10 Best Concerts of the Week: MANÁ, King Krule, Pearl Jam and More

This week, your concert calendar is filled with some tough decisions, North Texas. Fortunately, those tough decisions will inevitably lead to some excellent choices. The concert week kicks off Thursday in Fort Worth with The Band of Heathens blowing through Tulips while Sam Smith heats up Dickies Arena. The action stays in Fort Worth on Friday with a special event headlined by Abraham Alexander, while singer-songwriter Joshua Radin passes through Oak Cliff and Latin pop rock legends MANÁ kick off the first of two nights in Victory Park. That Saturday will also see Dance Gavin Dance taking over Deep Ellum and Gary P. Nunn playing at a new spot in Fort Worth. On Monday, Matt and Kim will bring all the fun to Greenville Avenue. Closing out the concert week, King Krule plays a sold-out show at House of Blues and Pearl Jam makes its triumphant return to North Texas. Now, let's make some choices, shall we?
The Band of Heathens
7 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 7, Tulips, 112 St. Louis Ave., Fort Worth. $22+ at prekindle.com

Austin Americana outfit The Band of Heathens was something of a supergroup when its members first got together in 2005. Guitarists Ed Juri, Gordy Quist and Colin Brooks were all established solo performers in Austin's bustling music scene. When the three musicians played together as separate acts at Momo's in Austin, they formed the group that we know today. Even after the band's formation, The Band of Heathens spent three years developing their sound as a live act before ever entering a studio. In that time, the band was voted "Best New Band" at the 2007 Austin Music Awards and caught the attention of Texas music legend Ray Wylie Hubbard, who produced the band's first, self-titled studio album. Juri and Quist did a song with Hubbard for the band's covers album Remote Transmissions, Vol.1. The band will be playing in Fort Worth this Thursday in support of its latest album, Simple Things.
Sam Smith
8 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 7, Dickies Arena, 1911 Montgomery St., Fort Worth. $35+ at ticketmaster.com

This past February, Sam Smith was all anyone could talk about. The singer's performance at the Grammys ignited a firestorm of right-wing blowback because of the overtly sexual performance of a nonbinary person and a trans woman, Kim Petras. On the left, everybody could not get enough of that performance's ferocity or how historic it was to see Smith and Petras win the Grammy Award for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for "Unholy," making Smith the first openly non-binary artist to win a Grammy and Petras the first openly transgender artist to win a major-category Grammy. Two months later, Smith began their third headlining world tour, GLORIA the tour, in support of the artist's fourth studio album Gloria. The tour will be making its penultimate U.S. stop in Fort Worth with Canadian R&B singer-songwriter Jessie Reyez before Smith heads on to Central America, Asia and Australia.
Abraham Alexander
6 p.m., Friday, Sept. 8, Downtown Cowtown at the Isis, 2401 N. Main St., Fort Worth. $40+ at downtowncowtown.com

Born in Greece, Abraham Alexander was adopted in Texas at the age of 11 after losing his mother in an automobile accident. Alexander excelled at sports in his adopted home before an injury left him with a lot of unoccupied time that he would later fill with music. After a few years developing his voice and guitar skills, a chance meeting led Alexander to record backing vocals on Leon Bridges' 2015 debut album Coming Home. On the advice of his new mentor, Alexander began playing open mics around North Texas, amassing a huge local following. Earlier this summer, the singer celebrated the release of his debut album, Sea/Sons, with three headlining shows at The Kessler. This Friday, Alexander will headline EarthX Film's evening of film, music and conversation, A Party for the Planet, at the newly renovated Downtown Cowtown at the Isis, which showcases a series of inspiring short films exploring a variety of environmental themes.
Joshua Radin
7 p.m., Friday, Sept. 8, The Kessler, 1230 W. Davis St. $26+ at prekindle.com

Joshua Radin had an unlikely start to his career. He was a longtime friend of actor Zach Braff from his time at Northwestern University, and his very first composition, "Winter," was used on the sitcom Scrubs in 2004. Considered one of the best episodes of the show, it features Brendan Fraser as Ben, a character who dies, and as the show cuts to his funeral, "Winter" plays in the background. Radin had released no songs in any format at that point in his career, but the poignant use of the song in the episode created a demand that made Radin an immediate success in the world of acoustic folk. Radin has released nine albums since then, and his songs have been heard in countless TV shows and movies for their stunning emotional depth. Radin plays Friday night at The Kessler with opening support from Maddie Poppe, who was the 16th season winner of American Idol.
MANÁ
8 p.m., Friday – Saturday, Sept. 8–9, American Airlines Center, 2500 Victory Ave. $49.50+ at ticketmaster.com

