Oct
5
Thanks to the grace of trickle-down festival economics, this week is absolutely stacked with bands coasting off the momentum of Austin City Limits Fest and passing through Dallas. And let’s face it, unless you’re independently wealthy and capable of buying a VIP festival ticket with some sort of personal bathroom and stage-side seating, the Dallas concerts will be infinitely more enjoyable. So get out there and proudly represent the 214, and take a moment to appreciate wondrous indoor concert amenities such as air conditioning, actual bathrooms and an audience that doesn’t function like a savage post-apocalyptic war tribe.
alt-J
With San Fermin, 8 p.m. Monday, October 5, at South Side Ballroom, 1135 S. Lamar St., 214-421-2021 or southsideballroomdallas.com, $39.50
Almost a year to the day since their last visit, alt-J returns to the Gilley’s complex to perform for their loyal fanbase of KXT donors and the last vicissitudes of KDGE listeners. It’s been a barn-burning three years for alt-J since they debuted with their Mercury Prize-winning An Awesome Wave in 2012, which launched the British band to stardom in their native U.K. They smartly followed that up with their sophomore effort, This Is All Yours, which captured the attention of American audiences with its hit single “Left Hand Free.” Embedding themselves in the collective American alt-rock consciousness, the band has all but guaranteed itself a run towards the top much like fellow Brits Coldplay and Muse did before them. Expect a large crowd of super fans to cram into the South Side Ballroom because Dallas music fans are getting smart about skipping Austin City Limits and just staying home to enjoy the best the fest has to offer when it’s just an Uber ride away. Sara Button
Albert Hammond Jr.
With Lord Huron, 7 p.m. Tuesday, October 6, at House of Blues, 2200 N. Lamar St., houseofblues.com/dallas, $15
Remember how much you used to like the Strokes? Wasn’t Is This It? just the coolest damn thing? Are you over Julian Casablancas? Well, guess what: We feel no shame in saying our inner Strokes fan-kid is pretty stoked about this show. Albert Hammond Jr., guitarist for the Strokes (who will, not uncoincidentally, be playing Austin City Limits Fest this weekend), is touring on the heels on the release of his third solo album, Momentary Masters, which is his first since since 2008’s ¿Cómo Te Llama? With Momentary Masters, Hammond takes a detour from the more rock ‘n’ roll sound of the Strokes makes a calmer, more serene exploration into his psyche — which makes sense, as Hammond credits Carl Sagan (a notorious slack-rocker) as a major influence on this record. As a bonus, Lord Huron will be joining Hammond for the Dallas show, adding another layer of bearded, indie-rock awesomeness to the evening. Molly Mollotova
Red
9 p.m. Wednesday, October 7, at House of Blues, 2200 N. Lamar St., houseofblues.com/dallas, $20-25
The band known as Red comes from the birthplace of all great ambient metal bands: Nashville, Tennessee. Though their sound is similar to groups like Seether and Three Days Grace, Red stands out by flipping between impressive falsetto vocals and harsh growls from lead singer Michael Barnes. Judging by the patterns of their music videos, they very easily could’ve been sent back from a post-apocalyptic future, so maybe we should be taking notes from their lyrics. Matt Wood
Royal Blood
7 p.m. Thursday, October 8, at The Bomb Factory, 2713 Canton St., 214-932-6507 or thebombfactory.com, $19-40
The two Brits who make up Royal Blood have taken a feather out of Death From Above 1979’s hat and gone full rhythm section; only bass guitar and drums are used as instruments. The heaviness is balanced out by the sly singing of Mike Kerr, which stumbles up and down his impressive vocal range. Beyond the clear DFA influence (and no one’s complaining), it’s even more obvious that these guys have taken it and made it their own — and they’re sure to keep it interesting. MW
FIDLAR
8 p.m. Friday, October 9, at Club Dada, 2709 Elm St., dadadallas.com, $15/$17 at the door
Since being named one of the best new bands of 2012 by Pitchfork FIDLAR has managed to meet the expectations that come with a distinction like that. More importantly, they’ve bucked the trend of bands once heralded by Pitchfork only to be tossed aside when something shinier and newer came along. This is largely chalked up to the band’s skate punk aesthetic, as it feels like the band could really “give a fuck” about what the media thinks about the their music. This sort of idealism garners attention with today’s youthful fans who have been raised in a world of little need, and who have taken a turn from ennui to steer clear into jaded anger filled boredom. Lucky for them, FIDLAR makes the type of music that they can easily associate with: Life might suck, but there’s always a 40 ounce to be found and a party to be had. Nothing but age can stop the good times from happening, and FIDLAR’s here to soundtrack them till that happens. Jaime-Paul Falcon
