Andrew Sherman
Audio By Carbonatix
The Longhorn Ballroom has a storied history of announcing some big-name concerts across a wide range of genres. This year marked the venue’s 75th anniversary, which was celebrated through the Longhorn Jubilee Series with performances by Toadies, The Band of Heathens, Bob Wills’ Texas Playboys and more. The historic Dallas venue still has a plethora of shows scheduled until the end of 2025.
The Longhorn is also looking into the future. Built in 1950 for music legend Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys, it was originally named Bob Wills’ Ranch House. Dewey Groom renamed it to Longhorn Ballroom, which has since hosted a wide variety of artists from country legends like Willie Nelson, Loretta Lynn, Merle Haggard, Charley Pride, Pasty Cline and George Jones. Other world-renowned artists in jazz, blues and R&B include B.B. King, Ray Charles, Nat King Cole, James Brown, Al Green, Johnny Rodriguez, Freddy Fender and Selena. The infamous British punk band The Sex Pistols performed one of Texas’ most legendary concerts there in 1978.
The Longhorn campus features a newly renovated multi-use building that opened in June, located across the courtyard from the Ballroom and spanning over 26,000 square feet. A 6,500-capacity outdoor amphitheater (“Backyard”) was completed in September. An established restaurant group is managing three fast-casual boutique concepts that’ll culminate in a grand opening, with show nights scheduled to commence in the Spring of 2026.
The Longhorn Dallas Launches New Website
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On Tuesday, the Longhorn launched a new website, thelonghorndallas.com, to showcase that it is becoming more than a venue, but a campus for creatives. This website offers a first look at the tenants, including an independent apparel shop, a boutique art gallery, a television production studio, a co-working space for creative professionals, multiple live-work artist studios and the world headquarters of Kessler Presents.
The Longhorn’s artistic director, Jeffrey Liles, spoke about the restoration process during a conversation last week.
“The whole campus will be amazing with office spaces, restaurants and the amphitheater,” he told us. “It’s one big area that’s called Rock Island. And Rock Island is kind of like Deep Ellum in the respect that it had this whole history back in the day. It wasn’t incorporated into Dallas. In fact, when I worked at the Longhorn the first time, it was on Rock Island, which is what they called it. I think that eventually you’ll start to see people identifying that whole Longhorn campus as Rock Island.”
So far, they’ve had a soft opening with a series of shows this fall that started with the Randy Rogers Band in September.
Take a look at all the 2025-2026 Longhorn Ballroom announcements below, and check back for more; this list will be updated as new artists are announced.
2025 Longhorn Ballroom Schedule
Andrew Sherman
KXT 91.7 presents Neko Case Fall Tour 2025
Sunday, Nov. 23, 8 p.m.
With John Grant
Jamestown Revival and The Band of Heathens
Friday, Nov. 28, 7:45 p.m.
With special guest Sela Campbell
Reverend Horton Heat
Saturday, Nov. 29, 8 p.m.
With special guests Jason D. Williams and Los Skarnales
Christone “Kingfish” Ingram – The Hard Road World Tour
Friday, Dec. 5, 8 p.m.
Marc Broussard
Saturday, Dec. 6, 8 p.m.
With special guest Taylor Rae
Tower Of Power: Holiday and Hits Tour
Wednesday, Dec. 10, 8 p.m.
Blue Öyster Cult
Saturday, Dec. 13, 8 p.m.
Sean Stroud
William Beckmann’s 2025 Las Posadas Tour
Friday, Dec. 19, 8 p.m.
With special guest Julianna Rankin
The Wilder Blue and Silverada
Saturday, Dec. 20, 8 p.m.
Alysse Gafkjen
Old 97’s
Saturday, Dec. 27, 7:45 p.m.
With special guests Joshua Ray Walker and Rhett Miller
2026 Longhorn Ballroom Schedule
Mavis Staples
Friday, Jan. 16, 8 p.m.
With special guest Jon Cleary
Justin Furstenfeld of Blue October
Saturday, Feb. 7, 8 p.m.
Los Lonely Boys
Sunday, Feb. 15, 8 p.m.
Aimee Mann, 22 ½ Lost In Space Anniversary Tour
Friday, Feb. 27, 8 p.m.
With special guest Jonathan Coulton
Trampled by Turtles
Friday, March 20, 7:30 p.m.
With Special Guest Wild Horses
The California Honeydrops – Shine Delights Tour 2026
Tuesday, March 24, 8 p.m.
Jesse Welles
Friday, March 27, 8 p.m.
La Mafia
Saturday, March 28, 8 p.m.
Longhorn Backyard Amphitheater
Big Head Todd and The Monsters
Friday, April 17, 8 p.m.
Benjamin Tod and the Inline Six 2026 Tour
Sunday, April 19, 8 p.m.
Mt. Joy – Hope We Have Fun Part II
Friday, April 24, 8 p.m.
Longhorn Backyard Amphitheater
Rhiannon Giddens
May 3, 8 p.m.
Ticketmaster
Mac DeMarco
Monday, May 18, 8 p.m.
You can find the Observer’s complete concert listings here.
