10 Best Concerts of the Week: Shania Twain, Sting, Travis Scott and More

There’s a true sense of music history with each of the acts on this week’s concert list. Whether we’re talking about the underground discography of folk-punk artist Jeffrey Lewis, who kicks off this concert week in Denton, or the riveting narrative of Mayhem, who closes it, each of these shows is brought to you by an artist with a long story. There are the obvious histories of headliners Shania Twain and Sting, but there’s also the little known history behind the formation of !!! that might make you appreciate their backgrounds a little better. There’s also the history of influence behind alt-metal band Helmet that is sure to have you reaching deep into its back catalog. There’s the touring history of Travis Scott and the philosophical history of Avenged Sevenfold. There’s the hidden history of Cigarettes After Sex and the public history of Kesha. There is so much behind the music this week, there should be a show about it.

Jeffrey Lewis & The Voltage
6 p.m., Friday, Oct. 13, Andy’s Bar, 122 N. Locust St., Denton. $12 at prekindle.com

Singer-songwriter and comic book artist Jeffrey Lewis has been cranking out his anti-folk tunes since 1997, releasing a galaxy of collections and singles that are as difficult to track down as they are to number. Whether crafting original songs, putting his spin on anarcho-punk songs from Crass or collaborating with the likes of Kimya Dawson of The Moldy Peaches, Lewis’ prolific output always aims to lift up the downtrodden and speak plain truth to overweening power. Lewis has worked with many bands through the years of various compositions and names. For his current tour, he’ll be performing with The Voltage, the group with whom he made his 2019 album Bad Wiring – a folk-punk album with a lot of jazz influence. Lewis & The Voltage will have opening support from Eric Edward Fishboy, who normally fronts the Denton indie rock band Fishboy.

!!!
7 p.m., Friday, Oct. 13, Tulips, 112 St. Louis Ave., Fort Worth. $20+ at prekindle.com

Post-punk revival act !!! (or Chk Chk Chk) began in 1996 when members of two Sacramento bands, Black Licorice and Pope Smashers, joined forces while on tour. Together, the two bands created a disco-funk sound but sought to balance it with the addition of hardcore punk vocalist Nic Offer, who was singing for another Sacramento band, The Yah Mos, at the time. Little of that hardcore sound remains in the band, but what does persist is the attitude to make whatever kind of music you want, however you want to make it. The result is some of the most truly original music around. The band’s closest musical relative would probably be something like Animal Collective, but even that comparison doesn’t reflect how deeply weird !!!’s music can get. Weird though it may be, there is an addictive quality to !!!’s music that will keep you listening for whatever might be next.

Shania Twain
7:30 p.m., Friday, Oct. 13, Dickies Arena, 1911 Montgomery St., Fort Worth. $112+ at ticketmaster.com

Shania Twain’s Queen Of Me Tour returns to North Texas this week on the second date of the tour’s second leg. The Queen of Country Pop announced her first tour in five years almost exactly a year ago after signing with Republic Nashville and releasing the lead single “Waking Up Dreaming” from her sixth album, Queen of Me. In a move that was seen as divisive at the time, Twain made the crossover from traditional country music into pop music in 1997 with the release of her now legendary album Come on Over, especially with its back-to-back hit singles, “That Don’t Impress Me Much” and “Man! I Feel Like a Woman!” Taylor Swift would go on to follow Twain’s example, crediting her for paving the way. Opening this second leg of the tour is award-winning country artist Lily Rose, best known for the song “Villain.”

Sting
8 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 14, The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory, 300 W. Las Colinas Blvd., Irving. $49.50+ at livenation.com

The last time English musician Sting was in town, it was to celebrate the grand opening of the Echo Lounge & Music Hall in the Design District with a one-off performance for about 1,000 folks fortunate enough to find tickets for the show. Playing for elite crowds for the right booking price is nothing new to Sting. Earlier this year, the singer was criticized for giving a private performance to 50 top Microsoft executives at the 2023 World Economic Forum at Davos the day before the company laid off 10,000 employees. This time around, though, Sting comes to our neck of the woods as part of his My Songs 2023 tour, one that has been going on since 2019, stopping in countries across the world. English singer-songwriter Joe Sumner will open for Sting’s Irving show, the tour’s second-to-last scheduled date in America before Sting returns to Europe.

Helmet
9 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 14, Tannahill’s Tavern and Music Hall, 122 E. Exchange Ave., Fort Worth. $27+ at ticketmaster.com

When NYC alternative metal band Helmet’s video for “Unsung” aired on Beavis and Butt-Head in May 1993, Beavis remarked, “That drummer looks like a regular guy,” to which Butt-Head add, “If you, like, saw these guys on the street, you wouldn’t even know they were cool!” Since forming in 1989, Helmet has always been about metal music without giving itself over to any particular metal aesthetic. Though never a widely popular band, Helmet’s influence can be heard in metal acts as disparate as Mike Patton and Evanescence. Never a band to overstay its welcome, Helmet has always taken its time between albums, giving itself room to explore and create. The band’s ninth album, Left, will be out in November, more than seven years since their last release. Fellow New York alt-rockers Soul Blind open the show Saturday in Fort Worth.

