As previewed in last week’s issue, The Jayhawks have returned with a new album and a new sense of joy. As the band returns to Dallas with Mark Olson and Karen Grotberg in the lineup, you can expect to hear plenty of great country rock on Wednesday night at the…
Octopus Project, Analog RebellionNovember 12, 2011The Kessler TheaterBetter Than: Having Octopus Project play at your house party and having to clean up the mess. If limited to a single word regarding the live performance of Austin’s Octopus Project, that word would have to be exuberance. Its definition, “joyously unrestrained and…
Five Finger Death Punch, All That Remains, Hatebreed, Rains The Palladium Ballroom November 12th, 2011 Better than: the Cain Velasquez/Junior Dos Santos heavyweight title fight. Even though getting to the Palladium Ballroom was difficult around 7 o’clock on Saturday night, mainly because of the sold-out Zac Brown Band show at…
Modest Mouse Palladium Ballroom November 10 Better than: the person who did a karaoke version of “Float On” at the Double Wide after the show A decade ago I counted Modest Mouse amongst my very favorite bands. Ten years, two full-lengths, a pair of EPs, and a handful of car…
David Liebe Hart Band Bryan Street Tavern November 8 Better than: an evening of stand-up with James Quall. (Well, about the same, actually.) In a 2007 interview with the A.V. Club Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim explained that the secret to their humor lies in the subtle-yet-brilliant way they are…
Feist, The Happiness ProjectMajestic TheatreNovember 8, 2011Better Than: Seeing this show anywhere else in town. Leslie Feist’s genius isn’t as much her ability to write and perform great pop music as it is the company she keeps. And at last night’s performance at the Majestic Theatre, one of only seven…
Last Night: Youth Lagoon, Young Magic, Peopleodian Dan’s Silverleaf November 8th, 2011 Better than: watching a televised poker tournament and wondering why people watch poker on television. The now-smoke free interior of Dan’s Silverleaf hosted a fine collection of acts–one local, two national, to be exact–as the cold front finally…
All That Remains, like their peers in Killswitch Engage, Shadows Fall and Unearth, keep the flame of modern metal burning. Clearly influenced by ’90s European metal but filtered through an American hardcore sensibility, the Springfield, Massachusetts, quintet makes their second Dallas stop this year on Saturday night. Only a couple…
Last Night: Purity Ring/Bethan/Peopleodian/Datahowler Club Dada November 7 Better than: anything else happening on a Monday, that’s for sure. A four-act bill headlined by a touring international act is very strange for a Monday, but sadly that’s how things go for post-Fun Fun Fun Fest shows in Dallas. It’s sad…
Last Night: Touché Amoré, Pianos Become the Teeth, Seahaven, The News Can Wait Sons of Hermann Hall November 7 Better than: Glenn Danzig’s “performance” at Fun Fun Fun Fest this past weekend. The persistent early evening rain did nothing to keep Touché Amoré’s fans from making their way out to…
Joe Lally, True Widow Bryan Street Tavern November 6, 2011 Better than: seeing a Michael Anthony solo show. Sunday’s double bill of Joe Lally and True Widow might have not brought out a large crowd, but it seemed like everyone who showed up really wanted to be there. Though the…
We Were Promised Jetpacks, Royal Bangs, Bear Hands Trees November 5 Better than: feeling the 5.6 earthquake and wondering how the hell an earthquake could happen here. Glasgow’s We Were Promised Jetpacks poured their hearts out on Saturday night, but it seemed like only half of the crowd returned the…
Guns N’ Roses, The SwordGexa Energy PavilionSaturday, November 5 Better than: I could have ever expected in weather that was damn near perfect. Mike AlvesDo those jeans make Axl look fat? But somehow, perhaps because expectations were so low, a rather healthy-looking Rose and his current collection of sidemen put…
Ra Ra Riot, Delicate Steve, Yellow Ostrich Granada Theater November 3, 2011 Better than: seeing Ra Ra Riot at a music festival There’s a unique energy that fills a room when Ra Ra Riot performs live — the same warm and excited force that drifted through the Granada Theater Thursday…
Last Night: Youth Brigade, The Hellions, The Broadsiders Double Wide November 3, 2011 Better than: watching Another State of Mind and trying to figure out which parts were staged. Before they paid a visit to Austin for Fun Fun Fun Fest, Los Angeles hardcore punk legends Youth Brigade were kind…
Zach Condon and crew packed ’em in at the Prophet Bar last night for Tactics Productions’ Beirut show. The band is touring for their August-released album The Rip Tide, which, as the pictures by contributor and roving photographer Mike Brooks indicate, have plenty of trumpets (we’re literally listening to the…
Scotland’s We Were Promised Jetpacks triumphantly return to the DFW area this week, headlining at Trees on Saturday. As evidenced by their newly-released record, In the Pit of the Stomach, the four-piece has a snarling post-punk sound — and it’s not the kind you dance to. We caught up with…
Das Racist, Danny Brown, Despot, Fat Tony Sons of Hermann Hall October 29, 2011 Better than: losing your buddies at the combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell. The three members of Das Racist stepped up to grace Sons of Hermann Hall’s’ blue-curtained stage at just about 11:45 p.m. Heems (Himanshu…
Wild Flag, Drew Grow and The Pastors WivesThe LoftOctober 28, 2011Better than: only experiencing the album. At least every once in a while, a performance causes a person to reflect on that eternal question: “Did I waste my money on this?” While the age of digital music has made it…
Explosions in the Sky, Burning Hotels Winspear Opera HouseOctober 28, 2011 Better than: living in Odessa When they attempted to perform at the outdoor Strauss Square in Dallas last month, the persistent rain prevented Explosions in the Sky from playing. To prevent any recurrence, Friday night’s show was moved inside…
Tom Rush The Kessler Theater October 26, 2011 Better than: sitting at home waiting for it to stop raining in St. Louis. At 70, Tom Rush is the elder statesman of the singer-songwriter era that began in the late 1960s. Known as the person who introduced audiences to the songwriting…
Soundgarden, Mastodon Verizon Theatre October 26, 2011 Better than: VH1’s I Love The ’90s. 2011 has been a pretty big year for grunge music. As this year marks the 20th anniversary of albums like Nirvana’s Nevermind, Pearl Jam’s Ten, and Soundgarden’s Badmotorfinger, there seems to be a bit of a…
