The Best Concerts in Dallas This Week: D'Angelo, Neon Trees and More

The messiah is coming. The Black Messiah, otherwise known as D'Angelo. He's been a recluse a bit through the years but his surprise album was one of the best to drop last year and word on the streets is his live show is more than up to par. Stellar even. You can catch him this week along with Neon Trees, Leon Bridges, Warren G and a full festival of some great local acts. It's a great week for any music fan. Here are our picks.

William Fitzsimmons
With Dension Witmer, 7:30 p.m., Monday, June 15, at Kessler Theater, 1230 W. Davis St., 214-272-8346, $22-28 
William Fitzsimmons is the child of two blind parents. During his childhood in Pittsburgh, they taught him to play a bevy of instruments. And so, he became on of the most prominent indie folkers around. His music has been featured on the bastions of indie folk—because it’s sullen yet not that expensive to get the rights to—intense network dramas. He gets the highest amount of praise for his 2008 album The Sparrow and the Crow” which is based on his parents divorce and his own as well. Some heavy stuff going on here, so rest assured he keeps the picking and plucking light and breezy. H. Drew Blackburn

D'angelo and the Vangaurd
8 p.m., Tuesday June 16, at the Bomb Factory, 2713 Canton St., 214-932-6501, $68-$83
Shout out to all the babies who are going to be born in March 2016 because there's no way anyone who sees D'Angelo perform “Really Love” live at The Bomb Factory on Tuesday isn't going home to explore the rest of the evening with their partner. Much like Prince, D'Angelo is pure sex incarnate. The Romans had Venus, the Greeks had Aphrodite, we have D'Angelo. And he's so much more! D'Angelo, a troubled recluse for more than a decade after the success of his brilliant, turn-of-the-century Voodoo, bounced back in 2014 with its long-awaited follow-up, Black Messiah. As its title suggests, D'Angelo isn't only concerned about what's happening in his country, he's outspoken about the plight of the people. Let's just hope he sticks around this time, we don't want to lose him for another decade-plus ever again. This is your show of the summer, Dallas, so you best not miss it. Jaime Paul Falcon

RC and the Gritz
9 p.m., Wednesday, June 17, at The Prophet Bar, 2548 Elm St., 214-742-3667, $10
Every week, RC & the Gritz hit the Prophet Bar for a jazz-tinged jam session that daps, pounds and nods to hip-hop, R&B and funk. The band makes it look oh-so effortless and easy every time out, just as a bunch of true pros should do. It's no wonder they're so great, though, because they're Erykah Badu's band and you know she would only accept the very best. Also on the docket: the hottest R&B open mic night in all of Dallas. HDB

Neon Trees
With Alex Winston and Yes You Are, 7 p.m. Thursday, June 18, at Granada Theater, 3524 Greenville Ave., 214-824-9933 or granadatheater.com, $25
Neon Trees is, we can only hope, the most on-the-nose band that has ever been. For a moment, let’s set aside the blatant Strokes-lite rock sterility, the nakedly Phoenix-lite studio sheen, that car radio commercial where they’re in some kind of moving truck following a woman wherever she goes and just focus in on one song: the opener from 2014’s Pop Psychology, “Love in the 21st Century.” This track exists for the sole purpose of housing an astounding line from Tyler Glenn: “Your kisses taste so sweet/But then you click delete.” Wow. Now that’s a lot to take in, mostly because it defies the laws of physics by somehow meaningless than nothing. It has negative intellectual energy. It’s also a perfectly workable hook for someone to make a decent pop song out of, which they of course fail to do. And that’s kind of their shtick: mixing together ingredients that could easily coalesce into decency in ways that do no such thing; it started with a whisper, and it never got louder. Their show, should you choose to attend it, is a monument to rock/pop pleasantries. Brian Peterson

Yelawolf
With Hillbilly Casino and Klever, 8 p.m. Friday, June 19, at The Bomb Factory, 2713 Canton St., 214-932-6507 or thebombfactory.com, $20-$99
Bushwalking misfit Catfish Billy, known more popularly as Yelawolf, was born in a narcoleptic railroad town called Gadsden, Alabama. But he canvassed much of the continental U.S. as the oldest of two children born to a nomadic bar-rock devotee; at one point his mother found her desired cowboy in Randy Travis’s tour manager. Prior to becoming a ward of the Interscope umbrella (Eminem signed him to his Shady Records imprint in 2011), Yelawolf built a loving fan base. He did so on the strength of his sloshed, distinctly sloppy drawl (similar to cock-rap sensation Lil Boosie) and affinity for brackish, kudzu-choked Southern gothic melodrama. 2010’s “Pop the Trunk” chronicled a morning in the life of an Alabama farmhand. New album Love Story is his most freeform, sonically integrated to date: Yela retrofits the bridge between hip-hop, country-pop and mossy, prairie-dusted folk music. It’s an oddly collated but delightful jumble of ideas. M.T. Richards

