We’ve all had those nights in college that get a little out of hand, but in Denton recently, a seemingly minor drama during a show at Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studio got real-world serious pretty quick. Like, with lawyers and everything. A disagreement between the venue owner and Denton creative group the…
Thanks to the grace of trickle-down festival economics, this week is absolutely stacked with bands coasting off the momentum of Austin City Limits Fest and passing through Dallas. And let’s face it, unless you’re independently wealthy and capable of buying a VIP festival ticket with some sort of personal bathroom and…
The Decemberists With Olivia Chaney Majestic Theatre, Dallas Friday, October 2, 2015 There were four phases to the Decemberists’ sold-out, two-hour set at Majestic Theatre on Friday night. The first part was a Colin Meloy solo set, then a lengthy portion of straightforward full-band material, then a full-on prog rock…
Neon Indian With the Outfit, TX and Roger Sellers The Bomb Factory, Dallas Thursday, October 1, 2015 If a little time was all Alan Palomo and the newest incarnation of Neon Indian needed to execute last night’s performance at The Bomb Factory, then so be it. From the get go,…
Alan Palomo is back in Texas, and he’s in a pretty good mood about it. It’s a Tuesday night and he’s getting ready for a show in town very close to Austin called Manor. A few year ago he left Austin, having lived previously in Denton, for New York City…
Going to prison isn’t usually the best start for a bright future. Mass incarceration has resulted in hundreds of thousands of non-violent drug offenders that crowd jails and lack access to basic services that could lead to rehabilitation. But for Brooke Humphries, prison was, in fact, a blessing in disguise…
It’s hard to say where St. Vincent is going to pop up next these days. Chances are, it’ll be somewhere that makes us jealous if it’s not Dallas. Last we heard from the artist otherwise known as Annie Clark, she jumping onstage with Taylor Swift in Los Angeles to do…
Here we go again, Dallas. For the 27th year running, the Dallas Observer Music Awards are on their way. Each year, the Observer throws a big-ass party to help celebrate all the hard-working musicians of the Dallas music scene. Two of them, in fact. And we even hand out a…
Cymatic has been a regular face among the The Guild DJ crew over the past year or so, utilizing his deep knowledge of the more experimental side of dance music and integrating it with something more digestible for the dance floor without losing the edge. Despite his youth he has…
When Jim Smith was a teenager he met the then iconic, now infamous rapper South Park Mexican at Trader’s Village. The underground superstar from Houston was selling his music and had a row of Sony Discmans lined up and loaded with his albums and mixtapes. Flipping through the CD booklet,…
From working with the D.O.C. to owning furniture stores and now considering a run for city council, Erotic D has had a varied life. After growing up a military brat and later seeing the Jackson family fight amongst themselves to the nth degree, he has now made being a husband…
Dallas hasn’t always done the best job of appreciating its musical culture, but the history runs deep in this city. Sure, concert venues and bands have come and gone; hell, even Deep Ellum has been all but lost on more than one occasion. So it’s important that appreciate all the…
Oaktopia Fest With Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros, Minus the Bear, Polyphonic Spree and more Downtown Denton Friday to Sunday, September 25 to 27, 2015 Oaktopia Fest has been quickly gaining traction since its debut in 2013. The three-day music/arts/beard festival centered around Denton’s town square has reached its…
Ratatat Bomb Factory, Dallas Friday, September 25, 2015 Two guitars, two keyboards, two toms, and an armada of lasers; these were Ratatat’s weapons of choice at The Bomb Factory Friday night as they played to a packed house. The Brooklyn-based duo of Mike Stroud and Evan Mast have been at…
Fall festival season is getting into full swing in Texas, but while Denton’s Oaktopia Fest has just come and gone the biggest, most obvious one this week (and the week after) is down in Austin. Of course, we can think of plenty of reasons to not feel the need to…
Hall & Oates Majestic Theatre, Dallas Friday, September 25, 2015 Before Daryl Hall, John Oates and six backing musicians took the Majestic Theatre stage on Friday night, it was occupied by spokesmen for CitySquare, a nonprofit devoted to fighting poverty that annually sponsors “A Night to Remember.” With a heartstrings-tugging…
If you made it out to the Van Halen show on Wednesday, chances are you had a pretty bizarre night. You may still be recovering. David Lee Roth has that kind of effect on people. But for all of the bizarre things that happened on stage at Gexa Energy Pavilion,…
Matt Battaglia started Denton’s newest, and possibly biggest, music festival when he were just 23 years old. Once the city’s upstart festival, Oaktopia is heading into its third year with its biggest lineup yet and an opportunity solidify its self as one of the very best in North Texas. But…
There are 85 million Taylor Swift cover videos on YouTube. We counted, so don’t bother. Some of them are good, some are bad, and some are just downright amazing. Maybe we are a little biased and our hometown pride is blinding us, but Todrick Hall from Arlington put together a…
Van Halen With Kenny Wayne Shepherd Wednesday, September 23, 2015 In the middle of a 10-minute-long “How to Dance Like David Lee Roth” monologue Wednesday night at Gexa Energy Pavilion, David Lee Roth got serious for a minute. Sort of. Having walked the crowd through his James Brown and stair…
Nick Jonas House of Blues, Dallas Wednesday, September 23, 2015 If Nick Jonas was ever the dopey boy behind the guitar standing on stage with his two brothers, he has now escaped that boy band hell and become a solo pop act. And successfully, we might add. On Wednesday night,…
The Dallas Observer’s 2015 Best Of Dallas issue hits newsstands today and it really couldn’t come at a better time. We’ve done a lot of talking lately about how things are looking up in Dallas nightlife, especially with the influx of bars (and people) in Deep Ellum. But as a…
