10 Best Concerts of the Week: Phoenix, GWAR, Spoon and More

There is a lot going on this week, North Texas. With The State Fair bringing in lots of tourists and hosting its own concerts, there was almost too much this week to really fit into this little list of 10. But we're not here to bring you a comprehensive list — we're here to bring you the best of what's going on in the next week. And it's, well, it's a little all over the place. The concert week kicks off with some high-energy indie-pop on Thursday before taking a complete U-turn with one of the best touring concerts on Friday. Two-fifths of this week's best concerts take place on Saturday with a country storyteller, a jam band, a local favorite and a '90s reboot all competing for your attention. On Sunday, you can mourn the loss of a favorite rock station at an all-day alt-metal show with two outstanding local acts for whom you will want to show up early. On Monday, one of the most important alternative rock bands ever will play in Deep Ellum, while on Tuesday, two local pavilions play host to very different acts from the early 2000s. It's enough to make your head and records spin.
Phoenix
7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 13, South Side Ballroom, 1135 Botham Jean Blvd. $24.75+ at ticketmaster.com

Despite more than a decade of recording and touring in North America, French synth-pop band Phoenix had very little commercial success here until 2009. That's when Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix took indie stations by storm with huge singles such as "1901" and "Lisztomania." What with appearing in all the major music festivals, making the talk show circuit and having a song featured in a Super Bowl ad, Phoenix was at the very peak of its game in 2010. Since then, the band has remained a darling of the indie music world, and though its last two releases didn't quite manage to capture the same cultural spirit as its breakthrough release, Bankrupt and Ti Amo were met with much critical acclaim. The band's new album, Alpha Zulu, will hit shelves and streaming services on Nov. 4, but fans can look forward to hearing the new material firsthand Thursday night after an opening set by New York synth-pop band Porches.
GWAR
6 p.m. Friday, Oct. 14, Amplified Live, 10261 Technology Blvd. E. $30 at seetickets.us

We've said it before, and we'll say it again: GWAR is a band that any live music fan absolutely must see at some point. You know how you don't have to care about horror movies or musicals to enjoy the antics of a screening of The Rocky Horror Picture Show? It's like that. Sure, you might not be that big into metal, but that really is OK. You have to think of a GWAR show as more of an interactive B-movie. With a really loose plot revolving around some sci-fi thing or another, the members of GWAR play the heroes (or something like that) who fight against, um, creatures of some kind. Somehow this involves playing a rock show as well. Honestly, it's not going to make a whole lot of sense to the uninitiated, and any GWAR fan who tries to explain it to you is going to come off sounding like a crazy person. But it doesn't matter. GWAR puts on an incredibly fun show filled with characters, creatures, bad jokes and fake blood. Crobot and fellow character-driven metal band Nekrogoblikon open the show.
Rodney Crowell
7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 15, The Kessler, 1230 W. Davis St. $38+ at prekindle.com

The Kessler Theater invites you to spend an evening with country music legend Rodney Crowell this Saturday night in Oak Cliff. Crowell has recently worked with rising Fort Worth country musician Vincent Neil Emerson, producing the young artist's new self-titled album released earlier this year. Crowell has spent nearly 50 years as one of the greatest songwriters in country music, earning the Academy of Country Music's "Poet's Award" in 2019. On this occasion, he will showcase his writing and his songwriting. For this rare experience, Crowell will be reading from his brand new book, Word For Word, and sharing stories in addition to performing the songs that have made him a highly sought-after songwriter.
Goose
7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 15, South Side Ballroom, 1135 Botham Jean Blvd. $35+ at ticketmaster.com

Jam bands tend to get a bad rap for playing wandering guitar solos and a lack of familiar song structure, but there's something about Goose that cuts through the typical jam band label. Perhaps it's that their sound is not like that of prototypical jam bands such as Phish or the Grateful Dead, eschewing that kind of blues-rock psychedelia that calls to mind images of hippies rolling in mud. Instead, Goose plays the energetic style of jazz rock that bands such as Steely Dan and Chicago played with intelligence, precision and a whole lot of style. However, much in the way of the Grateful Dead, many of Goose's concerts have been recorded and are available on Spotify. If those live albums are any indication, concertgoers can expect a complete musical experience Saturday night at South Side Ballroom when they spend An Evening With Goose.
Spoon
7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 15, Tannahill's Tavern & Music Hall, 122 E. Exchange Ave., No. 200, Fort Worth. $65 at ticketmaster.com

