Best Things to Do in Dallas This Weekend

Fri 3/9

A$AP Ferg
With Denzel Curry and IDK, 7 p.m. Friday, Mar. 9, House of Blues, 2200 N. Lamar St., 214-978-2583 or houseofblues.com/dallas, $30 and up
A$AP Mob was in town a few months ago for its collective tour, but the hustling, multitalented A$AP Ferg is already back on the road for his Mad Man tour. The artist released the wildly successful Still Striving mixtape featuring the hit “Plain Jane” last fall but is already gearing up for the release of his next project. He really is a mad man. Last week, Ferg released a track from the upcoming album titled “Kristi YamaGucci,” featuring Denzel Curry and IDK, the two buzzing acts who are also on this tour. A hectic touring schedule is on par for the A$AP mob affiliate, who recently told GQ he gets no enjoyment from sitting at or home or spending time around other rappers — he’d rather be out seeing the world. Lucky you. Mikel Galicia

Sunken Garden
Sunken Garden, a new and intensely immersive work by composer Michel van der Aa, explores the liminal spaces between the real and the unreal, life and death. The Dallas Opera presents the U.S. premiere of this fascinating work, which threads 3D video technology into the more traditional aspects of stage performance, offering a multimedia experience. There will be four performances at the Winspear Opera House, 2403 Flora St., at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Wednesday and Saturday and at 2 p.m. Sunday. Tickets start at $19. More info at dallasopera.org. Jonathan Patrick

Junior Brown
With Jason Elmore, 8 p.m., Friday, March 9, at the Kessler, 1230 W. Davis St., thekessler.org, 214-272-8346, $22
Junior Brown was a man ahead of his time, brandishing an instrument more wild than his own voice is deep and rich. He made a name for himself in Austin in the '90s, where he traveled from Cottonwood, Arizona, with his outlaw-tinged country and his double necked guitar and lap steel (a “guit-steel”). His unusual voice and instrumentation have found success on TV — a few years ago he was featured on AMC’s Better Call Saul — and now with a new tour and an 11th album in the works, tentatively titled Deep in the Heart of Me, this American iconoclast is prepared to become more widely known. Tracks like “Hang up and Drive,” “My Wife Thinks You’re Dead” and “Broke Down South of Dallas” are worth the price of admission on their own. Nicholas Bostick

The Great Society
When you read the tweets and daily headlines, do you yearn for LBJ's presidency? Once again, Dallas Theater Center takes us back to the story of Lyndon's years in the White House with a production of The Great Society, running Friday to April 1 at the Wyly Theatre, 2400 Flora St. In 2016, DTC presented All the Way, the first part of Robert Schenkkan's two-part dramatization of the power and morality and change taking place in the Johnson years of the '60s. Brandon Potter returns as Johnson and Kevin Moriarty directs this co-production with Houston's Alley Theatre. For tickets and information, call 214-880-0202 or visit dallastheatercenter.org. (Pay what you can at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, March 11.) Reba Liner

Good Guys Lone Star Nationals
What is it about cars that makes certain people drool? Is the sleek look of a really cool car? Is the promise of speed and freedom? If you know the answer, then you’re the perfect kind of gearhead for the Goodguys’ 8th Lone Star Nationals tour at the Texas Motor Speedway from Friday, March 9-Sunday, March 11. The Goodguys Rod & Custom Association’s touring car show will include more than 2,000 of the coolest custom and classic hot rods, muscle cars and trucks as well as a ton of fun events for car lovers including the Goodguys AutoCross race, a cruise along the Texas Motor Speedway, a burnout competition and an exhibition of the Nitro Thunderfest Dragster. Tickets are $15 per person for Goodguys members and $17 per person for nonmembers who purchase tickets online before Thursday, March 8. Tickets at the gate are $15 for members and $20 for nonmembers. Tickets for kids ages 7-12 are $6 and kids under 6 get in for free. The Texas Motor Speedway is located at 3545 Lone Star Circle in Fort Worth. Visit good-guys.com for tickets and more information. Danny Gallagher

