Renfields Corner is Launching a New Fall Music Series

Once upon a time on Routh Street, Renfields Corner used to offer local bands a fun place to play filled with people who were filled with happy juice and aching to hear music that didn’t come from an overpriced jukebox. “Everybody in the bar, including the owners, is really into…

The National at South Side Ballroom, 10/12/2013: Review

Matt Berninger moved through a sold-out crowd at South Side Ballroom Saturday night, and you could trace his path only by following the outstretched arms holding up his microphone cord. Even as he was thronged by a respectful audience, he stroked a grown man’s face with something like love, guided…

The Nine Best Concerts in Dallas This Week, October 10-16

The temperature is dropping and the changing of the season is finally within reach. Gone are the days of triple digits, at least until next year, and sweet relief has arrived. It feels amazing outside, but there’s always those weirdos who insist it’s “so cold” once it starts to hit…

Shuggie Otis at the Kessler, 10/4/13: Review

With a concert ticket in hand to see a notoriously reclusive legend of the past, one never really knows just what to expect. An artist like Shuggie Otis is an especially curious case. After creating some of the most singularly influential albums of the early seventies, the psychedelic R&B pioneer…

The Ten Best Concerts in Dallas This Week, October 3-9

Well people, this is not a drill. We are in a full-fledged government shutdown, for the first time in 17 years. Have you noticed how people keep saying that like 17 years is a really long time? Seventeen-year-old people were born in 1996. Think about that, lamestream media. We were…

The 53 Best Show Announcements of September 2013

Every week more and more shows are added to the Dallas Observer live music calendar –here’s how to make sure your show is included. And you can always peruse every upcoming concert on our calendar. Below are this month’s additions. The newest are in bold…

Daniel Johnston at the Kessler Theatre: Review and Cartoon

A friend of mine, on hearing that I was to see Daniel Johnston perform live, said, “his stuff is rough, but he is plugged into a scary truth.” That is a brilliant summary of Johnston’s music. His style is raw and unsophisticated, but also hyper-direct and fiercely penetrating. His lyrics…

The State Fair of Texas: This Year’s 11 Best Concerts

Another Texas State Fair is upon us and when you’re not trying to stuff as much fried, doughy goodness into you or riding any number of spinning rides hoping said dough won’t unexpectedly leave your body, you might want to take a breather and listen to some music. It’s just…

Black Milk at Club Dada, 9/20/13: Review

Following an understated introduction, Black Milk’s band appeared on stage and began to play, starting with an actual drum roll. Those drumstick snaps seemed to stretch for an impossible duration, each thump another block stacked atop a mounting tension that felt like it could topple at any moment. And then…

The Nine Best Concerts In Dallas This Week, September 19-25

Good god, Dallas. It’s going to be a cheap Monday. This weekend you’ve got live music in the city, in the suburbs, Fort Worth, and everywhere else in between. Unfortunately it’s not a matter of who you’re going to see, it’s who you’re going to have to miss. It’s 2013,…

The 39 Best Show Announcements of September (So Far)

Every week more and more shows are added to the Dallas Observer live music calendar — here’s how to make sure your show is included. And you can always peruse every upcoming concert on our calendar. Below are this month’s additions, the newest are in bold…

I Saw the Perfect Horror Movie DJ Set at Texas Theatre

On Friday (the 13th) I went to see David Cronenberg’s The Brood at Texas Theatre. Arriving thirty minutes early seems like an unnecessary precaution. The place was sparsely populated save for a few regulars, some employees, and two DJs — Gabe and Gavin G — set up in a corner…