If you’re one of those people with a growing distaste for the hipster madness of South By Southwest, you’ve just been presented with one heck of an alternative: Willie Nelson’s 2017 Luck Reunion, held on his property 45 minutes outside of Austin. In true Outlaw Country fashion, the festival falls…
After a hiatus and a lineup shuffle last fall, the future of Denton favorites Pearl Earl seemed to be up in the air. But now the psych rock group is ready to move forward with an expanded lineup and plan to release their first full-length album this spring. The band…
The organizers of a new music festival, Band Together Denton, say that a lack of venue options isn’t stopping them from throwing an ambitious music festival this weekend. Denton has been plagued with the closures of some of its venues, particularly the ones that would host an event like this weekend’s…
Nick Valensi hadn’t planned to start another band. As the guitarist for the Strokes, who could blame him? But as band members Julian Casablancas and Albert Hammond Jr. began to invest more time in their solo careers, Valensi found himself with more free time than he liked. “A couple years…
The three-day Free Underage Cool Kids Fest got underway in Denton on Friday, with the mission to engage an oft-neglected demographic: teens. For many involved, it was their first foray into the world of local music — for the attendees and organizers. The inexperience showed. For starters, noise complaints beleaguered the event…
Weekends tend to attract a much bigger, older and better established crowd to Deep Ellum, and these descriptors were all true of the people crowding around the Bomb Factory stage for electronic/indie rock duo Phantogram on Saturday. Frankly, this bred an enjoyable sense of calm that has been uncharacteristic of the…
This weekend people flocked to the born-again So What?! Music Festival in Deep Ellum. Pop-punk veterans like Hawthorne Heights and Dance Gavin Dance headlined the festival, as well as metal acts like Hatebreed and DevilDriver. But the real draw was the artists who held down the fort leading up to…
The festival South By So What!? once drew DFW’s fans of pop-punk, emo and post-hardcore music. But the company behind the event, Third String Festivals, has decided to give it an overhaul. It’s got a new name and new location: The festival will be renamed So What?! and move to Deep Ellum. “Our desire to…
With the 28th annual Dallas Observer Music Awards just around the corner, we will spend the next several weeks highlighting some of the nominees for this year’s awards. And when we say these artists are the “Best,” don’t just take our word for it: We polled 200 local music experts…
Following last month’s house party music festival in Denton, Broketopia, an unusual precedent has been set in the community, as more and more DIY venues are embracing the “house festival” format. There’s already another event in the works, and it’s aimed at getting the underage crowd in on the fun…
Slayer With Anthrax and Death Angel Gas Monkey Live!, Dallas Friday, Oct. 7, 2016 There is no group of fans more dedicated than thrash metal fans. The genre clichés of pseudo-satanism and glorified violence may seem a little tired, but for those who have been listening to Slayer and Anthrax…
For three days in late September, Oaktopia Fest converged on downtown Denton, bringing live music to the clubs and open areas surrounding the square. But at the same time, there was another festival happening, a brand new experiment called Broketopia. Spanning five days and seven venues, and with a lineup…
Black Sabbath With Rising Sons Gexa Energy Pavilion, Dallas Wednesday, September 7, 2016 After nearly 50 years, Black Sabbath took the stage for the final time in Dallas on Wednesday night. Since their inception, the English quartet has had a mythic quality to it, as though there plausible deniability of…
William Shakespeare once wrote, “Some men are born great, others achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.” But the Bard of Avon failed to include one more group: those who have decided to thrust themselves upon greatness, regardless of the outcome. Then again, he never would’ve accounted for…
Rob Zombie With Korn and In This Moment Gexa Energy Pavilion, Dallas Friday, August 4, 2016 Words like “togetherness” and “escapism” might not be the first ones that come to mind when you’re looking to describe a concert headlined by Korn and Rob Zombie. There’s all that pent up aggression,…
When Joshua Luttrull, Ivette Colon, and Vincent and Victor Bui first crossed paths in Junior High, they had no idea that they would one day share the stage. Many years, the band known as Field Guide came to form their unique brand of breezy, psych-tinged indie rock. With shows lined…
