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Harry Connick Jr. brought the jazz but forgot the soul Sunday night.

Harry Connick Jr. Was Too Comfortable at the Winspear Stage on Sunday

By Preston Jones

Mar 9, 2020

To hear Harry Connick Jr. tell it, he’s spent much of the last year rescuing Cole Porter from obscurity. “Most people not only don’t know much about him, but don’t know who he was,” Connick Jr. explained not long into his 110-minute performance before a near-capacity audience at Winspear Opera...

The Eagles played Hotel California in its entirety at the American Airlines Center, and we're still not entirely sure what the song is about.

The Eagles Reckoned With Their Legacy on Saturday Night in Dallas

By Preston Jones

Mar 2, 2020

What does it mean to reckon with your legacy? Does confronting a creative achievement — even if it’s the product of decades past, when you were someone else entirely — constitute a form of capitulation, a shrugging acceptance that you’ve peaked and are merely coasting on the fumes of previous...

What do Badu's party and a Samuel Beckett play have in common? There's some waiting going on.

Erykah Badu Celebrated Her Birthday with 4,300 of Her Closest Friends

By Mike Brooks

Feb 24, 2020

This past Saturday night, Erykah Badu was scheduled to perform as part of her annual birthday celebration. And the legendary singer is usually so legendarily late, that she made a post on social media the day of the show warning those who expected a late entrance that she wouldn't be...

We missed greatness, Dallas, when we skipped Lovebomb Go-Go's show at Three Links.

Dear Dallas: A Great Band Came to Town, You Missed It and They Felt It

By David Fletcher

Feb 20, 2020

Dallas, we have a problem. Portland’s genre-smashing, horn-driven intergalactic glam performance band Lovebomb Go-Go landed at Three Links in Deep Ellum on Wednesday in the middle of a cold, wet February night to give us a nova blast of sound before heading east to New Orleans. You weren’t there. About...

Yola's show will not be forgotten by those in attendance.

Yola Was Simply Flawless at The Kessler on Sunday Night

By Preston Jones

Feb 10, 2020

It took all of 40 seconds. The woman born Yolanda Quartey, standing before a sold-out Kessler Theater Sunday night, resplendent in her afro, clad in a black gown and performing under her musical moniker Yola, glided smoothly into the chorus of her song “Lonely the Night.” As she did, the...

Even cowboys get the blues. Miranda Lambert's hometown show felt personal.

Miranda Lambert’s Dallas Show Was a Satisfying Overview of Her Remarkable Career

By Preston Jones

Feb 10, 2020

“I’m so happy to be home right now, I can’t even stand it!” Miranda Lambert shouted on Saturday night. Whether in a Stockyards honky-tonk, an Arlington football stadium or a Dallas amphitheater, there is always an intense emotional undercurrent to her hometown shows. It’s no mystery as to why: Lambert...

Celine Dion made us forget that the world might be crumbling.

Celine Dion’s Monday Night Show at AAC Gives Us a Break From All That’s Wrong in the World

By Preston Jones

Feb 4, 2020

From all outward appearances, Celine Dion is unmarred by time. Her eyes — beaming at the near-capacity audience from one of several enormous video screens — sparkle as ever. Her wide, white smile beams munificently at all who gaze upon it. Her muscular arms gesticulate freely, piercing the air to...

Dwight Yoakam, pictured here at the 8th Annual ACM Honors, channeled the ghosts of Nashville on Friday night in Dallas.

Dwight Yoakam’s Friday Night Show at Bomb Factory Reinforced His Devotion to Country Music

By Preston Jones

Jan 27, 2020

The most dangerous thing that can happen to an art form is for it to be treated gently — relevance calcified into reverence. There is no doubting Dwight Yoakam’s devotion to country music — his was a poignant presence in documentarian Ken Burns’ sprawling 2019 assessment of the genre —...

Tool Overstayed Their Welcome at American Airlines Center on Wednesday Night

By Garrett Gravley

Jan 23, 2020

Over the span of a three-decade career, progressive metal juggernaut Tool has, from a commercial and artistic standpoint, become the envy of almost every contender in the genre. In a 13-year stretch, Tool belted out four entries in a timeless discography that serve as metal benchmarks: Undertow, Ænima, Lateralus and...

Eric Burton and Black Pumas play Dallas' Canton Hall.

Black Pumas Bring the Fun to the First of 3 Sold-Out Dallas Shows

By Preston Jones

Jan 10, 2020

Late in the evening, long after a packed Canton Hall had lost itself in a blissful fog of sinuous grooves, searing guitar licks and soulful vocals, Black Pumas’ Eric Burton made a confession. “I’m embarrassed by how much fun we’re having,” the gimme cap-clad singer told the adoring, sold-out crowd...

Bayleigh Cheek's new single "Release Me" will be available Jan. 10.

