Kanye West American Airlines Center, Dallas Thursday, September 22, 2016 Is it possible to review a Kanye West concert without reviewing Kanye West himself? Almost every conversation about the 39-year-old rapper’s work turns into a referendum on his personal character, and those assessments often fall along partisan lines. But with…
Do you remember Denton in the ’90s? Okay, so you may not have been around for that (and, if you’re attending UNT right now, you may have only barely been born.) But you almost definitely remember “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” the hit song by Denton natives Deep Blue Something — who…
There were a few ups and downs this week on the Dallas music front. Well, fortunately the main “down” didn’t happen here, and didn’t even involve a Dallas musician, but it did involve a missed appearance. With a celebrated homecoming for Norah Jones leading the week’s other news, though, there…
This week the Dallas Observer’s annual Best Of Dallas issue goes public, celebrating all that is right with the city. But with so many music venues and bars winning in so many categories, how will you ever take advantage of them all? Well, we have an idea of how to make the…
Dallas may not be the first city you’d think of as the home of Texas blues, but it should be. Its roots run deep, and can be traced back to Deep Ellum’s earliest incarnation as a musical epicenter, when Blind Lemon Jefferson played on the street corner in the 1930s…
Vanilla Ice’s hometown show at The Bomb Factory on Saturday night was as ’90s as it could get. Dallas’ loved and loathed one-hit-wonder, and still best-selling local hip-hop exponent, pulled out all the nostalgia stops in Deep Ellum. (The review is here.) But one thing was missing from the night:…
As hard as it is to believe, it’s already halfway through September — but that’s a good thing for music fans. It means peak concert season is nigh for touring artists and survivable music festivals are just around the corner. This week was a pretty busy one in local music…
Pop-ups are all the rage this season. Just last month, fans flocked to Stone Briar Center, a mall in Frisco — Frisco! — in order to stand in line for hours at Kanye West’s Life of Pablo-themed pop-up store. Not one to be one-upped, Puff Daddy is hosting his own…
What’s that saying about how if it ain’t broke? After months of carousing, touring and burning cigarettes on each other (a regular pastime of theirs, apparently), Post Malone and Justin Bieber finally, officially released their first collaboration together, “Déjà Vu.” But the title may be a little more literal than it…
Who are the best musicians to ever come out of Dallas-Fort Worth? That’s a subjective question. Best-selling artists, however, can be quantified. There’s a whole industry that tracks record industry sales, and within it the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is literally the Gold standard. The RIAA, which has…
It was a short week this week thanks to the holiday weekend, but things didn’t slow down very much in the music scene here in Dallas. From festival announcements to reality TV to even news of a Christmas album, the first full week of September was a busy one in…
Deep Ellum looks a little bit different this week. No, it’s not because another restaurant opened there (although you could be forgiven for losing track). Starting last Sunday, three blocks of Crowdus Street have been closed off, from Emerson to Commerce, under the auspices of Reimagine Crowdus. For the next…
Don’t mess with North Texas country ladies. That seemed to be a recurring theme this week, as two of them — Maren Morris and Miranda Lambert — made headlines by notching up some big-time awards (or at least award nominations). But there’s been a lot more happening closer to home…
Sorry, Sturgill, but the Academy got this one right. Earlier this week, self-styled don’t-call-him-country outlaw Sturgill Simpson took to the stump (i.e. social media) to lambast the dreaded country music establishment. Usually, this might be music to the ears of any old-school country believer. But he didn’t figure on one…
This is poised to be a big year for Lights All Night. North Texas’ biggest EDM festival — the area’s biggest music festival, period — has already expanded from one day to two, and taken up residency at Dallas Market Hall for its annual New Year’s bash. This year will…
There are a few key things you need to make Ships Lounge the real Ships Lounge. First, of course, is the jukebox. Second is chili dog night. But maybe the most important part of making sure the Lower Greenville dive, which reopened last month after a year out of business,…
Who says the sky is falling? Well, maybe a few people. Some of them were in Denton on Monday night to wring hands over the state of the music scene, although they weren’t necessarily in the majority. There were none to be found in Deep Ellum, though, where, when folks…
Conspiracy theories are everywhere in Denton. Perceived threats are coming from all directions on the college town’s proud music scene, and suspects include Jason Lee, Buc-ees, LSA Burger, city officials and even Scientologists (OK, that’s just Jason Lee again). These fears don’t come from nowhere. With venues like Hailey’s Club, Rubber…
The more Deep Ellum changes, the more it looks the same. A good part of that has to do with Clint and Whitney Barlow, who have made it their mission to reopen some of the neighborhood’s most legendary music venues. First, in 2009, it was Trees, then, six year later,…
Gerard Hanson does things at his own speed. The Dallas producer, better known by the name Convextion, hasn’t released an album since 2006. Of course, that namesake album just happened to be named one of the best of the decade by U.K.’s FACT magazine. This year Hanson seems to have…
Daniel Driensky and Sarah Reyes, the creative pair behind local photo and video outlet Exploredinary, recently starting shooting videos for the Dallas Observer. Their first was with about as big of a name as you’ll find in DFW music right now: Leon Bridges. He even showed them around his surrogate…
Annie Clark, a diehard Dallas Cowboys fan? Yes, it’s true. In a new ad for the upcoming NFL season, the artist otherwise known as St. Vincent rips through a fireworks-worthy rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner” while reminiscing about her childhood dream to join America’s Team. “My parents bought me a…
