There is an antidote to the neon and designer sunglasses of America’s big-ticket music festivals like Coachella and Lollapalooza. You hear less about these specialty festivals — they know their audiences and pretty much stay within them. The hippies go to Austin Psych Fest; the punks go to Chaos in…
Fleetwood Mac American Airlines Center June 4, 2013 Fleetwood Mac was a band known for its in-fighting, relationship struggles and affinity for drugs. Bankruptcy, betrayal, the Betty Ford Clinic, the band was a modern-day Shakespearean tragedy unfolding on stage. Their most popular album, Rumours, which has sold more than 40…
Happy mid-workweek, everyone. Thank you for taking a moment to slip away from the open Free Cell and Craigslist windows on your work computer, to visit this once-a-week show announcements post, which have been kind of amazing lately. Now then, on to the million-dollar question: The Eagles or no? Go…
The Music Educator Award was created this year by the Grammys to honor educators who have made enduring contributions in the field of music and have proven their dedication to sustaining music in schools. Seven Texas music teachers made the quarterfinals…
The Postal Service Verizon Theatre at Grand Prairie June 3, 2013 There are a lot of plaid shirts, some seersucker shorts, some totally appropriate Arrested Development tees. There are waxed mustaches and boat shoes and tattoos and highlights. Trying to find some common markers in the crowd doesn’t work. All…
Summer Cut was a good time, partly because the bands were generally so high energy. And while the crowd was in high spirits, not very many people were full-on dancing. It’s a long show, it was hot outside. You have to pace yourself. Unless, that is, you are these two,…
The State Fair of Texas announced its headlining acts today, and there are some actual heavy hitters, including new wave legends Blondie and rising, pot-smoking country star Kacey Musgraves. There’s also “an evening with Molly Ringwald.” Here are the rest of the headliners:…
We’ve made no bones about the fact we’re not completely sure what an artist or a song has to be or consist of in order to be lumped under the massive “Texas Country” umbrella, aside from simply having some sort of connection to the Lone Star State — even if…
The Avett Brothers | Grace Potter & the Nocturnals | Matt & Kim | RTB2 | Oil Boom | The Roomsounds and more Gexa Energy Pavilion June 1, 2013 The rain at KXT’s Summer Cut started (for the second time) around 9 p.m., partway through Grace Potter & the Nocturnals’…
He was on the last six songs of his LP. Six damn songs and he would finish a yearlong endeavor under his new moniker, Buffalo Black. But shit always picks the most inopportune time to hit the fan. First his beloved grandparents died. Then his father experienced financial hardships. As…
Summertime goes hand in hand with music festival season, even down here in the 100-plus-degree heat. This area will be hosting festivals in the months of June, July and August, ranging from genres of heavy metal to indie rock. So the next time you’re wanting to lose your voice in…
Hey guys, guess what. Scientists recently decided that the world could instantly turn into a solid state at any moment, so before that happens, go catch these 10 must-see concerts in DFW. Scroll down to make your bucket list, then find the link to this terrifying NPR article on page…
You’ll hear about Rosalinda Ruiz before you see her. Though she’s one of the hip-hop scene’s most influential players, she tends to lay pretty low. You won’t find her often at Beauty Bar’s Big Bang Thursdays or Prophet Bar’s Wednesday night Jam Sessions, but the walls of both venues will…
An event yesterday caused my snark-o-meter to explode with such ferocity that it has taken me a full day to recover the ability to write with sarcasm. I spent all of yesterday genuinely wishing people well, and I think at one point I tried to argue that Christina Aguilera’s career…
The plethora of beatmakers, producers and DJs in Dallas are bussin’ the local music scene wide open. We here at the Observer wanted to showcase that talent through bi-weekly mix’s made by the best in the business. So stream, download and share the mix with your friends. Relive the weekend…
It’s an average night in Trees. The bar is dark, the lights are half-assed, the drinks are flowing and there’s a reasonable crowd. Rock is playing over the PA, and there’s a low chatter. The only clue that something weirder than the usual fare served up at Trees is going…
It’s always best at festivals like these when you go looking for the party in the campsite rather than let it come to you. Directly around us were several bands, the longest running flip cup tournament of all time, a tiki tent of some sort complete with bar and swimming…
Some of the attendees were of questionable nature, with a variety of tattoos and T-shirts expressing various viewpoints that are, shall we say, somewhat extreme. No doubt rural Oklahoma, with its various billboards on abortion, meth addiction and Christianity prominently displayed outside of the reaches of Oklahoma City and Tulsa,…
More ’90s bands are coming to town! The Dream is alive! Out of the bands below that I’m announcing are coming to town, a handful of them peaked a couple of decades ago. Now go watch that music video for the song “Good” by Better than Ezra to take you…
Jambalaya really was the right name for Scoremore’s one day festival offering at The Palladium on Saturday. It was an appetizing and sometimes surprising mix of hip-hop and EDM artists that only the folks at Scoremore could assemble. Headliners Tyler, The Creator and Earl Sweatshirt of Odd Future would have…
For all the pomp, pageantry and excess of the previous day in a field thirty miles from Tulsa, there was a lack of focus. Even though the simple fact that a Guns and Roses gig, with Axl Rose singing some of the most memorable, catchy, and energetic rock songs of…
When Soundgarden first emerged from the grunge scene way back in 1984, they were the odd stepbrother to the Nirvana/Pearl Jam dynamic duo. Chris Cornell and crew had neither Nirvana’s crude power nor Pearl Jam’s over earnest muse. Instead, Soundgarden were the muscle-headed stoners who knew every Led Zepplin and…
