10 Best Concerts of the Week: Shania Twain, Erykah Badu, Taking Back Sunday and More

As we enter the last full week of July, Dallas’s weekly concert calendar kicks off with a bang when the Queen of Country Pop, Shania Twain, plays her first of two scheduled shows in North Texas this year. On Saturday, Deep Ellum hosts a show from legendary punk band X, while across the neighborhood, Insane Clown Posse’s Shaggy 2 Dope does a solo show and down the road, Dallas native Boz Scaggs plays a hometown show. On Sunday, Dallas native Erykah Badu makes a hometown appearance on the city’s largest stage. Tuesday has two shows in Dallas, with blues great Keb’ Mo’ in the Arts District and hard rock band Disturbed in Fair Park. Irving will host two of this week’s best concerts at The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory: Sublime with Rome on Sunday and Sad Summer Festival on Tuesday. The concert week concludes on Wednesday with Jason Mraz touring his new disco-inspired album.

Shania Twain
7:30 p.m., Friday, July 21, Dos Equis Pavilion, 1818 First St. $84+ at livenation.com

One of the most anticipated concerts in 2023 in Dallas, Shania Twain‘s Queen Of Me Tour closes out the work week in Fair Park. The Queen of Country Pop announced her first tour in five years last October after signing with Republic Nashville and releasing the lead single “Waking Up Dreaming,” from her sixth album, Queen of Me. In a move that was seen as divisive at the time, Twain made the crossover from traditional country music into pop music in 1997 with the release of her now legendary album, Come on Over, especially with its back-to-back hit singles, “That Don’t Impress Me Much” and “Man! I Feel Like a Woman!” Taylor Swift would go on to follow Twain’s example, crediting her for paving the way. Dallas is the third-to-last date on the first North American leg of Twain’s tour, but the singer will return to North Texas Oct. 13, playing the second date of the tour’s second leg in Fort Worth.

Shaggy 2 Dope
7 p.m., Saturday, July 22, Trees, 2709 Elm St. $35 at axs.com

About a month ago, the first half of the infamous Insane Clown Posse, Violent J, came to town on a solo tour in support of his fourth solo album Bloody Sunday. He came with longtime friends and collaborators Esham and Ouija Macc – and the trio was dubbed 3 Headed Monster and released the album OBLITERATION earlier in the month. This week, the other half of Insane Clown Posse, Shaggy 2 Dope, will make his own solo tour performance in support of his new, trap music-inspired album, Professor Shaggs & the Quest for the Ultimate Groove. Although he’s been there from the beginning, Shaggy 2 Dope has often played second fiddle to Violent J, often filling the role of hype-man, punctuating the lyrics or shouting interjections. Perhaps that is why he was the first of the group to do a solo album back in 1994. The rapper comes to town with his crew: DJ Clay, Odd Squad Family, Nathan James, Tieme Diaz and ShaggyTheAirhead.

X
7 p.m., Saturday, July 22, The Studio at the Factory, 2727 Canton St. $34.75 at axs.com

Punk music was missing something before X arrived on the LA scene. The band, formed in the late ’70s, played in clubs alongside The Weirdos, The Dickies and The Germs. While X always had the same energy of the bands in its shared scene, what made it stand out was the inspiration it drew from folk music. X shared its counterparts’ views on dropping out of mainstream society, but it did so with searing wit and a cast of identifiable characters. While other LA bands would scream their dissatisfaction through free association, X elevated the art of punk rock, inspiring countless others to break through the limitations of genre while keeping its rough edges. In 2020, the band released Alphabetland, its first studio album in 27 years, and the first with its original lineup in 35 years. The tour in support of the album will have its first Dallas date on Saturday with rockabilly singer James Intveld opening.

Boz Scaggs
8 p.m., Saturday, July 22, Winspear Opera House, 2403 Flora St. $39+ at attpac.org

William Scaggs was a 12-year-old student at St. Mark’s School of Texas in Dallas when he met Steve Miller, who taught Scaggs how to play guitar and gave him the nickname “Boz.” Boz Scaggs sang in Miller’s first band, The Marksmen, in 1959. The two stayed friends after Miller was kicked out of St. Mark’s and both attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison and played in blues bands such as the Ardells and the Fabulous Knight Trains. The two parted ways in 1963 as Scaggs pursued his own career in music, although he did play on the Steve Miller Band’s first two albums. Scaggs’ biggest success came in 1976 with the release of Silk Degrees, recorded with session musicians who went on to form the band Toto. Since his heyday in the ’70s, Scaggs has released music infrequently while maintaining a steady touring schedule. Saturday night’s show will be his first show in Dallas in two years.

Sublime with Rome
5 p.m., Sunday, July 23, The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory, 300 W. Las Colinas Blvd., Irving. $29.50+ at livenation.com

Sublime gets a lot of internet hate for producing overplayed, generic reggae rock, but a lot of those haters seem to forget that Sublime emerged on the national scene at a moment in music history when alternative music was in a state of transition. Grunge was all but gone and nu metal had yet to take its place, so when Sublime came out with its self-titled album in 1996, it sounded fresh – something totally different from what had come before and something that could never be repeated without someone saying, “That sounds like Sublime.” The band’s original singer, Bradley Nowell, died shortly before that album’s release, leaving its members to pick up the pieces, formulating new bands such as Long Beach Dub All-Stars to perform old songs. In 2009, the band began playing shows as Sublime with singer and guitarist Rome Ramirez, but changed the name to Sublime with Rome after Nowell’s estate sued them for using the name. Sublime protégé Slightly Stoopid, rapper Atmosphere and reggae band The Movement open the show.

