Justice
Wednesday, October 31, at Palladium Ballroom, $40
Justice is sort of a gateway band for many younger electronic music fans. Their concise jams (I'm partial to their high-profile remix of Simian's "We Are Your Friends") make it easy to get on the dancefloor, which is essentially what is expected of fans at their devastating live shows.
Rufus Wainwright
Sunday, October 14, at Morton Meyerson Symphony Center, $50
It's taken almost 15 years for songwriter Rufus Wainwright to plow through seven albums. His latest, Out of the Game,
garnered mostly positive reviews and borrowed from the talents of
musicians Nels Cline, Sean Lennon and Nick Zinner, among others. It's
doubtful he'll bring many of them along, but his live show, I'm
told, never disappoints.
Joe Cocker, Huey Lewis & The News
Friday, July 20, at Morton Meyerson Symphony Center, $57-$120
It's The Wonder Years guy and the Back to the Future guy.
Civil Twilight, Morning Parade, Voxhaul Broadcast
Saturday, August 18, at The Kessler Theater, $18-$25
This
is a pretty big show, considering last time Civil Twilight were in
town, they played at Edgefest. The time before that was at House of
Blues. The band's popularity is derived from its cinematic sound, which
is on par with easier-listening Radiohead songs and darker Coldplay
ones. Also, thankfully, the Kessler won't echo so loudly on this night as
there will be plenty of bodies to absorb the band's reverberations.
The Old 97's, Those Darlin's
Friday, August 24, at House of Blues, $26
The
Old 97's celebrates 15 years since Too Far To Care was released with this tour, which begs the
question: It's only been 15 years? So many ups and downs and so much
drama (label trouble, bad reviews, good reviews) have been crammed into
such a short time. They'll be playing the record from start to finish with an opening set from Rhett Miller's solo catalog.
Indigo Girls
Wednesday, August 29, at Morton Meyerson Symphony Center, $30-$80
This will be a great show for Indigo Girls fans, wherever they are.
Jimmy Webb
Saturday, September 15, at Kessler Theater, $25-$35
My
hat's off to the Kessler for procuring songwriting legend Jimmy Webb on
Saturday, September 15. Among the many hits Webb wrote, he penned
one of my all-time favorites: "Wichita Lineman," made famous by Glen
Campbell. In a 2006 Observer interview,
Campbell told Robert Wilonsky that Webb wrote the song "about the first
love affair he was in. She just tore him a new one, boy."
Yelawolf
Tuesday, October 2, at House Of Blues, $20
This guy raps a lot like Eminem, so you know it's good.
Zammuto
Wednesday, October 3, at Dan's Silverleaf, $12/$15
The
Books' guitarist Nick Zammuto has gone solo. That's not saying much,
seeing as The Books were a two-member group. Zammuto blends acoustic
sounds and electro techniques to make impressively arranged rhythms.
Jens Lekman, Taken By Trees
Monday, November 12, at Granada Theater, $22
It's
been a number of years since Sweden's Jens Lekman has come to Dallas.
This time, he'll be performing with his countrymen (and women) in Taken
By Trees. Should be the biggest Swedish assault since the Thirty Years'
War. Had to look that one up on Wikipedia.