From the mid-1970s until 1983, singer José Fernando "Fher" Olvera, guitarist Ulises Callero and bassist Juan Calleros played together in the Latin pop rock band Sombrero Verde. After two relatively unnoticed albums, Abraham Calleros and Gustavo Orozco left the group and Sombrero Verde disbanded. The remaining three members placed an ad in their local Guadalajara newspaper seeking a drummer to complete the new band they were putting together, and 15-year-old American Alex González responded and was asked to join the group. Today, MANÁ is the best-selling Latin American band in the world, having sold over 25 million albums along with winning a wall full of awards. The band's México Lindo y Querido Tour is MANÁ's first tour since 2019. They will be stopping for two nights in Dallas this weekend and playing hits from across their entire catalog. 
Dance Gavin Dance
7:30 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 9, The Factory in Deep Ellum, 2713 Canton St. $39 at axs.com

Sacramento post-hardcore icons Dance Gavin Dance return to North Texas, playing Saturday in Deep Ellum. Promoting their latest album, Jackpot Juicer, and new single "The Ghost of Billy Royalton," the band comes to town with Japanese alternative metal band SiM, Slovenian metalcore band Within Destruction and fellow Sacramento post-hardcore band Rain City Drive. Dropped last summer, Dance Gavin Dance's new album includes five previously released tracks filled with unusual melodies and electronic sounds. The band released the new single on Aug. 24 with a desire to play the song live. Aside from always being a band that pushes beyond the boundaries of whatever genre you might pin on it, Dance Gavin Dance has been known for putting on intense live shows that keep fans coming back for more. Monday night's show is sure to be no different.
Gary P. Nunn
8:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 9, Bourbon & Shine, 2736 W. Sixth St., Fort Worth. $30+ at prekindle.com

Coming to the Bourbon & Shine stage this Saturday is Texas country music legend Gary P. Nunn. One of the founding fathers of Austin’s progressive country or “cosmic cowboy” movement in the 1970s, Nunn spent the first part of his career playing piano for the Lost Gonzo band before launching his solo career in 1980. Recognized around the country music industry for his songwriting talent, Nunn has unquestionably changed the face of the genre. He hasn't released any new material for over a decade now, but in 2018, he did put out a collection of his songs called Friends for Life, Vol. 1, which he recorded with other country music legends, including Bruce Robison and Dale Watson. Nunn is the only act listed on the bill Saturday night, but with a career as long and as legendary as his, who could they possibly get to play in support?
Matt and Kim
7 p.m., Monday, Sept. 11, Granada Theater, 3524 Greenville Ave. $30 at prekindle.com

This Monday night on Greenville Avenue, Matt and Kim present THE MATT AND KIM TOUR featuring Matt and Kim. Forgive the repetitiveness, but it would appear that Matt and Kim have titled the tour as such to reassure fans that they, that is Matt Johnson and Kim Schifino, will indeed be performing together as Matt and Kim and not as Johnson and Schifino's latest project, PG14, which is still just Johnson and Schifino, but PG14 is a synth-garage punk duo while Matt and Kim is an indie electronic alternative dance duo, you see. PG14 released its first EP, YES PLEASE, this past April, but Matt and Kim have not released anything since its string of three singles in 2021. But, rest assured, Matt and Kim and not PG14 will be playing Monday night on Greenville Avenue with LA powerpop band Vaguess.
King Krule
7 p.m., Wednesday, Sept. 13, House of Blues, 2200 N. Lamar St. $85+ at livenation.com

Few artists working today can manage the distant cool that English songwriter Archy Marshall has commanded under the moniker King Krule. Krule's first album, 6 Feet Beneath the Moon, came out of nowhere in the late summer of 2013, and the artist amassed a dedicated following in America after performances on Conan and the Late Show With David Letterman. By 2017, with the release of The Ooz, King Krule was packing U.S. concert halls, drawing in audiences with his dark baritone voice, drunken-poet lyrics and brooding performances. Marshall's music transcends genres, borrowing from and blending together genres at the artist's will. On June 9, King Krule released his fourth album, Space Heavy, which is as bleak and ambitious as Marshall has ever been. His show Wednesday night will have opening support from his American counterpart LUCY (Cooper B. Handy).
Pearl Jam
7:30 p.m., Wednesday, Sept. 13, Dickies Arena, 1911 Montgomery St., Fort Worth. $161.27+ at ticketmaster.com

One of the most popular bands to emerge in the 1990s, Pearl Jam, along with Nirvana, Alice in Chains and Soundgarden, came out of the Seattle music scene representing a new movement the media called "grunge." The term "grunge" had more to do with the aesthetic than it did with the sound, as those bands sounded completely different. Soundgarden and Nirvana both dissolved after the deaths of their lead singers, and Alice in Chains has replaced theirs and continued touring and recording. Pearl Jam, however, has remained intact these last 30 years, replacing only the drummer since its formation. The band released its 11th studio album, Gigaton, in March 2020, but was unable to bring the supporting tour to North Texas until now. In fact, this will be Pearl Jam's first North Texas show since 2013. Seattle rock band Deep Sea Diver will serve as the opening act.