10 Best Concerts of the Week: Yellowcard, Lil Baby, Sounds of Deep Ellum and More

It's another full week of triple-digit temperatures ahead, but one or more of this week's concerts is sure to make you cool. Kicking off this week is Yellowcard, bringing its best-known album to Irving with a full lineup of pop-punk nostalgia. On Friday, Eric Church leads a new generation of outlaw country in Fair Park, and Michael Franti & Spearhead bring the mellow vibes to Deep Ellum. Saturday will be filled with decisions as ZZ Top and Lynyrd Skynyrd share top billing in Fort Worth, Lil Baby takes to the big stage in Victory Park and Young the Giant rock out in Irving. That same night, Deep Ellum 100 hosts a show honoring a mix of massive talent. Sunday brings a taste of old and new to the North Texas pavilions when Steve Miller comes home for a show at Dos Equis and YUNGBLUD travels from across the pond to the Toyota Music Factory. The concert week wraps up with a bit of hip-hop when NF and Cordae play Dickies Arena. Don't have a plan to go to one of these shows? Well, you'd be a lot cooler if you did.
Yellowcard
7 p.m., Thursday, July 27, The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory, 300 W. Las Colinas Blvd., Irving. $29.50+ at livenation.com

Twenty years ago, in pop punk's gilded radio days, Yellowcard of Jacksonville, Florida, released the album that would define the group’s career, Ocean Avenue. The album was the culmination of the band's California dreams, having moved to the Golden State in 2001 in hopes of catching a major label's attention. The label was industry juggernaut Capitol Records, and Yellowcard signed within a year of moving. The album peaked at No. 23 on the U.S. Billboard 200 after premiering the video for "Walk Away" on an episode of The O.C. and making the talk show circuit on the back of the album's most memorable song and title track. Though Yellowcard has nine other albums and four EPs — one released just last week — the band has continuously honored Ocean Avenue, releasing a live video version in 2005, putting nearly half of the album on its Greatest Hits compilation in 2011, releasing a vinyl pressing in 2011, releasing an acoustic version in 2013, doing two tours of the acoustic version in 2013 and 2014, re-issuing the vinyl in 2014 and now going on an anniversary tour with opening acts Mayday Parade, Anberlin and This Wild Life.
Eric Church
7 p.m., Friday, July 28, Dos Equis Pavilion, 1818 First Ave. $49.75+ at livenation.com

In 2014, Eric Church caused a stir when he told CMT that he thought genres were dead. That same year, Church released The Outsiders, an album that straddled the imaginary line separating country music from hard rock. The album cemented Church's place as a standout act in the world of popular country, earning him a place among country music's other outlaws like Merle Haggard and Waylon Jennings. Church has embraced the identity of an outsider and was even called the next generation's Willie Nelson for his cannabis advocacy at the 49th ACM Awards by Blake Shelton and Luke Bryan. Ten years after the release of The Outsiders, Church announced his Outsiders Revival tour with a couple of Texas acts. The first is the neotraditional country band Midland from Dripping Springs and the other is North Texas' own outlaw country artist Ray Wylie Hubbard.
Michael Franti & Spearhead
7 p.m., Friday, July 28, The Factory in Deep Ellum, 2713 Canton St. $34.99 at axs.com

If you're familiar with the mellow grooves of Michael Franti & Spearhead on KXT, you may be surprised to find out that Franti got his start as a member of the industrial punk/spoken word act The Beatnigs in the mid- to late-'80s. The avant-garde jazz poetry collective gave way to Franti's next project, The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy — a politically conscious hip-hop project that was direct in its message. Over time, Franti wanted to move away from the group's didacticism and focus instead on spreading a message of love with a new band called Spearhead. The band became known as Michael Franti & Spearhead in the early 2000s after Franti began releasing solo records alongside the band's work. Last summer, the band released its 12th album, Follow Your Heart, on its own Boo Boo Wax label. Franti will have opening support from Grammy-winning reggae band SOJA, from Arlington, Virginia.
ZZ Top & Lynyrd Skynyrd
6:30 p.m., Saturday, July 29, Dickies Arena, 1911 Montgomery St., Fort Worth. $95.50+ at ticketmaster.com

As far as Southern rock goes, there really aren't any two bigger names than ZZ Top and Lynyrd Skynyrd. This will be Skynyrd's second tour since its Farewell Tour, which was the last tour to feature the band's last original member, guitarist Gary Rossington. The band is currently touring with Rickey Medlocke, who played drums and mandolin on Street Survivors, the last album recorded with original singer Ronnie Van Zant. Van Zant's brother Johnny has been the vocalist since 1987. Texas boogie-rockers ZZ Top are still touring with Elwood Francis, Dusty Hill's bass technician who was handpicked by Hill to replace him when Hill's health took a turn in 2021. Needless to say, the show Saturday night will be a celebration of the trials each band has endured over the decades. The Sharp Dressed Simple Man Tour kicked off last week in Florida and will make its way to Fort Worth this weekend with opening act Uncle Kracker.
Lil Baby
7 p.m. Saturday, July 29, American Airlines Center, 2500 Victory Ave. $209.50+ at ticketmaster.com

