10 Best Concerts of the Week: El Ten Eleven, Old 97's, Elton John and More

Two words describe the roster of bands we have coming to North Texas this week: spacey and bluesy. That's not to say that these artists exist in one realm or the other. Rather, these live acts exist somewhere along the spectrum that connects the two. Things kick off with the atmospheric post-rock of El Ten Eleven and the intergalactic electronica of Robert DeLong in Deep Ellum, as well as the sci-fi psychobilly of The Meteors across town. Friday will see Dallas alt-country band Old 97's in Fort Worth doing what they do best while heavy-blues band All Them Witches plays Trees and The War On Drugs crafts rock soundscapes in Irving. Over the weekend, Dallas high-concept band Bobgoblin returns to the stage Saturday, and blues superstar Samantha Fish plays Oak Cliff on Sunday. Next week, Sir Elton John will grace us with two nights of his farewell tour. Finally, space-rockers Trauma Ray play a free show in Fort Worth. If the blues have got you down, let these bands lift you up and launch you into space.
El Ten Eleven
7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 20, at Club Dada, 2720 Elm St., $15 at prekindle.com

Los Angeles post-rock duo El Ten Eleven formed in 2002, taking its name from the airliner Lockheed L-1011 TriStar. Known for its experimental approach to ambient music, the band uses a fretless bass as the backbone for heavy looping, pedal effects and electronic drums. Independent documentarian Gary Hustwit has used the band's music frequently in his documentaries on design, namely in Helvetica, Objectified and Urbanized. The band has released 13 albums since its self-titled debut in 2004. El Ten Eleven's stop at Club Dada Thursday night finds them on the cusp of releasing its 14th album New Year's Eve, which is expected to be released this March. Indiana singer-songwriter Mylets is set to open the show. The multi-instrumentalist released his latest record M. Rueff last summer, which included a collaboration with El Ten Eleven bass player Kristian Dunn on "My Moose Wallet."
Robert DeLong
7:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 20, at Deep Ellum Art Co., 3200 Commerce St., $25 at prekindle.com

Electronic musician Robert DeLong swings through the Deep Ellum Art Co. touring in support of his latest release, Walk Like Me. DeLong has had a long way up since the release of his breakthrough single, "Long Way Down," in 2014. The artist built a reputation for his live performances through his use of innovative technology and by building a sense of community at his shows where face painters adorn audience members' faces as though they were a part of some psychedelic tribe. Though DeLong has lost the face paint over the years, the thrilling live shows remain. A multi-instrumentalist, DeLong uses keyboards, drum set, drum pads, laptops and sometimes gaming controllers to create his music. Joining him on tour is electronic artist Grabbitz, who recently did a remix of DeLong's latest single "Own Worst Enemy."
The Meteors
8:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 20, at Amplified Live, 10261 Technology Blvd. E., $20 at seetickets.us

The Cramps may have kicked off the psychobilly genre, but it was The Meteors who defined its sound in South London in 1980. Psychobilly is a mixture of punk rock and rockabilly, which both rely on fast tempos and direct lyrics. In this case, the lyrical content is often related to horror and sci-fi movies and the macabre, separating it from the politics of punk and the country twang of rockabilly. The Meteors have been prolific in their output in the 40-plus years of the band's existence, putting out three releases just last year following a live release when things shut down in 2020. Although P. Paul French is the band's only remaining original member, The Meteors' original sound remains intact after all of these years. The band will have local support from instrumental surf rock band The GO-GO Gorillas for their Thursday night show at Amplified Live.
All Them Witches
7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 21, at Trees, 2707 Elm St., $18 at axs.com

Nashville rock band All Them Witches has recently concluded its East Cost tour with L.A. Witch and is now making its way through the South, making a stop at Trees Friday night with opening support from Portland's all-female heavy psych band Blackwater Holylight. A blues-rock band at its core, All Them Witches employs the spacey sounds of psychedelia with the ominous drones of doom rock as a kind of comment on the blues that preceded them. This is not the blues of Robert Johnson, John Mayall or even .38 Special, but the blues of a new generation bombarded by outside influences both musical and cultural, in playlists that span multiple genres and a world where information is persistent and bleak. It's the pre-apocalypse blues. All Them Witches' latest album, Nothing as the Ideal, was released in late-summer 2020 to mostly positive reviews.
Old 97's
7:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 21, at Will Rogers Auditorium, 3401 W. Lancaster Ave., $15+ at ticketmaster.com

