Many have tried, but few have succeeded in bringing a truly successful, long-reigning music festival to Dallas. Thanks to the rich DFW electronic scene, Lights All Night has been able to sustain a decade-long perennial party, celebrating a 10-year anniversary this past weekend. In true trap-style fashion, it exceeded all…
If you’re looking for a night out on New Year’s Eve, one where you can be around people, but don’t necessarily need to talk to them, this is the list for you. Skip the small talk at that house party — about how 2019 treated everyone — and instead enjoy each…
We’re just mere days from bidding this year and decade adieu. It’s tempting to prematurely publish a “Best Albums of 2019” list at the end of November or beginning of December, but every once in a while, some quality releases are missed because they are released right at the cusp…
2019 was a great year in local music; it was a time when many of our favorite North Texas artists made national headlines — albeit some for better reasons than others. At the Observer, we tried to keep our eyes and ears at every local stage this year, but it…
Before you get started on your resolutions, ring in the new year with these 10 shows. Kick off the week with local favorites Toadies at Billy Bob’s Texas this Monday. Then, you can listen to either Rosegarden Funeral Party, The Roomsounds and Atlantis Aquarius or Lynyrd Skynyrd as the ball drops and brings…
It’s common for electronic music fans to experience heightened inspiration after a festival. Some leave Lollapalooza Chicago and imagine themselves a world famous DJ like those they saw on the main stage. Others may pull out of Bonnaroo in Tennessee and think, “I’d like to create something like this.” That…
With a slow vacation weekend before New Year’s, the concert announcements are slower than usual this week. However, as you’re getting ready to toast in 2020, set aside some time to get tickets for three colossal music stars. Carrie Underwood is hitting the road for a pretty intensive North American…
It’s the last month of the year, but these North Texas artists are ending it with a bang — songs so hot you’ll forget it’s winter. Yella Beezy ft. Ty Dolla $ign, “Ay Ya Ya Ya” While his Chris Brown-featured “Restroom Occupied” soars to platinum status, Yella Beezy doubles down…
Counting from 2012, you’d be very hard-pressed to locate a more artistically ambitious project in the North Texas music sphere than These Machines Are Winning. Led by veteran Dallas rockers Dylan Silvers, Ryan Hartsell and Blake McWhorter, the group is really hard to define, at least in typically simplistic music…
Earlier this year, the a cappella sextet Pentatonix announced a Christmas tour. Covering Christmas classics is one of the group’s hallmarks, and fittingly, this tour concluded with two shows in Grand Prairie, a short drive from the band’s hometown of Arlington. Since my wife, a high school choir alum and…
From jazz to rock to Latin, you can pretty much hear it all in North Texas, especially if you’re going out this week. Kick off your week with some jazz provided to you by The Funky Knuckles at Three Links. You can continue this kick with Snarky Puppy’s Shaun Martin…
Christmas music tends to generally fall along the merry and bright end of things. Songs of joy and happiness fill the airwaves, and everyone feels that fond glow of happiness nestled all snug in the soul. But it’s worth remembering — nay, embracing — the more melancholy sounds of the…
2019 was a particularly great year for the Dallas music scene. While the movers and shakers were making their mark on North Texas, these artists were laying the groundwork to make 2020 their year. As side projects come to life, new projects from old favorites emerge, and artists turn street…
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,…
As the final weeks of the year wind down, a couple of interesting new concert announcements have floated in. This upcoming spring and summer will be an opportunity to catch some cutting-edge innovators, old masters of the craft, and up-and-coming risers. The details are below. Good Vibes Summer Tour 2020…
Let’s face it, Christmas music can be a real drag. It’s not so much about the songs themselves, it’s the fact that we’ve heard them all before, every year, for years and years on end. While there will always be a place for the nostalgia of those traditional Christmas songs,…
We all know Dallas is home to some pretty great musicians, but the rest of the country doesn’t always have the good sense to recognize it. But sometimes, word gets out. Here are 10 Dallas artists who made press appearances outside of Dallas: the good, the bad and the ugly…
The beloved Texas-based songwriter and artist, Daniel Johnston, left this world back in September. But the influence his work has had on music and art will keep him alive forever. This Friday, several acts will take the stage at The Kessler for a Johnston tribute show, ensuring the fire behind…
How far can you get by creating with your friends? This is the question that motivates the members of Medicine Man Revival. A belief in each other’s talents and those of their fellow Dallas musicians inspired them to start their eclectic, electrifying band in 2015, and has been driving them to…
In the spirit of our “Top 10 Best Songs by Really Bad Artists” piece that ran earlier this week, we thought it was only fair to point out that some indubitably fantastic artists also have songs that are rather terrible. Yes, it happens to the best of us, and as…
DJSC has partied at every Dallas Cowboys home game for the last 10 seasons. Why? Because it’s his job. His real name is Brandon Williams, but his larger-than-life persona could be best understood by the fact that the DJ moniker he picked for himself stands for DJ Sexual Chocolate. Williams…
If you have yet to see God and learn what it feels like to witness her in all of her preternatural, eternal glory, then presumably you have not listened to a Celine Dion Christmas album. Christmas music is a subgenre so replete with artless drivel, so seeping with sugar-drenched rehashes…
