Vanilla Ice Eith Tone-Loc, 2 Live Crew, Young MC, Christy Ray and Tyler Sloan The Bomb Factory, Dallas Saturday, Sept. 17, 2016 Throwback concerts are a mixed business. More often than not, they can be gimmicky affairs, sad cash grabs propped up by audience participation and samplings of others artists’…
This week marks the start of fall. Usually small talk about the weather is awkward at best, but this is something to look forward to. Especially because this week also marks the fourth annual Oaktopia fest in Denton. Navigating through one set to the next will be a little easier…
Death Cab for Cutie With Bully The Bomb Factory, Dallas Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2016 Ben Gibbard doesn’t need to do much to create an intimate atmosphere for Death Cab for Cutie fans. The band made what seems like an annual trip to Dallas this week and played to a packed crowd…
Bad Boy Family Reunion Tour With Puff Daddy, Erykah Badu, Lil Kim and more American Airlines Center, Dallas Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2016 When the notes from “Victory” rang out through the American Airlines Center on Wednesday night, the crowd on hand jumped out of their seats looking for Puff Daddy…
Demi Lovato With Nick Jonas American Airlines Center, Dallas Monday, Sept. 12, 2016 Demi Lovato and Nick Jonas came home last night, and they’re all grown up. Or, at least, that’s the sentiment they wanted the audience to feel at last night’s Future Now concert at the American Airlines Center. Although…
Anyone who’s been perusing the Dallas Observer’s extensive music calendar listings lately has likely noticed an influx of great artists stopping through town and local acts playing more gigs. There’s something about this time of year that brings about so many good shows. This week only further proves the point…
Kraftwerk The Bomb Factory, Dallas Saturday, Sept. 10, 2016 It has been more than 40 years since Kraftwerk opened their interplanetary spaceship of future music in Dallas. Since that show, Kraftwerk have had a heavy hand in grandfathering all kinds of genres that did not exist in 1975. Kraftwerk set the template…
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…
September’s here and things are getting exciting as Dallas gears up for the cooler autumn months ahead. It’s not quite time to bust out the sweaters and pumpkin spice lattes, but no matter; a three-day weekend is plenty reason to get in the spirit, and there are plenty of concert…
Shake, shake, shake your booty this week, Dallas, and get down tonight (or tomorrow night, or the next). Yep, if it isn’t obvious already, KC and the Sunshine Band is funking things up this week, thanks to Mark Cuban’s concert series at The Bomb Factory. But if you can’t find…
Coldplay With Alessia Cara AT&T Stadium, Arlington Saturday, Aug. 27, 2016 Minutes into Coldplay’s set Saturday night at a sold-out AT&T Stadium, Coldplay frontman Chris Martin looked like a man who had already put in a hard night’s work. Drenched in sweat and adorned with a few strands of the…
Mad Decent Block Party With Kaskade, GRiZ, D.R.A.M. and more Victory Park, Dallas Aug. 26, 2016 Electronic dance music ricocheted off the underbelly of Woodall Rogers Freeway and down the streets of Victory Park, bathing the area in pulsating electronic beats on Friday. By 7 p.m., about a thousand people…
Slipknot’s return to Dallas on Aug. 25 marked three years in a row that the band has performed in the city at Gexa Energy Pavilion. It wasn’t particularly unique from the other two visits, but one detail remained obvious: no matter what, the people will come. Vocalist Corey Taylor was…
Those with long memories of Dallas’ music scene rejoiced when news broke this week that the owners of The Bomb Factory planned to reopen the space formerly known as Deep Ellum Live. Those who don’t know the venue may be a little confused. We dug into the Observer archives (OK,…
Explosions in the Sky With Preoccupations The Bomb Factory, Dallas Monday, August 22, 2016 Before Monday night, it had been five years since Explosions in the Sky played in Dallas. Their last show here had been at the Winspear Opera House, and since the much has changed for the band,…
Summer is officially over in exactly one month, but that’s not saying too much for Texas. The oppressive heat should linger for several more months. There’s been a lot of wet weather lately, however, which means an outdoor show this week may mean trudging though a little mud — but…
Snoop Dogg With Wiz Khalifa, Kevin Gates, Jhene Aiko and Casey Veggies Gexa Energy Pavilion, Dallas Friday, Aug. 19, 2016 Snoop Dogg and Wiz Khalifa are hip-hop’s Cheech and Chong. It’s official. They already call themselves that, and on Friday night their High Road Summer Tour at Gexa Energy Pavilion…
Heart With Joan Jett and the Black Hearts and Cheap Trick Gexa Energy Pavilion, Dallas Thursday, August 18, 2016 Everyone and their mom was at Gexa Energy Pavillon on Thursday night. That’s not just a bad joke. (OK, it is a bad joke, but it’s not only a bad joke.)…
It started as a meme, and then the meme became reality. Kristian Nairn — the actor who played Hodor on HBO’s Game of Thrones until earlier this year — performed at The Bomb Factory over the weekend, and the fans sure showed up. The show gave them a whole new reason…
For students, this week likely marks the end of another summer and the beginning of overpriced text books and early-morning alarms. It’s a farewell to late nights and lazy mornings, maybe, but not to great shows. Lose the blues and indulge in one last hurrah or three with the likes…
Gwen Stefani With Eve Gexa Energy Pavilion, Dallas Saturday, August 13, 2016 If only everyone could be as lucky as Gwen Stefani. For most, dealing with heartbreak might just lead to drunken Facebook rants or passive-aggressive tweets. But not for Stefani. Instead, she responded with This is What the Truth…
The Monkees The Bomb Factory, Dallas Thursday, August 11, 2016 Thursday night at The Bomb Factory, Dallas got its first glimpse into Mark Cuban’s new TV concert series with a free performance from ’60s legend the Monkees. With the band celebrating its 50th anniversary, it was a night predictably heavy…