Erykah Badu
7:30 p.m., Sunday, July 23, American Airlines Center, 2500 Victory Ave. $46.45+ at ticketmaster.com

Every year, the people of Dallas are treated to a birthday bash in honor of the city’s resident Queen of Neo Soul, but this year, Erykah Badu‘s hometown will also be able to see the singer perform on the city’s largest stage. Dallas has always been central to Badu’s career, whether by recording many of her songs at the Dallas Sound Lab, collaborating with Dallas artists such as Marc Rebillet, walking the streets of Dallas near Dealey Plaza in the nude for her “Window Seat” video or headlining the annual Riverfront Jazz Festival benefitting Dallas’ Black Academy of Arts and Letters. Badu announced her Unfollow Me Tour earlier this year – her first tour of this magnitude in the U.S. in over a decade. The 25-city outing has taken the singer all around the country with rapper Yasiin Bey (formerly known as Mos Def). The tour concludes here in the singer’s hometown on Sunday.

Taking Back Sunday
2 p.m., Tuesday, July 25, The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory, 300 W. Las Colinas Blvd., Irving. $30.50+ at livenation.com

The Vans Warped Tour may be long gone, but Converse’s Sad Summer Festival is in full swing this year with headliner Taking Back Sunday. The Long Island emo band was founded around the turn of the century with original singer Jesse Lacey, who quit after the release of the band’s first EP in 2000 to start his own band, Brand New. Lacey was replaced by the band’s original bassist Adam Lazzara, who has stayed in that role ever since. Two years after Lacey’s departure, original guitarist John Nolan and second bassist Shaun Cooper left the band to form Straylight Run. They later rejoined in 2010 after the release of the band’s three best-selling records. So, while all of the current members predate the band’s classic era, most of the band that will play “A Decade Under the Influence” Tuesday night was not in the band when it was recorded. The festival will also have sets from Andrew McMahon, The Maine, PVRIS and Hot Mulligan.

Disturbed
6:30 p.m., Tuesday, July 25, Dos Equis Pavilion, 1818 First Ave. $29.50+ at livenation.com

Disturbed rose to prominence in the age of nu metal, but it wasn’t really ever a nu metal band, and outside of its aesthetics, it wasn’t really ever much of a metal band, either. In recent years, Disturbed has shed much of its heavy metal image, embracing a hard rock sound that has welcomed more fans into the fold. This move culminated in the 2018 album, Evolution, which showed the band’s softer side. All that changed when singer David Draiman began writing for Disturbed’s latest album, Divisive. Looking out at a world of chaos from the solitude of a pandemic lockdown, Draiman decided that the new album would go harder, heavier and angrier than the albums that had preceded it. The step back toward metal was met with mixed reviews from critics, but the fans loved hearing the band return to an earlier sound. For its show Tuesday night, Disturbed will have Breaking Benjamin and Jinjer on hand to warm up the crowd.

Keb’ Mo’
8 p.m., Tuesday, July 25, Winspear Opera House, 2403 Flora St. $39+ at attpac.org

Blues legend Keb’ Mo’ released his debut album in 1980 under his given name, Kevin More, but did not release his second until 1994 when he reemerged using his street name. In the 14 years between those two albums, Mo’ spent his time on the road, touring with the Monk Higgins-fronted Whodunit Band as well as blues greats Albert Collins and Big Joe Turner. It was during this period that Mo’ honed his skills, evolving from a blues fanboy into a truly original blues musician steeped in the genre’s oldest traditions. Since his second album, Mo’ has released a new album every two years, with a collaborative album with Taj Mahal and a children’s album sprinkled into the mix. Mo’ has won five of the 12 Grammys for which he’s been nominated, most recently winning Best Americana Album for his 2020 release Oklahoma. Special guest Anthony D’Amato opens the show Tuesday night.

Jason Mraz
7 p.m., Wednesday, July 26, Music Hall at Fair Park, 909 First Ave. $49.95+ at ticketmaster.com

When Jason Mraz released his first single, “You & I Both,” from his 2002 debut album Waiting for My Rocket to Come, the world hardly took notice. Mraz had captured some attention opening for Jewel in the year leading up to the album’s release, but its first single did little to elevate the artist. In late January 2003, however, Mraz made the late-night talk show circuit with the album’s second single “Remedy (I Won’t Worry),” which captured the world’s attention with its upbeat music and intricate lyrical structure. Mraz had a string of top-10 albums between 2005 and 2018, but after leaving Atlantic Records, the singer has been more concerned with making the music he likes than making music that sells. His 2020 album, Looking for the Good, was a reggae album, the proceeds from which were donated to Black Lives Matter and other social justice organizations. His latest, Mystical Magical Rhythmical Radical Ride, is influenced by disco, so get ready to dance Wednesday night.