Slipknot, Coheed and CambriaNokia Theatre, Grand PrairieFebruary 22, 2009 Better Than: Accidentally stumbling onto the set of a Rob Zombie movie without realizing you’ve been written into the plot. Last night at the Nokia Theatre, the earth shifted, the foundation cracked, and hell poured out through the fissures. Clown make-up,…
Better than: The Richard Cheese ironic-lounge covers of “Welcome to the Jungle,” “People Equal Shit,” “Closer,” “The Wall” and “Rape Me” played on the P.A. before Trail of Dead went on. Two or three would have been funny. Eight was outright hostility.The last time I saw …And You Will Know…
Lucinda WilliamsHouse of BluesFebruary 19, 2009 Better than: sitting on my couch trying to (badly) play Lucinda Williams’ “Drunken Angel” because it has easy chords (as opposed to “Crescent City” which has harder ones). Word was that folks at the House of Blues were fairly blue–ticket sales for Lucinda Williams’…
Lykke LiGranada TheaterFebruary 17, 2009 Better than: staying home and pretending that Lykke Li’s Last Call with Carson Daly performance–which also aired last night–was actually filmed today. It was a pretty chilling sight: the frail Lykke Li, dressed in black and set against a black backdrop in an otherwise dark theater;…
The Wedding, The Fold and Ocean Is TheoryThe MaxFebruary 16, 2009 Better than: Any other rock show you went to last night, promise. Two weeks ago, BrokeNCYDE got real raunchy for a crowd of 15-year-olds at the Max. With choruses like, “Let’s get freaky now, let’s get fucking freaky…
Ne-Yo, Musiq Soulchild & Jazmine SullivanNokia TheatreFebruary 15, 2009 Better than: The usual endurance test that most multi-act concerts usually are. I’ll admit it. I didn’t know heading into last night’s show that Jazmine Sullivan and Musiq Soulchild were on the bill with Ne-Yo at Grand Prairie’s Nokia Theatre. But…
Gay Prom Bloodbath Mable Peabody’s in DentonFriday, February 13, 2009 Better than: A Priscilla, Queen of the Desert movie marathon Friday the 13th welcomes the truly bizarre, and Mable Peabody’s Beauty Parlor and Chainsaw Repair in Denton was waiting open arms during last night’s weirdo extravaganza, promoted as “Gay Prom Bloodbath” and…
BrokeNCYDE, Drop Dead GorgeousThe MaxFebruary 5, 2009Better Than: Traveling seamlessly along I-35 without any traffic or onlooker congestion, allowing for an early arrival and a front row spot for all four bands. Well, the scene is still the place for local teens to be seen: A social outing for…
The KillersNokia Theatre in Grand PrairieWednesday, February 4, 2009 Better than: That Southwest Airlines “Wanna get away?” commercial where the rapper yells “Thank you, Detroit!” and his hypeman leans in and whispers, “Detroit was last night…” After The Killers opened its set at the Nokia Theatre on Wednesday night with high-energy…
Play-N-Skillz, Big Tuck, Slim Thug, Pitbull, Paul Wall, Too $hort, morePlushWednesday, February 4, 2009Better than: Parking a filthy, body-damaged Scion Xb in a metered spot and walking two blocks to avoid using the valet service, all the while contemplating how out of place you are anywhere near a red carpet…
Los Campesinos!, Titus AndronicusClub DadaSaturday, January 31, 2009 Better than: Staying home with eager anticipation for this weekend’s fairly bland Super Bowl lineup (Bruce Springsteen’s halftime performance notwithstanding). Download: Photographer Mattie Stafford trolled the grounds of Dada to bring us photos for our slideshow here. Toward the tail end of…
Tapes n’ Tapes, Wild Light, Les AmericainsClub DadaFriday, January 30, 2009 Better Than: Watching Ghostbusters on the big screen at the Inwood? Maybe. Download: We had a couple photographers at this show, so expect a slideshow by Monday. Before the Minnesotan indie-band Tapes ‘n Tapes started its set, and as the group…
AC/DC, The AnswerAmerican Airlines CenterJanuary 23, 2009 Better than: Watching Spinal Tap for the hundredth time while smoking crack in a trailer park in Balch Springs. In front of a sold out crowd at the American Airlines Center, legendary hard rock icons AC/DC delivered nearly two hours of thundering, unapologetically…
John Legend Nokia Live January 22, 2009 Better than: Letting the bartender mix your cocktail with Pepsi products. Having learned a hard lesson in traffic jams the last time I went to Grand Prairie’s Nokia Theatre, I took MacArthur to the venue, to discover the streets were flowing free and…
At the Cavern last night, Gorilla Vs. Bear and Radio UTD co-hosted a little listening party for Animal Collective’s Merriweather Post Pavillion and, heading into the event, there were a whole slew of things that seemed stacked against the idea…The weather–it was freakin’ freezing out.The power outages from the freakin’…
The New Frontiers, This Will Destroy You, GazellesClub DadaSaturday, January 3, 2009 Better Than: Sitting at home on your ass, not supporting local music. You’d think that going to Club Dada to see the last show by a local band wasn’t on most people’s agenda for warm winter Saturday night…
The Gourds, Two Tons of Steel, Hosty DuoGranada TheaterDecember 30, 2009 Better than: Spending the night before New Year’s Eve shelling black-eyed peas with my relatives. Mike Alves In its annual pre-New Years Eve concert, The Gourds performed a typically well-played and enthusiastic set of oddball alt-country in front of…
Lil Wayne, T-Pain, Keyshia ColeAmerican Airlines CenterDecember 19, 2008 Better Than: Listening to a whole bunch of records in which T-Pain and Lil Wayne are just the featured acts. Check out our photos from the show here.As if, at any point over the course of this past year, there was…
Eagles of Death Metal, Klopek, Austin Brown Sounds, The Improv The Door Dallas December 12, 2008 Better Than: Just the plain old Eagles. Cory Graves Variety was the unifying theme of last night’s seemingly random assortment of warm-up acts for the Eagles of Death Metal show…
Deerhunter, Times New Viking, Nite JewelThe LoftDecember 1, 2008Better than: Going to Vietnam, only to return with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. (Get it, movie buffs?) Deerhunter’s Bradford Cox, with bells on. (Mikey Harris)With the bitter cold, little advertising and a post-holiday Monday for a booking date, the odds were stacked…
Little Joy, The Dead Trees, Cocky Americans The Lounge on Elm Street November 26, 2008Better than: Brown gravy on mashed potatoes. (We’ve also got a little video from the show after the jump)The first thing that comes to mind about The Lounge on Elm Street is intimacy. The small, boxy…
Roger McGuinnMcDavid StudioNovember 22, 2008Better than: Watching one of those Time Life infomercials about reliving the ’60s though a 10 CD compilation featuring the likes of Hermann’s Hermits and Ten Years After.Starting promptly at 8:00, Roger McGuinn treated the packed house in Ft. Worth’s McDavid Studio to a musical history…