Not to be confused with DaBaby or Lil Bibby, rapper Lil Baby released It's Only Me last fall. Though the album was met with mixed reviews from the critics, Lil Baby's fans made it his third consecutive album to reach the No. 1 position on the Billboard 200 after his sophomore album, My Turn, and his collaborative album with Lil Durk, The Voice of the Heroes. As the subject of  the documentary film Untrapped: The Story of Lil Baby, which was released on Amazon Prime Video last August, Lil Baby's rise from teenage drug dealer to one of hip-hop's biggest stars happened through his dedication to the craft and his openness to accept help from mentors such as Young Thug, Gunna and Drake. Lil Baby's Its Only Us Tour comes to town Saturday with opening support from a group of up-and-coming rappers: GloRilla, Gloss Up, Rylo Rodriguez and Hunxho.
Sounds of Deep Ellum
7 p.m., Saturday, July 29, The Cambridge Room at House of Blues, 2200 N. Lamar St. $10+ at livenation.com

This Saturday, Deep Ellum 100 celebrates the release of an album recorded last October. The album is a portrait of the neighborhood that has provided the soundtrack to the city for 150 years. A multi-genre collection of the emerging new sounds of the neighborhood, the album was produced by Deep Ellum 100 — a nonprofit dedicated to supporting the musicians, visual artists, service industry workers and small businesses in Deep Ellum — and serves as a time capsule for 2023, featuring 10 of the area's best musical acts. The album release party will include live performances by funk rock singer-songwriter Ducado Vega, indie hip-hop soul collective Chilldren of Indigo, alternative jazz and soul duo Skinny Cooks, rapper Flower Child, Mexican-American independent singer-songwriter Jacks Haupt and "The Oak Cliff Princess" Muriel Argueta. The event will have a festival-like atmosphere with DJ Mike B on the 1s and 2s.
Young the Giant
7 p.m., Saturday, July 29, The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory, 300 W. Las Colinas Blvd., Irving. $30.50+ at livenation.com

Irvine, California, indie-rock band Young the Giant seemed to come out of nowhere in 2011 when its desperate and pleading single "Cough Syrup" took the world by storm. The colorful video of the song played at the top of every music hour on the day of its debut. A song that grapples with apathy and feelings of isolation, "Cough Syrup" became an instant classic that is as powerful today as when it was released over a decade ago. Last year, the band released a four-part album titled American Bollywood. The expansive and ambitious project is a multi-generational saga of an immigrant in America. An Indian-American himself, singer-songwriter Sameer Gadhia sees the album as an exploration of his and his family's journey through the American landscape. The album was released as three EPs through 2022; a final album tying them all together with the story's fourth part was released at the end of last year. Young the Giant is touring in support of the album with indietronica band Milky Chance and Armenian singer-songwriter Rosa Linn.
Steve Miller Band
7 p.m., Sunday, July 30, Dos Equis Pavilion, 1818 First Ave. $35.01+ at livenation.com

Call him the space cowboy, call him the gangster of love or call him Maurice, Dallas-raised musician Steve Miller is celebrating 50 years of his iconic album The Joker this year. Miller moved to North Texas around the age of 8, the son of a jazz singer and a recording engineer. He grew up around music with jazz and blues greats such as T-Bone Walker — whom MIller says taught him to play guitar behind his head —  and Charles Mingus as visitors in his home. Miller learned guitar at a young age and even taught a young Boz Scaggs how to play during their time together at St. Mark's School of Texas. The Steve Miller Band came into existence in the late '60s at a time when psychedelic blues rock was the music du jour. It was a style that the band had embraced on its first few albums, but when it set to work on The Joker, the band wanted something more smoothly melodic. Its new sound would put it on the top of the charts throughout the '70s, making The Joker an undeniable classic five decades later. Blues rock and R&B singer-songwriter-guitarist Samantha Fish opens the show.
YUNGBLUD
8 p.m., Sunday, July 30, The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory, 300 W. Las Colinas Blvd., Irving. $20+ at livenation.com

Fusing hip-hop and pop punk, English singer-songwriter YUNGBLUD has spent the last five years climbing the charts on both sides of the pond. YUNGBLUD, born Dominic Harrison, began his career as an actor, appearing in the British soap opera Emmerdale and the U.K. Disney Channel musical The Lodge. Harrison has dabbled a bit in short films since then, but has focused primarily on his music career since 2017 and the release of his first single, "King Charles." Often dealing with anxiety, depression and misplaced affection, YUNGBLUD's music is as dark as it is cathartic. Singing from an honest place about his struggles with mental health, his music rings true for an audience steeped in the same struggles. The artist's latest, self-titled album debuted in the No. 1 spot on the U.K. album charts while coming it at No. 45 of the Billboard 200. YUNGBLUD will be growing his U.S. audience on his current tour with Mexican-American experimental pop musician Jean Dawson and Canadian alt-pop artist Sophie Powers.
NF
8 p.m., Wednesday, Aug. 2, Dickies Arena, 1911 Montgomery St., Fort Worth. $91+ at ticketmaster.com

Nathan Feuerstein, known by his initials NF, began rapping as a child to a karaoke machine at his family's home in Michigan. Feuerstein was raised a Christian and his music has been categorized as Christian hip-hop in the past. While his music can still be interpreted as Christian, NF's lyrical prowess and nondenominational approach to universal themes of hope and loss transcend any preconceived notions one might have about the genre. NF's crossover into secular hip-hop happened in 2017 with the release of his third album, Perception. The album's authentic depiction of mental health resonated with hip-hop fans of all backgrounds, though it did seem to alienate him from his Christian audience. NF released his fifth album, Hope, earlier this year. A more positive album, it debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200. Rapper Cordae will open for NF on his tour in support of the album. Cordae is featured on, "Careful," the third track on NF's Hope.