Avenged Sevenfold
6:30 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 15, Dickies Arena, 1911 Montgomery St, Fort Worth. $79.95+ at ticketmaster.com

It had been nearly seven years since Huntington Beach metal band Avenged Sevenfold put out a new, full-length album, but in June, the band released its most thoughtful and philosophical album to date. The band, known for alt-metal hits “Bat Country” and “Hail to the King,” has been constantly evolving since it emerged in 1999. For 2023’s Life Is But a Dream … , Avenged Sevenfold drew inspiration from the writings of French existentialist philosopher Albert Camus, setting them to the beat of progressive and avant-garde metal. Critics loved the album almost universally, citing the depth of the lyrics and intricacy of the music, but it was not met with the same love (or sales) from the band’s fans. Avenged Sevenfold’s North American Tour with Falling In Reverse and Kim Dracula was set to end in Fort Worth, but the band will now be playing one more rescheduled date in Michigan for a show that was canceled because of lightning.

Kesha
8 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 15, The Factory in Deep Ellum, 2713 Canton St. $35 at axs.com

Kesha Rose Sebert made her first public appearance on the reality TV series The Simple Life when her mother answered an ad looking for an “eccentric” family to host Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie. That episode aired in 2005, the same year Kesha started singing in the background for artists Britney Spears, Katy Perry and Flo Rida. After singing on Flo Rida’s “Right Round” in 2009, Kesha spent the next five years as one of the biggest pop stars in the world on the strength of singles “Tik Tok” and “Die Young.” Kesha’s career completely changed in 2014 when she sued her former producer Dr. Luke for sexual assault. The case was thrown out by the judge because the five-year statute of limitations had run out. The singer’s May release Gag Order is heavily influenced by her experience with that legal battle and all the emotional hell that came with it. Pop musician Jake Wesley Rogers opens the show.

Travis Scott
8 p.m., Tuesday – Wednesday, Oct. 17-18, American Airlines Center, 2500 Victory Ave. $36.50+ at ticketmaster.com

Rapper, singer and producer Travis Scott returns to Dallas next week for two dates on his Circus Maximus Tour with Teezo Touchdown. Before the deaths of 10 people at his Astroworld festival in Houston in 2021, Scott was known for his larger-than-life road shows. His 2018 Astroworld Tour saw, among other things, the rapper riding a snaking roller coaster over the heads of the audience while performing “5% Tint.” Scott’s current tour is an extension of the “Circus Maximus” concert the rapper gave at the Circus Maximus in Rome, which was scheduled as a replacement show for his canceled concert at the Pyramids of Giza. The tour started on Oct. 11 in Charlotte, so it’s too soon to say what exactly the rapper has in store for his audiences. But one look at the twisted stage design for the upcoming Dallas shows is enough to know that Scott will be trying, once more, to outdo himself.

Cannibal Corpse & Mayhem
6:30 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 18, The Factory in Deep Ellum, 2713 Canton St. $32+ at axs.com

One of the most iconic and recognizable names in death metal since its arrival in 1988, Cannibal Corpse has blazed its own trail in the music industry, growing over three and a half decades from terrifying parents with its controversial album art to finding international chart success. Wednesday night, Cannibal Corpse will play with black metal pioneers Mayhem. Founders of black metal’s raw, brooding sound, Mayhem earned its infamy in part from its notorious live performances that included impaled animal heads and acts of self-mutilation by singer Per Yngve “Pelle” Ohlin (a.k.a. Dead). The other part of its infamy is played out in the 2018 film Lords of Chaos. For this co-headlining concert, Québécois death metal band Gorguts and Denver death metal band Blood Incantation will kick off the festivities.

Cigarettes After Sex
8 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 18, The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory, 300 W. Las Colinas Blvd., Irving. $74+ at livenation.com

El Paso-born and Brooklyn-bred dream pop band Cigarettes After Sex has been led by frontman Greg Gonzalez since 2008, working with a handful of musicians through the years to capture a dark and sweet sound that feels as anxious as it does soothing. Cigarettes After Sex has released music sporadically throughout these 15 years, beginning with the 2012 EP, I., which gave us the band’s best-known track, the haunting “Nothing’s Gonna Hurt You Baby.” The band has also given us outstanding takes on songs like REO Speedwagon’s “Keep On Loving You” and Brooks & Dunn’s “Neon Moon.” This year, Cigarettes After Sex released two new songs, “Bubblegum” and “Stop Waiting,” both of which display the same moody, atmospheric, slowcore pop for which the band is noted. No opening act has been announced.