Phoenix

It will be hard to top last summer, when Phoenix unofficially took the mantle of the world's house band. But Thomas Mars and company are hardly a flash in the pan: After all, the album that catapulted them to unprecedented success was their fourth studio effort. They've been doing this for more than a decade, so we're guessing they'll know how to handle the ebbing tide. And here's the thing about Phoenix: For the rest of its existence, the act will be able to play that absurd mountaintop payoff at the beginning of "Love Like a Sunset Part II," and if for no other reason than that, every single one of its shows will be a can't-miss.