Shannon & The Clams and Treasure Mammals – Crescent Ballroom Phoenix, Arizona 12/19/25

Shannon & The Clams jingled their way through the desert with Spanky Joe (Shannon Shaw’s adorable pooch) in tow just in time for Christmas and delivered a delightful and whimsical set in Phoenix! To preface this review I should say that I have been listening to Shannon and the Clams records since about 2011 when I first heard Sleep Talk I had been so enamored with Shannon’s vocals I immediately bought that record and saw them live a few times in Long Beach at Alex’s bar. The last time I had seen Shannon & The Clams live however, was in 2016 at Tucson’s (now defunct) Night of The Living Fest. So yeah, it had been awhile.

Local Phoenix goobers Treasure Mammal opened the night and brought their mix of comedy, hardcore, powerpop, and 90s hip hop and they got the crowd going with a hilarious rendition of Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On”. They delivered a high energy set filled with humor and good vibes effortlessly mixing genres and getting the crowd involved. The set even included a conga line and enormous Christmas themed inflatables and every member of the band dressed in festive fits. 

Shannon & The Clams started their set with “I leave again” from their sixth record entitled Onion. Guitarist/Vocalist Cody Blanchard’s vocals sounded more polished than ever. Delivering his classic whimsical muppet vocals and hitting each note with ease. Then they went into playing several songs from their seventh album entitled The Moon is in the Wrong Place courtesy of Dan Auerbach’s Easy Eye Sound label. Beginning with the sweet and hopeful “Bean fields” and then moving to the Moog driven and incredibly catchy “Big Wheel” which reminds you of bands like X. Next keyboardist and vocalist Will Sprout sang lead vocals on the gorgeous 60s psych-pop number “UFO” and delivered one of my favorite lines from a song “What will you do when the aliens come? I’ll hide for a while and see how they adjust. Then, when they seem friendly, I’ll befriend them and show them how to trampoline, zipline and rollercoaster.”

Shannon Shaw delivered her soulful powerhouse vocals on standouts “Ozma” and my personal favorite track from their latest album “Real or Magic”. Just when the band returned to the stage for an encore she joked to the crowd “ya’ll make us feel like we’re Shakira, or Bee gees or Wham!” which was a nice segway into playing a couple covers to end the night beginning with Wham’s “Last Christmas” and Darlene Love’s “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)”. Like many of the great singers of yesteryear Shannon Shaw has the innate ability to effortlessly connect to her listeners through every note and she and The Clams sound better than ever.

PHOTO CREDIT: Live photos by Lucinda Guarderas for ZRockR Magazine – (c) 2025 – All Rights Reserved.