Phoenix rises with show at Madison Square Garden

No ashes, just rising.

With the release of its breakthrough album, "Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix" (Glassnote), in 2009, the French indie-popster group Phoenix has slowly and surely grown from club king and Apple Store performer to Grammy-winning Madison Square Garden headliner and American Music Award nominee.

"They've just done everything right," says Robert Haber, CMJ Network founder and chief executive, adding that he was thrilled to have the band's show at the Garden as part of this year's CMJ Music Marathon. "It's been great to watch them grow."

In many ways, Phoenix's success is a blueprint for other indie-minded artists. Here's how they did it:

GO COMMERCIAL 

Even sheltered folks who have no idea who Phoenix is have heard its music in the past year. "1901" enjoyed a long run as the theme for the Cadillac SRX commercials, the theme for the iPod Shuffle and in the trailer for "New York, I Love You" before it made its run up the rock and alternative charts. "Lisztomania" was in the trailer for "Valentine's Day."

TOUR AND TOUR AGAIN

Since the release of "Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix" last year, the band has played The Music Hall of Williamsburg, Terminal 5, the Apple Store in SoHo, Hammerstein Ballroom, and Rumsey Playfield in Central Park twice on three different tours, as well as a remarkable three-song appearance on "Saturday Night Live." Their Madison Square Garden show will mark the fourth American tour for this album.

BE SOCIAL

Not only does the band have a solid social marketing campaign, but its website tries hard to bring fans into the music-making process. Currently, weare phoenix.com makes all the individual tracks for the songs from "Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix" available for download so fans can remix the songs themselves. There also is a behind-the-scenes documentary about the making of each song.

WHO: Phoenix

WHEN | WHERE: 8 Wednesday, Madison Square Garden, Manhattan

INFO: $39.75-$60.20; 212-465-6741, thegarden.com

Set list

Here's what Phoenix played last month at the Hollywood Bowl in California.

Lisztomania

Lasso

Long Distance Call

Fences

Girlfriend

Armistice

North

Love Like a Sunset

Everything Is Everything

Rally

Rome

Funky Square Dance

What critics say 

"WHAT PHOENIX HAS instead is one of the oldest virtues in rock - the band makes you feel sexier, suaver and more fascinating for having listened to it."

- August Brown, Los Angeles Times

" MARS is a rare and wonderful frontman - polite without being ingratiating, demure without seeming aloof."

- Chris Richards, The Washington Post

"THE BAND BLENDED sleek, new-wave guitars with bouncy synthesizers that sounded as if they would've been at home on a single by A Flock of Seagulls. Mars' high-pitched vocals, occasionally electronically enhanced, made everything light and inviting."

- Greg Kot, Chicago Tribune