Warren G
With DJ Quik, 7:30 p.m. Friday, June 19, at Gas Monkey Live!, 10110 Technology Blvd. E., gasmonkeybarngrill.com, $25-$45
If it suddenly feels like 1993 around here, there's a good reason for it: the world's greatest regulator is headed to town. That's right, Warren G, along with fellow West Coast rap legend DJ Quik, is about to grace Dallas with the "G Funk Experience." But you can't be any geek off the street, you gotta be handy with the steel (if you know what I mean). The 213 rapper hasn't put out a studio album since 2009's The G Files, but that has done little to dampen his street cred. From ventures into the world of natural male enhancement to this year's ultimate duet of "Regulate" with Kenny G, it's clear that there are no limits to Warren G's creativity. With talk of a new album — featuring unheard Nate Dogg hooks and verses from Bun B, Too $hort and E-40 — dropping this month, G's tour seems to be the perfect way to stir-up classic hip-hop fans, as well as a few new ones. So 214, if y'all are ready for a whole new level of the G-Funk, then mount up. It's time to regulate. Molly Mollotova

Leon Bridges
7 p.m., Saturday, June 20, Scat Jazz Lounge, 111 W 4 St. #11, Fort Worth, (817) 870-9100, $17.50
Leon Bridges has gotten a lot of hype thrown his way and it’s just about to reach a critical moment. The retro soul singer who was once a busboy in Fort Worth is releasing his debut album, Coming Home, through Columbia Records the Tuesday after he plays these two very sold-out shows at Scat Jazz Lounge. We’ve heard nearly half of the album already through singles and videos and it looks like it might be a stellar project. Seeing this eventual star the weekend before his debut album in his hometown is sure to be an electric moment – if you’re lucky enough to get in. HDB

The Orange
With Jetta in the Ghost Tree, Dove Hunter, Exit 380, The Azalea Project, 7 p.m., Saturday June 20, at Granada Theater, 3524 Greenville Ave.,  $12-24
The Orange hadn't released a project since their 2008 EP, A Sonic Collection of Short Stories from La La Land. That's quite some time, but the band is back and ready to garner your attention. They put on a record this spring called, Sharing Vitamans, which is a loud and lively show of punk rock spirited by the eccentric frontman, Scott Tucker. The local acts are headling a show at the Granada, which is quite a feat with a few other great acts in support, like one of our favorites the precocious gang of Booker T. kids, the Azalea Project. HDB

Local Education Fest
With Teen Slut, The Black Dotz, Blue, the Misfit, Sudie, The Outfit, Tx, Fogg, and more, 6 p.m., Saturday, June 20, Three Links, 2704 Elm St., $11.50
Dallas’ music scene is filled to the brim with great acts. Look no further than booking company King Camel to bring us an eclectic mix of some of the finest ones. That includes the headliner, Teen Slut, who are purveyors of punkish techno. They’re sharing the bill with some of our other favorites like stripped-down songstress Sudie and the futuristic grimey-rap-funk trio, the Outfit, TX. Oh, and there’s also one of the rockingest metal bands around, Fogg. Do your education. HDB

Jodeci
With Tony! Toni! Toné! and Troop, 7 p.m. Sunday, June 21, at Verizon Theatre, 1001 Performance Pl., Grand Prairie, 972-854-5111 or verizontheatre.com, $39.50-$69.50
Hip-hop reunions are all the rage this summer, and finally we're getting some new jack swing thrown into the mix. After 18 years apart, Jodeci, better known as “The Bad Boys of R&B,” kicked off a reunion tour earlier this month. Growing up in Charlotte, the two pairs of gospel-singing brothers united to form the group, whose name is a combination of the four members’ first names, in the 1980s. The zealous group headed to NYC with a demo in hand, hoping of sealing a record deal. They first signed with Uptown Records under Sean “Puffy” Combs, who would mold them into a smooth R&B act. That work paid off: The group would go on to release three multi-platinum albums before breaking up in 1995. Influenced by the likes of Keith Sweat, Teddy Riley and Stevie Wonder, Jodeci would in turn serve as inspiration for mainstream artists like Mary J. Blige and Dru Hill. In the late '90s and early 2000s, each group member went on to record and work separately, but the Hailey brothers (K-Ci and Jojo) would eventually see monstrous success as they paired off and began recording and touring as a duo. They first reunited late last year and recently Past, Present and Future, their first album in 20 years. Devin Papillion

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