Last Night: Ben Lee with Kate Voegele at House of Blues

Ben Lee with Kate Voegele December 5, 2007 House of Blues Better than: Watching Love Actually for the eighth time in a feeble attempt to get laid. Ben Lee, Kate Voegele and Cary Brothers jam “all-star style” at Wednesday’s show. (Darren Burgfeld) Video: YouTube vid of a show a few…

Last Night: Billy Joel at American Airlines Center

There were tons of people at the Billy Joel show. Unfortunately, we sat behind them all. (Merritt Martin)Billy Joel December 4, 2007 American Airlines Center Better Than: Seeing Movin’ Out. My best friend has loved Billy Joel since approximately the age of 3. She even has a small bust of…

Last Night: Fiction Plane at House of Blues

Fiction Plane November 22, 2007 House of Blues Better Than: Thanksgiving Postprandial Exhaustion So. Fiction Plane played last night in the Cambridge Room at the House of Blues. Fiction who, you ask? Fiction Plane. A more appropriate spelling would be p-l-a-I-n. As in vanilla. Or very dry turkey with extra…

Last Night: Lollipop Shoppe at Sloppyworld

Lollipop Shoppe Nov. 17, 2007 Sloppyworld I thought I was going to get Ziggy Stardusted at last night’s Lollipop Shoppe party but the makeup table wasn’t too discernible from any of the other tables with empty beer bottles and plastic cups on it. Either that or the glare from all…

NovemberFest Turns RGRS into Sweet Shop

It’s after noon on Sunday and I’m still in sugar shock from NovemberFest at Rubber Gloves in Denton last night. Not only were the bands and the sound guy in sweet form, but the NF bake sale was incredible. And I mean incredible. Nouns Group produced some of the best…

First Recount of Cha Cha’s Birthday Show

The first (inebriated) recount of Chelsea Callahan’s birthday shindig at the Double Wide last night, compliments of our own Andrea Grimes, who emceed the event: “Chelsea Callahan lap-danced a chair at my insistence. The crowd didn’t give a shit about my jokes. They wanted rock and roll. And Dove Hunter/Big…

Last Night: The Hold Steady at Palladium Ballroom

The Hold Steady with Art Brut and 1990s Nov. 14, 2007 The Palladium Ballroom Better than: Watching the Project Runway premiere. Big time. Download: Watch our video of The Hold Steady from last night’s show at the end of the review. Or just check out the slideshow. Review: As a…

Last Night: Regina Spektor at House of Blues

Regina Spektor House of Blues November 8, 2007 Better than: Watching an indie rock band perform on a college campus. Review: The first Tori Amos album I listened to was Boys for Pele and it was transitory. The first time an adolescent girl hears a woman bleeding and screaming over…

Last Night: IAMX, The Hourly Radio at Club Dada

IAMX/The Hourly Radio November 6, 2007 Club Dada Better Than: Watching election results filter in. While Dallas was going to hell in a hand basket last night, the stars were aligned for the IAMX/Hourly Radio show at Club Dada. On a Tuesday night, the club exemplified what Deep Ellum could…

Last Night: Ben Harper at the Majestic Theater

Ben Harper at the Majestic Theater? It’s an incredible venue for the Nutcracker, but what would it be like for a crowd accustomed to rocking out at general admission shows and festivals? As it turned out, the inability to move freely was indeed a pain in the ass during rockin’…

Last Night: M.I. A. and The Cool Kids at House of Blues

M.I.A November 4th, 2007 House of Blues Better than: Staying at home to watch the Cowboys Vs. Eagles (HoB was decorated with flat screens flashing the game. Fat beats and football, booya!) Review: Last night, when I partied down to the Cool Kids and M.I.A. at House of Blues, I…

Last Night: Faces of DEF at Double Wide

Maybe it was the (finally) crisp autumn air or the fact that Faces of DEF was held at the Double Wide (decked in full Halloween splendor), but something in the atmosphere let me know that this show was worth coming out. At 10 p.m. it was still quiet as hip…

Photos: Hot Hot Heat at Granada

The indie popsters in Hot Hot Heat took over the Granada Theater stage Wednesday night. We were thoroughly impressed by the Canadian quartet and openers Bedouin Soundclash and De Novo Dahl. Our photographer Travis Awalt snapped pictures so you can feel like you were there. — Chelsea Ide…

Review: Ryan Adams Sends Our Panties to China

Despite having an intermission during his SMU performance, we still love Ryan Adams. (Matthew Blake) We walked into the Ryan Adams concert at McFarlin Auditorium an hour late last night. It was like walking in on the middle of a film people were having trouble following, and two clumsy girls…

Update: Video from Timbaland Concert

We weren’t able to take our cameras into Saturday night’s Timbaland show. Luckily, YouTube poster williamlanier uploaded footage of the better part of the show. Enjoy. — Chelsea Ide…

Photos: Rock Fashion Show at Firewater

Strutting for the troops. (Travis Awalt)When Dallas band ChalkLign e-mailed us about the Operation Rock the Troops fashion show, we couldn’t resist. What can we say? We love benefit shows and fashion. Our photographer Travis Awalt hit up the Saturday night, Oct. 13, event at Firewater. He made sure to…

Review: Timbaland at Palladium Ballroom

Scion hosted Timbaland in a free concert last night at the Palladium Ballroom, and the people came out in force. The floor was increasingly crowded throughout the night (although the place is so big, the back area was still an easy walk through). A surprising spectrum of people showed up…

Review: Rock Lottery 10th Anniversary

Last night’s 10th Anniversary installment of Rock Lottery was one of those rare local music events we’ll always remember, not only because we saw Matt Barnhart with his shirt off, but also because it was easily the best installment of the event we’ve ever seen. (Though, admittedly, we missed the…

Photos: The Rocket Summer, Academy Is… at HOB

Bryce Avary singing for the crowd at House of Blues Saturday night. (Jonathan Finley) Big D’s own The Rocket Summer recently won a Yahoo! Music contest. We were proud. Then Saturday, the band played with The Academy Is… at the House of Blues. Now we’re awestruck. Bryce Avary and bandmates…

Review: Atmosphere at The Loft

Atmosphere teased the crowd with new songs Thursday night. (Matthew Blake) When I rolled up to the Loft just before 9 p.m., the line for Atmosphere wrapped around the building. And anyone foolish enough to think they were buying tickets at the door seriously mistook the following the Minnesota rap…

Review: Interpol at Palladium

Interpol engages the Palladium crowd Thursday night. (Matt Mueller) Interpol is one of those bands I managed to only see at festivals up to this point. Let’s face it, festivals suck for technical bands. Luckily, I was able to catch the New York band Thursday night at the Palladium Ballroom…

Jail Cells and Pasties Highlight Zubar’s Anniversary

A Wednesday night out on lower Greenville offered a couple of surprises. First, parking was a bitch. Is Wednesday the new Friday? The second surprise was President George Bush with pasties. Did I really drink that much? Zubar celebrated its 11th anniversary with a prison themed party, Lock Down, and…