Bayleigh Cheek Is Starting 2020 Right with New Single ‘Release Me’

By Jacob Vaughn

Jan 7, 2020

Since 2015, local musician Bayleigh Cheek has hopped from one North Texas venue to another with her candy apple-red Gretch electric guitar to accompany her haunting vocals. For a while, she would stand alone onstage with her long hair draped down her shoulders, suited up in a bohemian-styled outfit, mesmerizing...

Lizzo's twerk fest reminded us that we, too, can be that bitch.

The 10 Best North Texas Concerts in 2019

By Dallas Observer Staff

Jan 3, 2020

In North Texas, a prime central touring spot, we get our abundant share of big-name visitors. This past year was no exception, with stops by Donald Trump and Beto O'Rourke (on the same day), and by icons like Sir Paul McCartney, Cher and Billy Joel. Some stood out for their...

Cher Proved She Has Nothing to Prove on Thursday Night in Dallas

By Preston Jones

Dec 20, 2019

You may ask yourself: What does Cher have left to prove? The answer, of course, is nothing. With an Emmy, an Oscar, a Grammy, a three-year Las Vegas residency, 100 million records sold around the world and an enduring status as an icon for the LGBTQ community to her credit,...

Megan Thee Stallion (seen here at the Power 105.1's Powerhouse 2019 presented by AT&T at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey) made the whole crowd twerk this past Friday at The Bomb Factory.

On Thursday, Megan Thee Stallion Took a Final Exam. On Friday, She Sold Out Bomb Factory.

By Garrett Gravley

Dec 16, 2019

On Dec. 12, Megan Thee Stallion was given a Powerhouse Award at the 2019 Billboard Women in Music event at Los Angeles’s Hollywood Palladium. As Billboard reports, she arrived late because she had a final exam due. The next day, she flew to Dallas to headline the sold-out My Mixtapez...

Kwinton Gray joined his siblings and Cure for Paranoia onstage.

What You Missed at the DOMA Showcase

By Dallas Observer Staff

Dec 10, 2019

The Dallas Observer Music Awards showcase took place this Saturday night in Deep Ellum and even though we nominated the acts, they exceeded even our own expectations. Over 40 nominated bands played in various locations. The streets were already exciting. Present were the usual weekend crowds, but members of the...

Señorita Camila Cabello has a unique pop blend.

Dickies Arena Was the Perfect Host for KISS FM’s Jingle Ball

By Garrett Gravley

Dec 4, 2019

iHeartRadio’s annual Jingle Ball (or 106.1 KISS FM’s Jingle Ball, as far as DFW is concerned) made its way through Fort Worth’s Dickies Arena on Tuesday night, and as tradition has it, half a dozen of the hottest names in pop music played 20-30 minute sets with five minute intermissions...

Singer Matthew Healy used another, stronger voice at his show: That of Greta Thunberg's.

The 1975’s Grand Prairie Show Defied the Division Between Music Genres

By Garrett Gravley

Nov 29, 2019

Tom Waits once said: "This whole division between genres has more to do with marketing than anything else. It's terrible for the culture of music. Like anything that is purely economic, it ignores the most important component." Progress. The “important component” the venerable Waits was referring to in the above...

Rufus Wainwright is criminally underrated. Who do we charge with that?

Rufus Wainwright, Even in Red Ruby Slippers, Isn’t Looking to Go Back

By Preston Jones

Nov 25, 2019

Time seemed more slippery than usual this past Friday night at the Majestic Theatre. Standing before a near-capacity audience, Rufus Wainwright, clad in a Western shirt, black jeans and glittering ruby slippers, sang in his ageless voice — rich, resonant and riveting — of youthful hedonism and domestic pleasures, collapsing...

Local pop singer Remy Reilly will be at the Box Garden at Legacy Hall for a free set with her band this Thursday.

The 10 Best Concerts of the Week: Frankie Leonie, Remy Reilly, Allison Moorer and More

By Jacob Vaughn

Nov 18, 2019

This week is chock-full of badass shows to go to in North Texas. If you're planning to attend the Dallas Observer Music Awards Showcase though, you might want to clear your schedule for Monday, Thursday and Saturday so you can get a little taste of some of the acts on...

The Black Keys put on a tasteful rocking show on Thursday night at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth.

The Black Keys Rocked Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, But Tastefully

By Preston Jones

Nov 15, 2019

Dan Auerbach, an electric guitar slung around his neck, stood just to the side of center stage. “Let’s go back to Akron right now, down in the basement, and play some basement music,” he said to the howling audience arrayed before him, glowing phones and overpriced plastic cups of beer...

Concert Reviews

Nearly 40,000 Fans Partied Like It Was 2019 for Green Day, Fall Out Boy and Weezer

The Bastards of Soul Were Back on Track With a Packed Fort Worth Show

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