Weezer
With Fitz the Tantrums and Trombone Shorty, Friday, October 9, at Reunion Tower, 300 Reunion Blvd. E., thereuniondallas.com, $40-$125
We’re a year past the 20th anniversary for Weezer’s The Blue Album and just months away from turning the calendar to 2016 and hitting the 20th anniversary for Pinkerton. Rivers Cuomo and company are smack dab in the middle of the band’s big nostalgia tour, that victory lap period of a band’s career that’s buoyed by the fact that its fans have mostly settled down and found the type of career that allows them to spend lavishly on seeing a group that allows them grasp onto the memories of their youth. Weezer has always felt like the college-aged younger brother of the bigger, more serious bands of the ’90s that they came up with. This is probably why the band’s stop in Dallas is paired with the area’s biggest college weekend, the notoriously busy Texas-OU football showdown. It might just be happenstance that the festival Weezer’s headlining is called The Reunion because of its location, but for the band and its fans the name is totally appropriate. SB
A$AP Rocky
With Tyler, the Creator, Danny Brown and Vince Staples, 7:30 p.m. Friday, October 9, at South Side Ballroom, 1135 S. Lamar St., 214-421-2021 or southsideballroomdallas.com, $45
At first glance the pairing of A$AP Rocky and Tyler, the Creator on a bill seems like an Odd Couple pairing of sorts. Rocky, the Harlem-raised, Houston-inspired rapper who represents everything that is luxurious and cool about rap music, and Tyler, the Peter Pan of the rap game who represents everything anti-establishment about rap music, have actually risen through the ranks in a parallel fashion since 2011. They were the heads of formidable crews in A$AP Mob and Odd Future respectively; they’ve developed cult-like followings; and each have released albums in 2015 that find them reaching new artistic peaks. With the large fan bases they each have this co-headlining tour isn’t odd at all. In fact, with Danny Brown and Vince Staples rounding out this heavy-hitting lineup, it’s more reminiscent of the Fantastic Four. Mikel Galicia
Yellowcard
with New Found Glory, 7 p.m. Saturday, October 10, at Gas Monkey Bar ‘N Grill, 10261 Technology Blvd. E., 214-350-1904 or gasnmonkeybarngrill.com, $25-45
Somewhere nestled in one of your middle school mix CDs, at the crest of the pop-punk bubble, was an unavoidable track titled “Ocean Avenue” by the genre’s dead-horse beaters, Yellowcard. Whether you were sleeping all day or staying up all night, there was absolutely no escaping this anthem, which has endured through sheer catchiness with no logical explanation. To give some sort of metric to musical endurance, the band’s most played track on Spotify is, of course, “Ocean Avenue,” which was released in 2003 and has twice as many plays (16 million, Christ) as the next most popular song. In fact, the top four songs are all from that 12-year-old album despite being followed up by five additional albums, including one last year. So whether through some time-defying wormhole or a cockroach-like longevity, the band’s clearly here to stay — even if it means being trapped in some early ’00s Hot Topic-branded amber. MW
Kacey Musgraves
8 p.m. Saturday, October 10, at Winstar World Casino, 777 Casino Ave., Thackerville, Oklahoma, 1-800-622-6317 or winstarworldcasino.com, $35-$65
In the last year, there has been no brighter light in country music than Kacey Musgraves. The East Texas girl (she’s from Golden, just outside of Mineola) has already, with just two albums, been able to shake up the country music establishment and force her way into the mainstream. Now she’s riding high as one of the genre’s biggest stars. In support of her second release, Pageant Material, Musgraves’ “Rhinestone Revue” at the Winstar World Casino will undoubtedly be one of the best country shows of the year. Last year, Musgraves played to a packed Granada Theater, and now she’s upgraded to a much larger venue up north. It will be interesting to see how Musgraves transitions from indie sensation to bonafide superstar. Amy McCarthy
J. Balvin
6:30 p.m., Sunday, October 11, at Verizon Theatre, 1001 Performance Place, Grand Prairie, 972-851-5111 or verizontheatre.com, $40-80
J. Balvin hasn’t quite crossed over to the States yet. But to give you an idea, the Spanish-speaking reggaeton artist has nearly 1 billion YouTube views on his songs. His biggest hit “Ay Vamos,” has 530 million hits alone, which is almost as many as T-Swift’s “Bad Blood.” Using a T-Pain-esque tinge of autotune in his vocals gives it a familiar sound, while the Hispanic influence gives it his own flair. MW
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