Mavis Staples With James Hall The Kessler Theater, Dallas Sunday, March 8, 2015 Mavis Staples could make you believe in anything. It may be God, or it may be your fellow man. It may be something radical, like the notion that God is really a woman, or even that we…
John Mellencamp With Carlene Carter McFarlin Auditorium, Dallas Saturday, March 7, 2015 By Brian Peterson To untrained ears, and particularly to those below the age of 40, John Mellencamp may as well be the poor man’s Bruce Springsteen. Both can come across as heartland rock dudes, and on the surface…
The weekend is over and we are just as sad about it as you are, especially now that it’s raining again. However, there’s a slew of great shows worthy of your attention this week. Charlie Wilson, of the Gap Band and G.O.O.D. Music, takes on Grand Prairie. Upstanding American citizens…
Ryan Bingham With Lucero South Side Ballroom, Dallas Friday, March 6, 2015 For all its shortcomings in terms of some other genres, Dallas has an incredibly strong taste for rootsy, country-infused rock music. Maybe it’s the bucolic settings that exist just a short drive outside the city, but people in…
Waka Flocka Flame With AV the Great, #Baconomics, Elijah Heap and Ace Young’n Rockin’ Rodeo, Denton Thursday, March 5, 2015 Rockin Rodeo is just about the last place you would expect to see Waka Flocka Flame. Known for being Denton’s shit-kickin’, honky-tonk swag bar, it doesn’t exactly conjure thoughts of…
Well, the second great storm of 2015 in Dallas has passed and while we’re complaining about the frigidness of the weather, we should remember that we’ll also be cry babies when it’s 7,000 degrees outside in three months. It’s a valid complaint is since we are in Texas, tand he…
Hoo boy, talk about a country music lineup. Dallas is lucky in that it’s often able to attract country music’s biggest and brightest stars, and that’s going to be especially true in the coming months: Miranda Lambert plays the American Airlines Center next week, Shania Twain just announced a stop…
For anyone with even a minor amount of tact, much less a grasp of what it means to be a respectable human being in 2015, an “N-Bomb” is something to be avoided. Needless to say, it can cause an explosion of sorts in certain social settings. Now it seems as…
A Place to Bury Strangers With the Orange and Creepoid Club Dada, Dallas Tuesday, March 3, 2015 Fool us once, winter, shame on us. Fool us twice, shame on you. Fortunately, when it came to New York shoegaze band A Place to Bury Strangers’ gig at Club Dada, the second…
For people of a certain age — namely millennials — MTV’s Total Request Live was a fixture of their after-school routine. The Carson Daly-hosted video countdown show was the biggest musical tastemaker for teens and twentysomethings of the era, helping build the careers of the 2000s biggest pop stars, like…
Okay, we’ve kept you waiting long enough here. St. Patrick’s Day is less than two weeks away, which means the Dallas Observer’s annual luck o’ the Irish party is right around the corner as well. But so far we’ve only announced the headliner, which is of course Texas native Josh…
In case you’ve missed it, the hype behind Southlake rapper Post Malone is totally justified. On Friday night, in spite of the atrocious winter weather, he bookended an off-the-radar hip hop show in Dallas for Atlanta rapper Key! It was, in his own words, just his second performance of his…
Meghan Trainor Granada Theater, Dallas Friday, February 27, 2015 Meghan Trainor’s sold-out appearance at Granada Theater on Friday night had every opportunity to be a disaster. Freezing temperatures, ice-covered roads and falling snow threatened to run the whole thing off the rails. There was also a Facebook campaign that promised…
Welcome to the good month of March, which will bombard you with music festivals. There’s 35 Denton, Spillover and in Austin there’s the big one, South By South West. But before you let the hives of festival fever settle in, take a gander at all the shows happening this week…
Diana Ross Verizon Theatre, Grand Prairie Thursday, February 26, 2015 Talk about flawless. If you want to know what makes an absolute, no doubt about it, bona fide diva, look no further than Diana Ross. She’s been at it since before the Beyoncés of the world were born — hell,…
People of a certain age, the millennial bunch, will always remember Sarah McLachlan for her contribution to Myspace. She was the one who made “Angel,” the sad-as-shit song that played during all of the videos about animal abuse. Well, she’s at Winstar World Casino this weekend, which means you can…
Jonathan Richman Rubber Gloves, Denton Tuesday, February 24, 2015 Not liking Jonathan Richman is a bit like not liking Mr. Rogers. The Boston-bred singer radiates kindness and joy with a disarmingly naive charm. Once a forerunner of punk music with his band the Modern Lovers in the early 1970s, Richman’s…
Asleep at the Wheel Kessler Theater, Dallas Friday, February 20, 2015 What to say about Asleep at the Wheel? The band is both a tribute and throwback to Texas Swing music, that glorious mash-up of country music and big-band jazz. And the band — well, leader Ray Benson, anyway –…
Taking Back Sunday With Letlive and the Menzingers South Side Ballroom, Dallas Saturday, February 21, 2015 The scene at South Side Ballroom on Saturday night for the fourth stop of Taking Back Sunday’s 2015 tour looked like a combined high school reunion for the classes of the 2000’s. The room…
Have no fear, Dallas; as soon as this dreaded icepocalypse ends, we’ll have plenty of concerts to revive our flagging social lives. In one of the most left field choices in recent memory, Meghan Trainor is taking all of her bass to the Granada Theater. Jonathan Richman keeps his recurring…
The Coathangers With Nothing and Cutter Trees, Dallas Thursday, February 19, 2015 By Anita Riot The Coathangers are no strangers to Dallas. The ladies in the Atlanta-based punk trio (formerly a quartet) pass through town often enough that you could almost set a watch to it, but that never seems…
It may not be Valentine’s Day anymore, but fret not; there’s still plenty happening in Dallas this weekend, folks. The Thin Line Film Fest takes over Denton. Buffalo Black plays a show to celebrate the release of a Spike Lee film that features his song in the trailer. Jamaican Queens…