Formed in Dallas in 1993, the Old 97's have a storied history in North Texas beginning with the band's first releases on Dallas-based label Idol Records. No matter where their career has taken them, they have consistently shouted out their hometown, most notably in "A State of Texas" from the 2010 release The Grand Theatre, Vol. 1 with the line "What a time we'll have on Greenville Avenue with the big shots in Big D." The Old 97's have long been known for romanticizing barroom dramas, using sophisticated lyrics to tell tales of love, hate and having a good time (or at least trying to). It was during the recording of the band's  2014 album Most Messed Up, however, that singer Rhett Miller decided to get sober. The ups and downs of sobriety can be heard all across the band's most recent release Twelfth. The band plays Friday night at Will Rogers Auditorium in Fort Worth with opening support from Giovannie & The Hired Guns and Joshua Ray Walker.
The War On Drugs
8 p.m. Friday, Jan. 21, at The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory, 300 W. Las Colinas Blvd., $30+ at livenation.com

The War On Drugs made it on many critics' "Best of 2021" lists (including our own) with its most recent release, I Don't Live Here Anymore. Friday night, the band brings "An Evening of Live Drugs" to The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory in Irving. Formed in Philadelphia in 2005, The War on Drugs first started making noise in the indie music world with its first two releases before breaking big with its epic Lost in the Dream album in 2014. It was with that release that the band became well known for its psychedelic take on heartland rock with luscious soundscapes and deeply confessional lyrics. Recorded across seven different studios, I Don't Live Here Anymore put the fine-tuning on The War On Drugs' trademark sound, and the world took notice. Because of the pandemic, The War On Drugs is touring without the support of an opening act, which should make for an intimate show.
Bobgoblin
9 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 22, at Double Wide, 3510 Commerce St., $10 at prekindle.com

All the way back in 1992, Dallas rock trio Bobgoblin took its cues from The Clash in creating a band founded on punk, new wave and glam. The band signed with MCA Records in 1996 and recorded the album 12-Point Master Plan in 1997. The band was honored in 1998 at the USA International Film Festival for the audio/visual production on the Enhanced CD version (remember those?) of the album. Bobgoblin had been a guinea pig for the new technology because it was relatively unknown and had a highly conceptual bend. However, the band left the label in 1999 after delivering the rough drafts of its second album. Bobgoblin reinvented itself as The Adventures of Jet in 2000 and released two independent albums under that name before calling it quits in 2004. The band came roaring back to life in the 2010s, and now, after a long break cause by the pandemic, will play its first show since 2019 Saturday night at Double Wide.
Samantha Fish
7 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 23, at The Kessler, 1230 W. Davis St., $29.50 at prekindle.com

Kansas City roots-rock singer-songwriter Samantha Fish started playing guitar at the age of 15. Drawing inspiration from Bonnie Raitt and Stevie Ray Vaughan, Fish carved out her musical identity as a blues musician with a classic rock edge. Since her debut with 2009's Live Bait, Fish has received much critical acclaim, earning dozens of awards through the years from the Independent Blues Awards and Best of Blues Awards, including "Best Female Vocalist," "Best Blues Performer," "Best Guitarist" and "Artist of the Year" in 2018 alone. Fish released her seventh album Faster in September of last year on Rounder Records, which features a surprising collaboration with hardcore rapper Tech N9ne. The album went to the very top of Billboard's blues chart and performed respectably on the magazine's folk and "Heatseakers" charts as well. Fish plays Sunday night at The Kessler with opening support from singer-songwriter Django Knight.
Elton John
8 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, Jan. 25 and 26, at American Airlines Center, 2500 Victory Ave., $101+ at ticketmaster.com

Coming back through North Texas on his Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour, Elton John will play another two nights at Dallas' American Airlines Center before heading out across the rest of North America. For this tour, John has maintained a consistent setlist for fans across the world to experience the show in similar ways no matter how many times they might be able to catch it. Long story short, he's going to play that song you want to hear from that part of his career that you love the most. And there were a lot of those parts, weren't there? From his '70s blues-rock origins to his '90s ballads and unlikely pop hits of the new millennium, John is the only solo artist to have top 10 singles in six different decades for a good reason. The Rocketman has been on this tour since 2018 with plans to extend it through 2023 with a full list of European dates, but this really might be the last time he plays Dallas (but he will be playing Globe Life Field in September).
Trauma Ray
7 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 26, at Tulips, 112 St. Louis Ave., $7 at prekindle.com

Fort Worth space-rock band Trauma Ray formed in early 2018 and released its first EP, [trauma ray], later that year on Dreamy Life Records. The album blended the sounds of hardcore, shoegaze and post-rock in communicating the modern struggles of daily life. The band followed the EP release with a two-track single the following summer and played a ton of shows before the world shut down. Over the course of the pandemic, the band recorded and released its second self-titled EP, this time stylized as Trauma Ray, which was released on Valentine's Day 2021. The EP was warmly received by fans who proclaimed it as the best space-rock or shoegaze album of the year. Trauma Ray headlines a stacked bill Wednesday night at Tulips in Fort Worth after sets by local up-and-comers Prize Horse, Flower Language and Smothered. The show is free, but VIP and Owner's Box seats are available for up to a mere seven bucks.