Fort Worth's newest venue, Tannahill's Tavern & Music Hall, is kicking off its first week in business. The Tim Love-owned venue hopes to be a hot spot for music and food alike. It has already hosted a number of shows celebrating its launch, including Teddy Swims, Tab Benoit, Reckless Kelly and Shovels & Rope. On Saturday, one of Texas' favorite indie-rock acts, Spoon, appears. After a five-year break, the Austin five-piece released its 10th studio album, Lucifer on the Sofa, this past February. For more than 20 years now, Spoon has been able to craft minimalist rock songs with a huge impact, and the group still sounds as crisp and as clean as it always has. Despite the title, Lucifer on the Sofa actually offers up some of the brightest music the band has turned out in years. Tampa band Glove and Austin singer-songwriter Andrew Cashen open the show.
The Wallflowers
7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 15, Granada Theater, 3524 Greenville Ave. $50+ at prekindle.com

The Wallflowers may have been established in 1989, but these days the band name really just means Jakob Dylan and company. And since most of his touring band was assembled in the last year, it is unlikely that you will see any other familiar faces on that stage. The band's biggest era was unquestionably 1996–97, when its sophomore album Bringing Down the Horse spawned four inescapable singles, "One Headlight," "6th Avenue Heartache," "Three Marlenas" and "The Difference." But after the band contributed a cover of David Bowie's "Heroes" to the Godzilla soundtrack in 1998, it went underground, releasing four more albums before disbanding. Dylan has recorded solo work under his own name outside of his work with The Wallflowers, but that work has been mostly in the country/Americana genre. Dylan has maintained The Wallflowers' name for the 2021 album, Exit Wounds, because it is more in line with the alt-rock the band once produced. Dallas' Taylor Young Band will warm up the crowd.
Disturbed
4:45 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 16, Dickies Arena, 1911 Montgomery St., Fort Worth. $35+ at ticketmaster.com

Well, 97.1 The Eagle may be gone as we knew it, but the station (now called The Freak) will host its annual Freakers' Ball festival as planned beginning Sunday afternoon. The show will start with a couple of local acts, Dallas heavy intergalactic rock band Mothership and Fort Worth metal stalwarts LockJaw. The day will also see performances from woman-led alt-metal bands New Years Day and Dorothy before another local favorite, Drowning Pool, opens for the night's headliners. First up is Asking Alexandria, the longstanding British band whose sound has grown up quite a bit from the band's metalcore origins to something that is just good hard rock. Alt-metal band Disturbed closes out the night ahead of the release of its eighth album, Divisive, which is due out Nov. 18. This may not change your feelings about losing the city's best rock stations to an all-talk format, but you can at least rock away some of that frustration.
Flipper
7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 17, Three Links, 2704 Elm St. $25 at seetickets.us

Back in the early '90s, Flipper caught many eyes around the country when Kurt Cobain sported his homemade Flipper T-shirt in many photo shoots while performing and in the Nirvana video for "Come As You Are." Many Flipper fans made their own shirts, and Cobain counted himself among that list, which also included Henry Rollins, Moby and Eric Avery of Jane's Addiction. Flipper was the quintessential underground band of its time, influencing just about everyone who came into contact with it and inspiring the grunge movement that came after it. The band has reunited in various forms since the death of original singer Will Shatter in 1987, with guitarist Ted Falconi and drummer Steve DePace staying on as original members for the duration. While the band has had its share of singers and bass players fill in for the past three decades or so, they finally found both in Minutemen bassist and vocalist Mike Watt. Providing local support are SUMPP, Mean Motor Scooter and Calculated Chaos.
Bring Me the Horizon
6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 18, The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory, 300 W. Las Colinas Blvd., Irving. $165+ at livenation.com

Founded in Sheffield, England, in 2004, Bring Me the Horizon came to life as a deathcore band, making a name across the U.K. while opening for New England metal band The Red Chord before crossing the pond themselves. While the debut album Count Your Blessings was firmly a deathcore album, the band has changed its style and sound over the course of seven albums and 18 years. With the release of Amo in 2019, Bring Me the Horizon showed their development, with songs that were more focused on melody and more of a metalcore sound mixed with elements of electronica, pop and hip-hop. The band is currently working on a four-part project that kicked off in 2020 with the release of Post Human: Survival Horror, which was more aggressive than its predecessor. Metalcore band Knocked Loose, alt/hip-hop artist grandson and alt-metal singer Siiickbrain open the show.
The Black Keys
7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 18, Dos Equis Pavilion, 1818 First Ave. $34.50 at livenation.com

Of all the bands to emerge during the garage rock explosion in the early 2000s, The Black Keys have been the most enduring. Sure, The Strokes will always get a lot of attention when they decide to do something, and Jack White is still kind of holding down that White Stripes sound. But The Black Keys have kept it consistent, steadily releasing album after album, year after year to more and more critical acclaim. At the center of it all are drummer Patrick Carney and multi-instrumentalist Dan Auerbach, who have also produced all the band's albums except for 2008's Attack & Release, which was produced by the duo's frequent collaborator, Danger Mouse. The band's latest, Dropout Boogie, was released in May to positive reviews, drawing criticism for being, perhaps, a little too consistent. The band has been on tour with opening act Band of Horses since July, and it will close out the tour Tuesday night in Dallas.