Sat 3/10

Flogging Molly
We have mixed feelings about holiday creep. We’ll scarf down candy and muster up the courage for haunted houses all October long, but Christmas decorations going up the day after Halloween is depressing. Don’t even get us started on revelers planting trees more than a month before Arbor Day. But we’ll pour a Guinness and wish the top o’ the marnin’ to ya, laddies, a week ahead of March 17, because we’re all too happy to celebrate alcohol and outdated yet oddly acceptable stereotypes. Also, they’re renovating the venue where we normally throw the Dallas Observer St. Patrick’s Day Concert, so this is how we’re doing it this year, OK? Flogging Molly, the perfect lager-soaked St. Paddy’s Day band with their Celtic punk mix of maudlin ballads and penny whistle mosh-pit ragers, headlines with Jon Snodgrass & Friends and Scott H. Biram opening. The fun starts at 8 p.m. Saturday at South Side Ballroom, 1135 S. Lamar St. Tickets are $35 with VIP merchandise packages available for $100 at dallasobserver.com. Jesse Hughey

The Color Run 5K
The Color Run, billed as "The Happiest 5K on the Planet" gets underway Saturday at Fair Park, 1818 1st Ave. Happiest, that is, if you like to be doused with powder in different colors at each kilometer along the way so that you resemble a rainbow by the time you reach your goal. You can run, walk, crawl or cartwheel your way to completing the non-timed event. The Color Run's start-line window opens at 8 a.m. with music, dancing, warm-up stretching and giveaways. Tickets start at $24.99. First-time runners and seasoned athletes, advised to wear powder-friendly clothes, can expect air-blown dusting off of the non-toxic powders at the finish line. For information, thecolorrun.com. or 214-426-3400. Reba Liner

Longhorn Band in Concert
Get one heck of an early start on your Texas/OU celebrations this year as the burnt orange makes the trek up Interstate 35 to the Winspear Opera House, 2403 Flora Str. The Longhorn Band transports its rich history and traditions to Dallas for a performance at 2 p.m. Saturday, March 10. The 118-year-old band will fire up UT diehards with an assembly of musicians who tote cowbells, the world’s largest marching drum (nicknamed Big Bertha) and all the brass and percussion you’d expect. Tickets are $20 at attpac.org. Jennifer Davis-Lamm

Pop Evil
6:30 p.m. Saturday, March 10, House of Blues, 2200 N. Lamar St., 214-978-2583 or houseofblues.com/dallas, $20
Midwestern metal group Pop Evil has been on a roll over the past five years. It landed nine singles on the top 10 of Billboard’s mainstream rock chart since 2013 and is fresh off the release of its eponymous 2018 album. Pop Evil’s ships are coming in, and its Music Over Worlds tour will be pulling into Dallas. Originally formed in 2001, the post-grunge quintet’s latest album has been hailed as an evolution of the band’s nebulous take on genre. Tracks go from headbanging political outrage on “Colors Bleed” and the nu-metal tinged “Art of War” to the more industrial sound of “Nothing but Thieves” or the moody soulfulness of the album’s closing song, “Rewind.” At every twist and turn, Pop Evil explores new corners of its sound, and thankfully the band took more time to fully flesh out the final product after beginning recording last May. After recent lineup changes and successes onstage and off, Pop Evil is beginning to emerge as one of the pre-eminent rock bands of the millennium’s teen years. Your chance to catch it before it really blows up is here, so grab your tickets while you can. Nicholas Bostick

Dreamy Life Records Showcase
with Acid Carousel, Sub-Sahara, Teenage Sexx, Robot Therapy and The Fibs, 8 p.m., Saturday, March 10, at Andy's Bar, 122 N. Locust St., 940-312-8985, $10
Fort Worth-based Dreamy Life Records is a record store and record label that supports local and national acts. The shop buys and sells vinyl, tapes and CDs and hosts in-house performances. This Saturday, the label heads to Denton for a night of rock n' roll at Andy's Bar. The show features psychedelic outfit Acid Carousel, punk band Teenage Sexx and others. Diamond Victoria

Sun 3/11

Concert for Kindness
Operation Kindness is the largest no-kill shelter in DFW, and for a cause like that, it's only appropriate to give back. The seventh annual Concert for Kindness features music, photography, artwork, and of course, wine and food in the Moody Performance Hall, 2520 Flora St . There will also be a silent auction of art and items for you or a special pet lover. All proceeds benefit Operation Kindness, so there's no reason not to go. The event is ast 6 p.m. March 11; tickets are $100 at squareup.com. Paige Skinner