The Honorary Title, The New Frontiers, Paper Rival, Mansions The Granada Theater August 10, 2008 Jarrod Gorbel (Janet Reid Boltz) Better than: sitting around the house listening to Wilco, wishing they’d really play The Cavern. Things got started early last night at the Granada. Apparently too early for me as…
The Hold Steady The Loft at Palladium August 5, 2008 Better Than: Jay Reatard on $55 worth of acid. The biggest spazz in the best bar band in America. (Noah Bailey) Craig Finn is a total spazz. On stage Tuesday night with his band the Hold Steady, he was seemingly…
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club Acoustic Show Club Dada August 1, 2008 Better Than: One show for the price of two. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club goes acoustic. (Daniel Rodrigue) We warned you that the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club show at Club Dada would be a big deal. When BRMC played House…
Billy Bob Thornton and the Boxmasters House of Blues July 24, 2008 Better than: Watching Hearts Afire on DVD. What do you think of when you see the term actor/musician? Do you think of someone who is great at both, like Zooey Deschanel? Or do you think of someone who’s…
Better than: A parade with two grand marshals, or a wolf pack with two alpha dogs. Dan Boeckner. (Mikal Beth Hughey) Wolf Parade’s live show emphasized the equal importance shared by the band’s two creative minds, switching between Spencer Krug’s oddball synth-driven melodrama and Dan Boeckner’s more accessible guitar rock…
George Michael American Airlines Center July 14, 2008 Better than: Sitting at home being increasingly taunted by the Project Runway countdown permanently imprinted on the Bravo channel’s lower right corner. George Michael is pop music’s prodigal son and, according to him, he’s returned to the stage to give thanks. In…
The Jonas Brothers, Demi Lovato Superpages.com Center July 9, 2008 Better than: Watching the never-ending loop of mind-numbing Hannah Montana re-runs with my daughter on the Disney Channel. Download: We’ll have a slideshow of the whole ordeal up shortly. (Update: It’s up now.) In the meantime, You can also enjoy…
David Banner House of Blues’ Pontiac Garage July 9, 2008 Better Than: A rousing round of PaRappa the Rapper. Download: This footage someone shot from last night’s show… Everybody knows a David Banner. He’s that popular jock that everyone in high school should hate–he’s popular, good-looking, charismatic, successful–but no one…
No Age, Abe Vigoda and Infinite Body The Loft June 30, 2008 Better than: Risking life and limb arguing with skinheads back in the ’80s at Studio D or The Theater Gallery. Is this what punk rock has come to? Although all three acts hail from California, home of Black…
Centro-matic, The Kadane Brothers and The Theater Fire Granada Theater June 28, 2008 Better than: Um…a lot of things, really. Y’know, when he wants to, Will Johnson can really work a crowd. Sure, this night was, for all intents and purposes, Centro-matic’s night: The band’s riding high on the release…
Tom Waits Palladium Ballroom June 23, 2008 Better than: Waiting out the post-show traffic. It was hot as balls, there was no opening act, the crowd was filled with braying jackasses and a single ticket cost ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS. So was An Evening With Tom Waits on his Glitter and…
Death Cab for Cutie, Rogue Wave Nokia Theatre, Grand Prairie June 17, 2008 Better Than: getting stuck in traffic on I-35E on the way home. There were two bad accidents, so it took 45 minutes to get to Nokia, but one hour and 45 minutes to get home… Is that…
Rilo Kiley The Palladium June 15th, 2008 Better Than: Anything thing else happening on a sweltering Sunday night. Almost a year since the release of 2007’s Under the Blacklight, the Los Angeles based indie-pop gang, Rilo Kiley, stopped through Dallas last night on the final leg of their North American…
Mates of State, Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears, Headlights Granada Theater June 11, 20008 Mates of State, with a full band for once. (Merritt Martin) Better than: Stressing out over the Top Chef season finale. Download: Merritt Martin snapped some shops for your viewing pleasure. Walking into the Granada,…
Robert Smith, looking a little like The Joker. (Daniel Rodrigue) The Cure, 65daysofstatic American Airlines Center June 6, 2008 Better Than: Any concert The Cure’s played in Dallas since 1992–and maybe, just maybe, even better than that one. Download: The accompanying slideshow of photos taken at the show. Three hours…
Shearwater at Austin’s The Parish (Noah W. Bailey) Shearwater CD Release Party The Parish in Austin Thursday, May 29, 2008 Better Than: The last several Okkervil River shows I’ve seen. Former Okkervil River side project Shearwater showed just how far it has come Thursday night at Austin’s Parish, unveiling its…
The Black Angels, Brothers & Sisters, True Widow Granada Theater May 29, 2008 Better than: Getting stoned and watching the Discovery Channel back at your apartment. Download: Mr. Hal Samples snapped himself a bunch o’ shots of The Black Angels last night. Check ’em here. The blue back-lighting certainly didn’t…
Carl Finch hollers into to the microphone at the 800 people in the Knights of Columbus Hall: “Everybody come out on the floor for the ‘Chicken Dance’!” The Saturday-night crowd challenged the hall’s capacity–just, it seems, to see Finch and the rest of Denton’s Brave Combo. There had already been…
Radiohead, Liars Superpages.com Center May 18, 2008 Better Than: Name something. This was better. Download: Scope the 16 pictures our photographer Michael Insuaste snapped during the show. Thom Yorke amid the chamber of lights at Sunday’s show. (Michael Insuaste) I don’t really understand how it’s done, how such a feat…
Journeys Backyard BBQ featuring Rockett Queen, Before The Fall, Alesana and othersMay 10, 2008Grapevine Mills Mall Better Than: Spending the day at the Journeys store nearby. I had high hopes for the Backyard BBQ. No, seriously. A decent mall band (Alesana), a handful of local acts and a collective of…
The Whigs, What Made Milwaukee Famous, The Dead Trees and Collin Herring The Loft May 9, 2008 Better Than: Well…the record, in The Whigs’ case. You know, for a town than supposedly views Austin with disdain, Dallas sure supports Austin musicians… It’s fairly well known that both The Black Angels…
DJ Jazzy Jeff with Mad Skillz May 6, 2008 Ghostbar Better than: Watching a Will Smith concert during his Willenium phase. Victory Park is such an anomaly to me. Arriving in the area at 11 p.m., there was nary a car on the road but–damn!–if all the parking meters weren’t…
