Now Touring: Tame Impala Brings the Deadbeat Tour to Phoenix
Inside a sold-out night of rotating stages, lasers, a lamp-lit DJ setup and one of the best-dressed crowds we’ve seen all year.
Photography by Everyday Jams
There was a lot to look at before Tame Impala even walked onstage.
The Deadbeat Tour landed at Phoenix’s Mortgage Matchup Center on September 14 with Dominic Fike opening, and the sold-out crowd might have been one of the best-dressed we’ve seen all year. Vintage tees, tiny sunglasses, color, texture and plenty of people who clearly came ready for the night without looking like they were all working from the same mood board.
Then Kevin Parker showed up and the stage started moving.
A rotating platform sat at the center of the production, constantly changing the view depending on where you were in the arena. It was a simple idea that made a huge room feel less static, especially as Parker and the band moved through a set pulling from nearly every era of Tame Impala.
The lasers hit exactly the way you’d hope they would.
There were moments where the production pulled back and let the songs breathe, followed by sections where light completely filled the arena. It never felt like they were throwing every visual trick at the room just because they could. The bigger moments actually had somewhere to go.
Phoenix heard everything from “Apocalypse Dreams,” “Borderline” and “Elephant” to newer Deadbeat tracks including “Loser,” “Dracula” and “End of Summer.” “Let It Happen,” “Eventually,” “New Person, Same Old Mistakes” and “The Less I Know the Better” were also part of the 22-song set.
One of the coolest parts of the night happened away from the main stage.
Parker moved to a smaller side setup surrounded by moody lamps, trading the scale of the arena for something that looked almost like a living room dropped into the middle of the production. Watching him DJ from there while thousands of people surrounded the space was such a good change of pace.
It also summed up what worked about the show.
Tame Impala can obviously do massive. The lasers, rotating stage and arena-sized songs proved that quickly. But some of the most memorable details were the smaller ones, the things that made the night feel a little strange and specific instead of like another arena production moving from city to city.
Phoenix got both.
Phoenix Setlist
Tame Impala played the following 22-song set at Mortgage Matchup Center on September 14.
Apocalypse Dreams
Deadbeat Jam
Borderline
Loser
Breathe Deeper
Gossip
Elephant
Afterthought
Feels Like We Only Go Backwards
Dracula
No Reply
Ethereal Connection
Not My World
Let It Happen
Nangs
Expectation
Obsolete
Eventually
New Person, Same Old Mistakes
Encore
My Old Ways
The Less I Know the Better
End of Summer
The Deadbeat Tour Keeps Moving
Phoenix isn’t the end of this run.
The remaining U.S. dates take Tame Impala to Dallas on September 17 and Houston on September 19, continuing with Dominic Fike.
Then Parker heads home to Australia in October with Ninajirachi. The current run includes multiple nights in Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney and Perth, beginning October 9 and wrapping October 25.
The Deadbeat era carries into 2027 too, with another run through the UK and Europe. Current dates include Manchester and London before shows in Rotterdam, Paris and Cologne, followed by European festival appearances. Wet Leg joins the headline dates.
If Phoenix was any indication, this is one to see while it’s still moving.
See the remaining Deadbeat Tour dates and find tickets through Tame Impala’s official site. Tour dates + tickets
