Ashe returns to The Van Buren, five years and a new album later

Her first Phoenix show since 2022 is back in the same room on Tuesday, Feb. 23, touring The Girl of Your Dreams with Claire Rosinkranz opening.

Ashe's last Phoenix show was April 14, 2022, at The Van Buren. Almost five years later she is coming back to the same room, with an album that did not exist the last time she stood on that stage.

Ashe plays The Van Buren in Phoenix on Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2027, at 8 p.m., with Claire Rosinkranz opening. Tickets are through Ticketmaster. The show was announced Oct. 22 as part of The Girl of Your Dreams Tour, and The Van Buren holds about 1,800, which is the right scale for a singer whose songs work best when the crowd is close enough to sing back.

Going back to the same venue makes the comparison easy. This time she arrives with The Girl of Your Dreams, released Oct. 16, which her discography lists as her fourth studio album and her first for Atlantic Records. It reunites her with producer Noah Conrad, the co-writer of "Moral of the Story," so the new record has a direct line back to the song that made her name.

The album runs 11 songs. Among them are "Lasso the Moon," "Swan Lake," the title track and a closing song called "Funeral." In Official Charts' track-by-track, the record's subjects come down to friendship drama, finding love and funerals. Lead single "Stop the Wedding!" set a new career-best chart peak for her, passing the No. 31 high of "Moral of the Story." That is a real step for an artist whose biggest moment until now came from a song released in 2019.

Same room, new record: The Van Buren gets to hear how far Ashe has come since 2022.

The tour is a wide one. Official Charts reports The Girl of Your Dreams Tour covers North America, the UK and Europe, with the European leg opening April 5 at 3Olympia in Dublin. The Music Universe reports the North American run starts Feb. 17 in Atlanta and moves through Houston, Dallas and Austin in its first week, so by the time it reaches Phoenix on Feb. 23 the band will have a handful of shows behind it and the new songs will have settled in.

Claire Rosinkranz opens the North American dates and is on the Phoenix bill. With an 8 p.m. start on a Tuesday, the night should wrap up at a reasonable hour for anyone with work Wednesday, but do not count on walking in late and catching the whole opening set.

A new label, a new chart high and a fresh batch of songs make this a different Ashe from the one Phoenix saw in 2022. The simplest version is this: the last show here came before this album was out, and this one is the tour for it.

Check The Van Buren and Ticketmaster pages closer to the date for door times and any changes. Then make the Tuesday plan, bring whoever you went with in 2022, and compare notes on the drive home.

Sources: JamBase: Ashe at The Van Buren, Feb 23, 2027 (jambase.com); Ticketmaster: Ashe, The Girl of Your Dreams, Phoenix (ticketmaster.com); Wikipedia: Ashe discography (en.wikipedia.org); Wikipedia: Ashe (singer) (en.wikipedia.org); Official Charts: Ashe's The Girl Of Your Dreams track-by-track (officialcharts.com); Official Charts: Ashe to take The Girl Of Your Dreams Tour to the UK, EU and North America (officialcharts.com); The Music Universe: The global run kicks off in February (themusicuniverse.com); Songfacts: Moral Of The Story (songfacts.com)