The Yeah Yeah Yeahs Cast a Sex Spell on Dallas

Before their Tuesday night show at the Pavilion at the Toyota Music Factory in Irving, 2000s indie rock icons the Yeah Yeah Yeahs had not played in Dallas since 2006.

“It’s been too damn long,” frontwoman Karen O declared midway through the set. The fans in attendance seemed like they couldn’t agree more.

The band demonstrated throughout the night that they’re not ones to shy away from a slow burn. Opening act The Faint played a punishingly long set, clocking in at just under an hour, complete with cringe-inducing reminders to the blasé audience that they’re actually allowed to stand if they want to.

“We’re just getting warmed up,” lead singer Todd Fink threatened at the 30-minute mark.

Karen O later noted that The Faint were longtime friends of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. That explains the generosity, but doesn’t excuse it.

When the headliners finally took the stage at 9:30 p.m. and the guitar for set opener “Y Control” kicked in, it could barely be heard over cheers and declarations of love for Karen O as she burst onto the stage. Obviously, Dallas had sorely missed the band these past 17 years.

The singer brings a magical quality to the stage and it’s not just because the band had the stage smudged with sage before they went on. She has the kind of magnetism that guarantees the audience belongs to her. There wasn’t one person in the Pavilion who wasn’t reacting exactly the way she wanted them to.

Karen O has previously said that she’s more reserved offstage and that performing brings out a more confident side of her. It seems like she brings out that side of her fans as well. Any artist (save for maybe The Faint) can get fans to get up and dance, but who else can compel an audience to orgasmically moan along with her? She didn’t even ask. They just did it.

With that kind of energy, any given number in a Yeah Yeah Yeahs set would be fit for a grand finale in anyone else’s show. The band, possibly privy to this, seemed to be trying to one-up themselves with every song. They unleashed giant inflatable eyeballs for the crowd to bounce around during “Zero.” They debuted a song from their latest album Cool It Down, “Different Today,” live for the first time. There was a confetti cannon firing continuously for several minutes during set closer “Heads Will Roll.” 

Karen O dedicated the band’s best-known song, “Maps,” to four different recipients. Each time beginning with the phrase “I’d like to dedicate this song to … ” she honored – in this exact order – a crew member whose birthday is this week, The Faint, “Someone you love more than life itself” and Texas.

During the second encore number, “Date With the Night,” Karen O fellated the microphone before slamming it on the ground.

All of this was simultaneously exhilarating and exhausting.

Also notable was the audience, whose median age was around 30. The general vibe was, “I liked them before they were famous.”

What the Met Gala is for elaborate gowns, this show was for vintage T-shirts now old enough to vote. When Karen O noted how long it had been since the Yeah Yeah Yeahs had last performed in Dallas, she asked if anyone had been at their last Dallas show in 2006. A spattering of lying Zoomers raised their hands, but there were also some bona fide veteran hipsters in attendance. Some of them even brought their kids. Truly, a lot has happened since the band has been away.

Fans were quick to forgive and more than happy to fall back under the band’s spell once again.