The 10 Best Concerts of the Week: Drake, Interpol and More

Kick off the first week of fall with a great set of concerts. Psych-rocker Robert Plant kicks things off Tuesday at The Bomb Factory, Drake plays a double bill midway through the week and Lauryn Hill rounds out the list with a show Sunday at Toyota Music Factory. Catch plenty of great shows in between, like local Polka stars Brave Combo and metal legend Ozzy Osbourne.



Robert Plant and the Sensational Space Shifters
With Lucinda Williams, 7:30 p.m.,Tuesday, Sept. 25, at Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory, 300 W. Las Colinas Blvd., $53.25 and up

The charismatic frontman for Led Zeppelin, Robert Plant, is on tour with his Sensational Space Shifters. The 70-year-old English native is considered by critics to harness one of the greatest voices in rock 'n roll. His lengthy career has produced almost a dozen solo albums, his newest being last year's Carry Fire. Plant's electric live performances are not to be missed. Diamond Victoria


Drake
With Migos, 7 p.m., Wednesday-Thursday, Sept. 26-27 at American Airlines Center, 2500 Victory Ave., $89 and up at ticketmaster.com

Millions of Canadians grew up knowing Aubrey Graham as Jimmy Brooks, a high school basketball star who was left paralyzed from the waist down after being shot by a classmate. Today he’s arguably the biggest musician of the music streaming era. Go figure. Regardless, the 31-year-old “Nice for What” rapper has been earning the accolades and fans long before the release of Thank Me Later. Five albums into his career and Drake has hit No. 1 with all of them. His ability to cultivate and incorporate underground sounds and artists, as well as the sheer sincerity of his music, have made Drake an institution. Fittingly enough, he’ll be coming through Dallas alongside rap trio, Migos, a group that stepped onto a higher platform thanks in part to Drake’s remix of their 2013 single “Versace.” Nicholas Bostick


Ozzy Osbourne
8 p.m., Wednesday, Sept. 26 at Dos Equis Pavilion, 3839 S. Fitzhugh Ave., $20 and up at livenation.com

As a metal icon, reality TV star and alleged bat biter, the 69-year-old Osbourne has led a rich and plentiful life. He's revered as a progenitor of heavy metal for his role as Black Sabbath's lead singer and de facto band leader. In reality, though, his time with the band was rather short-lived, a fact the Prince of Darkness has been quick to point out since the end of last year's rather tepid Sabbath reunion tour. After essentially being fired in 1979, Osbourne has filled the intervening decades making a dozen or so hugely successful albums of his own, curating a metal/hard-rock touring festival that bears his name, and of course, serving as one of TV's most beloved, albeit disheveled, father figures. He's out on the road this summer and fall in what is billed as his final tour, so those in attendance can expect a triumphant performance of career-spanning hits and hearty doses of appreciation from the thousands of loyal fans there to send the true legend off into retirement. Jeff Strowe


Interpol
With Sunflower Bean, 8 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 27 at The Bomb Factory, 2713 Canton St., thebombfactory.com, $35-$65

Interpol just released a great new album called Marauder. It's what you come to expect from this band: dark love songs that make you want to stand up and enjoy. Though they remain a consistent band with their own sound, lots of people forever hold onto the songs from their first two albums, Turn On the Bright Lights and Antics. The Bomb Factory should be a great fit for them. As a bonus, longtime touring keyboardist Brandon Curtis is a local hero, as he grew up in Lake Highlands and played in UFOFU and Secret Machines. Eric Grubbs


The Decemberists
8 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 27 at Majestic Theatre, 1925 Elm St., (214) 670-3687, $39 and up at ticketmaster.com

