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Music

Concerts to See in Dallas This Week: May 13–19

St. Vincent, the Dave Matthews Band, Juicy J, a new music festival, and the rest of the best concerts in Dallas.
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Things went slightly haywire for some North Texas concerts this last Saturday. In Fort Worth, the threat of stormy skies cut Untapped Festival short before De La Soul could do its headlining set. The weather also forced Lana Del Rey to cancel her gig, but not before the audience at Gexa Energy Pavilion waited an hour after opener Courtney Love performed. Some quick-thinking Twitter user dutifully recorded the lamentations of 20,000 screaming Lana Del Rey fans at the moment they were informed there would be no show.

It all made the good folks at Homegrown Festival look like the most sensible people alive for moving indoors to The Bomb Factory, which was more than up to the task of hosting the event. It was a great time, and Homegrown remains awesome, although we hope it’s back outside where it belongs this time next year.

Fingers crossed that the weather is kinder this weekend. I’m already a little worried about the new Dallas Music District Festival. Most of the time, an event right next to the Trinity River is going to have one of the best views in the city. During this month of never-ending rain, it might become Dallas’ first underwater music festival.

Update: Trinity River flooding has forced DMD to relocate to 410 Bedford St. in Trinity Groves, which should be a little dryer.

Dallas music fans are a hardy bunch, anyways, and a little inclement weather shouldn’t stop you from seeing some awesome shows this week. St. Vincent teams up with the Dallas Symphony, Trail of Dead destroys Club Dada, and Dave Matthews gets dissed in this edition of our weekly concert picks.

Wednesday (05/13)

1. …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead had a reputation, early in their career, for smashing their instruments after every fiery show. It was a scorched-earth approach that probably racked up quite a bill, especially for a band that tours as steadily as this one. The Austin rockers have cut cut back on the ritual destruction of their own gear, but Trail of Dead’s live act is still total war, a full-frontal assault of guitars and instrumental carnage. Your Favorite enemies open at Dada.

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2. At what point does a cult become a religion? They Might Be Giants has been at this long enough that its loyal fan base can probably call itself a church these days. Worship services are a blast. The band’s sense of humor is as much a part of the They Might Be Giants belief system as the group’s killer, and flexible, musical chops. They’re playing a long set at the Granada.

Thursday (05/14)

3. New Kids On The Block were before my time, and dissing boy bands is so 1999. Without any snarky comment about this middle-aged nostalgia act (More like Old Guys On The Block, am I right?) and unabashed cash grab, let me just tell you that NKOTB will be at American Airlines Center. The remaining members of TLC (R.I.P. Left Eye) and Nelly (remember Nelly?) are along for the tour.

4. If you think Western psychedelia is pretty far out, just wait till you hear the Japanese version. The guys in Acid Mothers Temple make Syd Barrett look like a well-adjusted accountant. The band is beyond out there, propelled out of our solar system on a trippy spaceship powered by hallucinogenic rocket fuel. They can also go heavier than some metal acts, so don’t expect any hippie-dippie flowers-and-peace-sign psychedelia. This trip is more like the the scene at the end of 2001: A Space Odyssey. A little terrifying and a lot of bizarre. The band’s at Three Links.

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Friday (05/15)

5. Don’t sleep on the Wildflower Festival in Richardson. It’s a fun three-day event, and very family-friendly, which is great if you’re bringing your family. However, that can be a bit of a turn-off for a certain breed of festival-goer who wants to encounter hip new bands and cutting-edge programming. It’s not the most adventurous lineup, to be sure, but if you’re not down with Pat Benatar or Kansas, you don’t deserve to go to music festivals. Shows by The Smithereens, Everclear, and (to a much lesser extent) Blue October are also worth a visit to Galatyn Park this weekend.

6. The Dave Matthews Band is threatening to play two full sets for each stop of their latest summer tour, which kicks off in Austin a couple nights before this concert at Gexa. I’ve had several Dave Matthews apologists try to convince me this band is really something else live, but I’m not convinced. I don’t care how many instrumental jams or extended solos you throw on to these limp, characterless songs, Matthews is still the Kenny G of rock music. It’s not my cup of tea, but don’t let me stop you from enjoying the music of Dave Matthews. It’s all subjective, right?

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Saturday (05/16)

7. Kenny Chesney and Jason Aldean don’t need my help to sell tickets to this shindig out at AT&T Stadium. Y’all only get half a bar.

8. For its debut, the new Dallas Music District Festival picked a lovely location alongside the Trinity River with the city’s skyline hovering close on the horizon. Because there’s a strong possibility that area will be underwater come Saturday (they do call it a floodplain for a reason), DMD has relocated to 410 Bedford St. in Trinity Groves, and the city has cancelled the Trinity River Wind Festival.

Assuming Mother Nature cuts us some slack, this should be a pretty neat event. Local heroes like Jonathan Tyler, Ishi, and Jessie Frye are performing, along with the uber-cool Brooklyn act MOTHXR. It’s happening Saturday and Sunday.

9. Speedy Ortiz have one of the year’s best albums in Foil Deer. It’s all about the tangled guitars and singer Sadie Dupuis, who got an MFA in poetry and likes to prove it, laying down lyrics that take some time to unpack but stick with you once the song’s over. The indie rock band’s at Club Dada.

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Sunday (05/17)

10. St. Vincent and musicians from the Dallas Symphony Orchestra will team up for this concert at the Winspear Opera House (originally scheduled to be held outside at Annette Strauss Square, but there’s that weather acting up again). It’s part of the DSO’s inaugural Soluna Festival running throughout the month, and is one of the higher-profile performances being featured. I think it’s a good fit. Some of Annie Clark’s inherent cool and appeal to the hip indie set should rub off on the symphony, while St. Vincent gets to play around with symphonic arrangements you’re not going to get at a standard rock concert. Fans of both St. Vincent and the symphony should be in for a great show.

11. Juicy J has a lifetime achievement medal for his role as a member of the (Academy Award-winning, in case you forgot) Memphis hip-hop outfit Three 6 Mafia, but it would be out of character for the rapper to rest on his laurels. It would also be out of character for Juicy J, who just turned 40 and plays Sunday at House of Blues, to settle into any kind of elder statesman role. He’s still a goofball, a party-starter, and a bit of a lech, and you’re just as likely to find him in the studio as you are at the strip club. Also, “Stay Fly” is on my shortlist for greatest songs of all time, so I’m going to leave that here too.

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Monday (05/18)

12. Do nerds stop being nerds once their hugely popular band is touring arenas? The short answer is no. Rush is very much in the running as the geekiest band of all time, but that’s part of their greatness. Only geeks would put in the time to get this masterful with an instrument, and the silly sci-fi lyrics don’t detract from the full-on bombastic glory of Rush at its best. The Canadians are at the AAC.

Tuesday (05/19)

13. Chaz Bundick has moved further and further away from Toro Y Moi‘s electronic chillwave roots. His songs were always better live, anyways, when played with a full band that brought out the funk in Bundick’s laid-back disco nuggets. The band’s expanded for this tour, so the switch to live instrumentation should be even more effective. Toro Y Moi plays at South Side.

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14. Paramore has always been more pop than punk, and the band has an endearing DIY energy that keeps the accusatory cries of “sell out” to a minimum. The group’s lineup has shrunk and shifted in recent years, but singer Hayley Williams is the one keeping the lights on. As long as she’s around, Paramore is worth seeing. Copeland (meh) are opening at Verizon Theatre.

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