Christian McPhate

Rigor Mortis, Gammacide, Devilfist and Demonseed are all the musical ingredients the supergroup Texas Metal Alliance needed to create Warbeast, a legendary Texas thrash metal super supergroup. Adding just a dash of "no bullshit metal onslaught" by local acts Protest and The Black Moriah, Warbeast sent fans into a mosh-filled frenzy on Saturday night at The Boiler Room in Dallas.

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Eric Sauseda

Ted Nugent at last week's NRA convention in Houston.

Here's the thing about Ted Nugent -- it doesn't matter what you think about him. Yeah, his insane political statements are moronic at best, but his shtick is so thoroughly thought out that he manages to be a punchline and ideologue and a hero, to some all at the same time. This is brilliant. He's built and kept a fanbase long after he was remotely relevant as a musician.

The point being this: Despite his placement on last night's bill, it was the Nuge who had the largest fanbase and Q rating at Verizon theater, not Styx, or REO Speedwagon, who are currently known for having a song used as a punchline in a South Park episode 15 years ago and the question "Can you name an REO Speedwagon song?"

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Photo by Bill Ellison/The Granada

A two-set performance at a rock show is as rare as a not-self-indulgent guitar solo. But those rarities are exactly what a full house at the Granada was treated to Saturday night at the Granada. Prior to the show starting there was some speculation in the crowd about how the two sets would be formatted. And as clock drifted past the announced start time for the opening set, conjecture only rose.

When the curtain finally went up 20 minutes or so behind schedule, there was the band, positioned at the front of the stage, partitioned by a row of trees. Georgia was sitting behind a spare drum kit, Ira seated and clutching an old black Gibson acoustic and James behind a 12 string. And as the band launched into a gentle arrangement of "Ohm," the driving track that opens the recent album Fade, the plot became clear.

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Robert Garza

We're fewer than five songs into the Dwarves' set, Friday night at Three Links, and the music has stopped, the drums have been kicked over, and the band has left the stage.

No one seems immediately clear on what happened at that moment. No one, that is, except the guy standing right in front of me.

"It was the purse chick! She did something to the bass guy!"

Ah! The "purse chick". Allow me to explain.

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Friday night at the AT&T Performing Arts Center's Annette Strauss Square Amphitheater, two things were pristinely clear: the gorgeous night sky above the blanketed crowd of BYOB-ers, and that the Search for Sugarman is now a full-blown phenomenon of followers who've found their guy in Rodriguez.

The crowded, but comfortable, lawn of the sold-out venue was dominated by folks in 50-plus age range, yet the 40-and below folks began to appear as the sun dropped and the music began. Thanks to some packed-house positivity and the generally beautiful surroundings of ATTPAC, this show had the feel of a grand-scale event. The pre-show conversation among many focused on the 70 year-old Rodriguez's story, the Oscar-winning documentary and how unique it is that, at this point, he's touring and finally benefitting from his stunning records of over 40 years ago. By the time the folk-rocking opener, Jenny O, left the stage at 8:35pm, anticipation for the headliner's entrance was palpable.

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Image by Leif Podhajsky/Original band photo by David Belisle

Shabazz Palaces | TheeSatisfaction
Granada Theater
May 2, 2013

I don't remember the exact moment that the concert turned into a party, which I suppose is a good sign, but it's how the night felt inside the warm belly of the Granada last night.

Before TheeSatisfaction, the crowd was thin, but it was of little matter to the vibe. Fans were clearly eager for their first Dallas performance and with good reason. TheeSatisfaction's Stas and Cat have been putting out good-vibe R&B that somehow straddles the line between challenging and house-party perfect, each album and mixtape building on their growing appeal. Their dissonant tracks and melodies have a jazzy quality that forces you to consider the verse, but once they hit the chorus, some chord joins the two parts together with ease. It's a formula that works and lends a jazzy quality to their work that feels unexpected instead of derivative.

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Mike Brooks

The Joy Formidable
Trees
April 29, 2013

Taking the stage around 9:30, the Joy Formidable came out one at a time, starting with drummer Matt Thomas, who threw his enthusiasm at the crowd before sitting behind a picturesque kit, complete with gong. The kit was positioned on the right edge of the stage and oriented to give him a view of his mates, and the audience a good view of him as performer. After taking up a beat, he was joined by bassist Rhydian Dafydd, who saluted the crowd with beer in hand before strapping on a war-torn Fender Jaguar bass. Any finally out came Bryan, wearing a dress with what at first appears to be a sheriff's badge. Greeting the crowd warmly, she took up the first of what seems like a bottomless supply of Fenders and kicked the band into "Cholla" off the new album.

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Take a little walk to the edge of town, and go across the tracks. Rather than a viaduct looming, there you will find the incomparable Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios. Described on its website as an "industrial dive bar", I take this to mean that the quantities of dive involved in the construction of RGRS were of industrial scale. It truly is a monument to dive bars, dank, dark, loud and poorly ventilated. There is one toilet per sex, and I wouldn't touch it if my nearest and dearest had fallen down it and desperately needed extracting.

See also:
-The 100 Best Texas Songs: The Complete List
-The Ten Most Badass Band Names in DFW
-The Best Bands in DFW: 2012 Edition
-Photo Essay: The Tattoos of Dallas' Nightlife Scene

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The criminally underused Loft, downtown in the Gilley's complex, is a wonderful venue which has big open spaces, a perfectly positioned bar, and a patio totally unmatched among Dallas gig venues. It's incredible that it's barely being used at all. Beyond the twists and turns of employee movement around Dallas' various bookers, fates have conspired to leave one of Dallas' best venues completely on the shelf. While it's away from the Deep Ellum hub and largely inaccessible by DART, that doesn't stop people going to other venues that still have the same problem.

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Jay Farrar smiled. I'm not joking; he really did.

In the middle of Son Volt's remarkably engaging performance Saturday night at the Sons of Hermann Hall, the notoriously impassive Farrar grinned like a kid getting his first kiss.

And why shouldn't Farrar smile? Honky Tonk, the recent effort from Son Volt, is the best thing the band has done in a decade and Farrar's new memoir, Falling Cars and Junkyard Dogs, has also been well-received.

See also:
-The 10 Greatest Alt-Country Bands Ever
-Jay Farrar Has the Driest Sense of Humor on the Planet

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