I just went to Joe's Grotto to see Adavant, Starkill, Arsis, Fleshgod Apocalypse and Wintersun. For the most part the reviews here have been somewhat accurate, so I won't waste your reading time except to say that the sound technicians seemed to be hit and miss with the bands that performed live. The first three groups were fantastic - great vocal volume, guitars, bass and drums were spot on. It was great. The problem was noticeable when Fleshgod got on stage and the vocals were completely shot from the get-go. The lead was almost muted in the mains and the backups were just right - which causes problems obviously. The whole set was pretty quiet which is a bummer when you go to a death metal show. I even heard others complaining about the quietness of their set. Wintersun started similarly with guitars and vocals being far too quiet but progressively getting better.
I'd also like to point out that there was plenty of moshing. Plenty. I'm only saying this because I'm new to the Arizona scene (from Minnesota) and I'd heard that there was a no moshing rule at Joe's Grotto - which was a huge concern of mine. Nope - we moshed good and hard for every set.
The staff was nice - didn't really have any issues with bouncers except that I got pulled aside for pushing people on the edge of the mosh pit and was told, "Do what you've got to do to anyone in the pit, just don't push the people on the edge of the pit." I was okay with that.
All in all, it was a great experience for a little bar and I'll definitely be back for future metal shows.