In December 1825, 14 Russian military officers unsuccessfully attempted to overthrow the yoke of Tsarist oppression. Nearly 200 years later and modern indie band, The Decemberists, appear as incapable of slackening the weight of former glories, though their latest album, I’ll Be Your Girl, makes some bold steps on some tracks. Adding synths on tracks like “Severed” and “Once in My Life,” which pair well with frontman Colin Meloy’s digitally affected vocals, show that the band is evolving. On the other hand, “Rusalka, Rusalka/Wild Rushes” shows just how far removed The Decemberists have strayed from the days of albums like The Crane Wife or Castaways and Cutouts. The track is an eight-minute tale of a Slavic water spirit luring a young man to an early doom and all too reminiscent of an earlier era in the band’s sound. But the album can’t seem to figure out what it wants to be. It sounds as if The Decemberists are still tinkering, looking for a sound that’s true to their intent and still accepted by fans. Regardless of where that path ultimately takes them, The Decemberists will go through Dallas on their way, putting their methods to the test for all to see. Nicholas Bostick


Brave Combo
8 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 27, at Lexus Box Garden at Legacy Hall, 7800 Windrose Ave., free

For more than 35 years, Denton-based Brave Combo has been delighting us with its wonderfully original polka and off-kilter approaches to classics such as The Rolling Stones' "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" and Jimi Hendrix's "Purple Haze," along with original salsa, cha-cha-cha, samba, cumbia and plenty of other musical styles. The Grammy Award-winning band has received plenty of national attention with numerous albums but is no stranger to the small venues of North Texas. DV


The Dandy Warhols
8 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 27, at The Kessler Theater, 1230 W. Davis St., 214-272-8346, $28

Alternative rockers The Dandy Warhols are on tour briefly this fall in support of their 2016 album Distortland. Formed in the early '90s, the Portland natives rose to new popularity in 2001 with the single "Bohemian Like You" and even toured with David Bowie a couple of years later. DV


Lord Huron
8 p.m., Friday, Sept. 28, at The Bomb Factory, 2713 Canton St., $35.50

Lord Huron hits the sweet spot between country and indie rock — think Fleet Foxes-style melodies and songwriting with Southern-tinged vocals. The LA-based foursome debuted in 2012 with the album Lonesome Dreams, followed by 2015's Strange Tails. The band is now touring in support of April's release of Vide Noir. DV


Florence + The Machine
7:30 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 29 at The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory, 300 W. Colinas Blvd., Irving, $39 and up at livenation.com

For a little over a decade now, Florence Welch has belted out grandly orchestral tunes as the frontwoman for Florence + The Machine. The Welsh singer's powerful voice serves as the signature component of the band's lushly arranged pieces, making the intimate confessionals often contained in the songwriting epic and thunderous in their presentations. While the lyrical content is akin to things you may overhear in a hushed coffeehouse, Welch's voice and her band's sound ensure that folks within earshot of whatever venue they're playing in, will be able to bob along with the music. This summer and fall find Welch + The Machine touring behind their latest album High as Hope, a collection of songs that finds the band members dialing things back a bit with a more minimalist production and an even deeper dive into self-introspection within Welch's songwriting. As a cool bonus this Saturday, jazz maestro Kamasi Washington, who also played on High as Hope, serves as the opening act. Jeff Strowe


Ms. Lauryn Hill
With Shabazz Palaces, 6:30 p.m., Sunday, Sept. 30 at The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory, 316 W. Las Colinas Blvd., Irving, tickets start at $22 at livenation.com

It’s hard to believe it’s already been two decades since the release of The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, a record that quite simply rerouted the course of hip-hop forever. A nexus of gospel, reggae, rap, soul and R&B, Ms. Hill’s lone LP struck a singularly plangent chord amid the braggadocio and gold of mid- to late-‘90s hip-hop. Ms. Hill’s bars and bravura here made evident she was not only one of the best MCs of her era, but of all time. Miseducation’s trenchant narratives, girded with warm bass and boom-bap beats replete with Caribbean colors, speak on the strength and perseverance required of women of color — and what a beautiful and sad reality that can be. Seeing Ms. Lauryn Hill live is a bucket-list item of every die-hard rap head; seeing her tour in celebration of her magnum opus and easily one of the finest artifacts in hip-hop history is the chance of a lifetime. Shabazz Palaces’ celestial future-rap is only the cherry on top. Jonathan Patrick