2nd, 2009 nominations for the 2009 Grammy Awards were released with Phoenix receiving a nomination for the album Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix for Best Alternative Music Album. On January 31, 2010 Phoenix won the Grammy Award in this category. Shortly afterwards, "1901" peaked at #1 on the Billboard Hot Alternative Songs chart.