Midlake, John GrantHaileys Club, DentonJune 5, 2010Better than: some other folk bands, probably. When John Grant, former frontman for The Czars, took the stage to open for Midlake’s homecoming show at Hailey’s Club in Denton, he really did set the tone for the entire night. He sat down, somber-faced and…
Headliners Boys Like Girls, All Time Low, Forever the Sickest Kids and Good Charlotte played Six Flags in Arlington as part of a five-city tour in the Summer heat on Saturday.Was that it? Nope. Girls swarmed, threw signed bras on stage, and Hanson played. After all, what would summer be…
Elvis Costello with the DSOMorton H. Meyerson Symphony CenterMay 28, 2009Better than: tuning in the shine on the light night dial doing anything your radio advised. There wasn’t a lot of room for the 55-year-old Elvis Costello to gallivant about on stage at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center on…
of Montreal, Noot d’ NootGranada TheaterMay 24, 2010Better than: the last show I saw at Granada. Quite the spectacle last night from of Montreal at the Granada Theater. Not quite a repeat of the band’s highly theatrical 2008 show at House of Blues, but, still, the Athens, Georgia-based band put…
Laura Marling, Smoke FairiesThe LoftMay 23, 2010Better than: trying to make sense out of any finales that were on TV last night. Let me just say it right up front: Laura Marling is an amazing talent. The native of the “quite beautiful” countryside of Hampshire, England is now 20 years…
Vanilla IceMay 21, 2010TreesBetter than: watching Are You Smarter Than A Fifth-Grader? reruns while loaded up on whippets. Friday night, all the popular kids you wished you knew in high school but who never left whatever crappy suburb you’re from found a babysitter, got dressed up for their bimonthly big…
Over on Unfair Park, Wilonsky–who is a better man that I, clearly–spent his Sunday morning recapping his thoughts on Saturday’s Homegrown Music and Arts Festival at Main Street Garden Park. No need to fully re-hash the thing in this space, then? Probably not. But, still, there remain a few pictures…
The Besnard Lakes, Woven Bones, Binary Sunrise Granada Theater May 20, 2010Better Than: Hanging anywhere near the pavilion at the Bryon Nelson. I hear douchebaggery is contagious. The Besnard Lakes really know how to bring the drama. The Canadian quartet’s show at the Granada Theater on Thursday night was a…
Angels & Airwaves, Say AnythingPalladium BallroomMay 20, 2010Better than: staying in and listening to Angels & Airwaves on small computer speakers. Angels & Airwaves has never been a vanity project for its singer/guitarist, Tom DeLonge. While he’s back with Blink-182, the band that brought pop-punk to the masses at…
Sarah Jaffe, SerynMay 14, 2010Sons of Hermann HallBetter than: sitting around in a circle and singing “Kumbaya.” So much for needing to work on her live show: On Friday night at Sons of Hermann Hall, before a reverent and crowded, but hardly packed, house, Sarah Jaffe offered up a set…
Doug Burr CD Release ShowMay 14, 2010Kessler TheatreBetter than: Sifting through the relatively meager Tivo selection I had to choose from at home. After walking into the beautifully restored and recently reopened Kessler Theatre in Oak Cliff, there was a surprising and extremely welcome sight: Doug Burr with a full…
Harlem, Flight, PVC Street Gang May 15, 2010 City Tavern Better Than: Hangin’ with the dudes. Before PVC Street Gang, Flight and Harlem took the stage Saturday night, there was the issue of parking. If you didn’t know before, City Tavern sits quietly amidst the douchebag capital of Dallas–next to…
That’s right: We went to Insane Clown Posse last night with Coolio and the Kottonmouth Kings. Cory Graves already reviewed the show earlier today, but check out the night of Juggalo fever in Rachel Parker’s slideshow…
Insane Clown Posse, CoolioPalladium BallroomMay 10, 2010Better than: being shot at by NBA All-star Dirk Nowitzki with a BB gun in an open field. You can watch as many YouTube clips and Saturday Night Live parodies as you like, but there is really nothing that can prepare you for what…
Papa Roach, Hellyeah!, 12 Stones, Seasons AfterMay 5 2010Palladium BallroomBetter Than: cutting your lift into pieces, suffocation, and no breathing. There are very few bands on the planet that will beckon the audience with punk chants of “oy, oy” along with hip-hop call outs like “Let me hear you say…
Norah Jones, Sarah JaffeFair Park Music HallMay 4, 2010Better than: trying to out at the Women’s Museum across the park. Playing up her hometown appeal–and, well, her sex appeal, too, looking quite adorable, dressed in a short, tight, black and red dress–Dallas native Norah Jones stood on the Fair Park…
The DeftonesTreesMay 4, 2010Better than: ..any abbreviated, afternoon mini-set at a festival concert, for damn sure. The Deftones took to Trees last night for an eleventh-hour-announced, quickly-sold-out concert, and delivered a boastful, deafening, 21-song set to an expanse of shoulder-to-shoulder bodies.They were pressed against every wall, and lined along every…
Edgefest 2010Pizza Hut Park in FriscoMay 1, 2010Better than: watching the Kentucky Derby, although probably not if you were doing so from Churchill Downs’ infield–because that’s a party, folks. Believe it or not, there was music at Pizza Hut Park on Saturday. Actually, there was a whole bunch of it,…
Mono, BalmorheaThe LoftMay 1 2010Better than: Whatever else you had planned after the busy Saturday afternoon in Dallas. A large and eager audience crowded around the small stage of the Loft at 10:30 p.m. on Saturday to see Japanese experimental music quartet Mono play as if they were an an…
Spune 2k10 Fest Hailey’s Club, Denton May 1, 2010 Better than: Watching any band that is or will be fronted by Fred Durst. In many ways, the anti-Edgefest happened in Denton on Saturday. I don’t know if it was Hailey’s smoky darkness, or the general lack of bands that rhyme…
Keith Emerson and Greg Lake Granada TheaterApril 30, 2010(Barely) better than: Listening to ELP’s three-album live set Welcome Back My Friends to the Show That Never Ends over and over. Let’s get one thing straight: As a kid, I liked Emerson, Lake and Palmer. While all my “friends” were rocking…
Rusko, Dub AssemblyTreesApril 30, 2010 Better than: anything that has been at Trees since its re-opening. This was the Trees of old. By 9:30 p.m., the room was already buzzing and already a quarter full; the line outside already wrapped to the parking lot between the venue and Franzini’s Pizza…
