Concert News

Big day for music fans with news of a dozen concerts coming to Dallas

Coheed & Cambria is among the many bands hitting Dallas.

Photo by Brandi Schulz

For summer concert lovers in Dallas, today brings a bounty of good news with a big round of tours coming through Texas in 2023.

In a single day, details have been revealed for tours featuring TLC, Christopher Cross, Steve Miller Band with Cheap Trick, and Coheed & Cambria.

The backstory is that for many of these tours, tickets go on sale this week. So check out what's new and what needs to be on your to-see list, organized below by date:

March 31-April 2: TAY-Gates at Arlington Backyard
Taylor Swift is bringing her record-breaking tour to Arlington March 31-April 2 at AT&T Stadium, and that part is well known. But the new twist is TAY-Gates, an accompanying pre-party which will take place at Arlington Backyard at Texas Live! all three days of the tour, from March 31-April 2 from 2 pm-7pm. (It also hits San Antonio at Vibes Event Center on April 15; and Austin at Come and Take It Live on April 16.)

This event is all ages and tickets start at $5; you do not need tickets to Taylor’s concert to attend.

April 25: Ville Valo at House of Blues
Valo, AKA "VV," is the former singer-songwriter of Finnish "love metal" band Him, which disbanded in 2017. In January, he mounted a headlining tour that started in Europe and will hit the U.S. in April, beginning in Philadelphia, with three stops in Texas: Dallas' House of Blues on April 25, followed by Aztec Theater in San Antonio on April 26 and Houston's House of Blues on April 27.

Tickets start at $51 and are on sale now.

April 27: Cold at Trees
Florida band first discovered by Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst celebrates the 20th anniversary of their album Year of the Spider with a tour first announced in December 2022. Now they reveal the dates, which include stops at Trees on April 27 (their website says Amplified Live but that show has been moved). Also hitting San Antonio at Paper Tiger on April 23, Scout in Houston on April 26, and Come And Take It Live in Austin on April 28.

TAY-Gates will let you get up close and personal to a lifelike Taylor Swift cardboard cut-out.Courtesy photo

May 4: Steve Miller Band and Cheap Trick at Dos Equis Pavilion
The Steve Miller celebrates the 50th anniversary of their album The Joker with three shows in Texas with special guests Cheap Trick. Both acts were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2016. They'll stop at Dos Equis Pavilion in Dallas on May 4; at The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion in The Woodlands on May 6; and at Germania Insurance Amphitheater in Austin on May 7.

Tickets go on sale on Friday, March 17 at 10 am at LiveNation.com.

May 6: Feid at The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory
Colombian singer-songwriter Feid brings his Ferxxo Nitro Jam Underground Tour to 29 cities across the US and Canada, kicking off on April 20 in Seattle, bringing Feid to bigger venues across North America after his successful debut run in the U.S. in 2022. Dates in Texas include Houston on May 13 at Smart Financial Centre, Dallas on May 17 at The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory, and Austin on May 21 at TBC Bass Concert Hall.

Tickets will be available via an artist presale starting Tuesday, March 14 at 10 am. The general onsale for Ferxxo Nitro Jam Underground Tour will start Thursday, March 16 at 10 am on LiveNation.com.

May 15: Coheed and Cambria at House of Blues
The C&C "Neverender: No World For A Waking Mind” Tour was initially announced in January, and now more specifics are locked down including dates in Dallas at House of Blues on May 15. The band will performing their album No World For Tomorrow in full, along with a mix of songs from their most recent album Vaxis II: A Window of the Waking Mind. They'll be joined by special guests Deafheaven and make stops in Austin on May 17 at Stubb's Waller Creek Amphitheater and Houston on May 18 at House of Blues.

Tickets for the Dallas date are already sold out but are still available for Austin and Houston.

June 9: Christopher Cross and Air Supply at Bass Performance Hall
Mr. "Sailing," Christopher Cross and rock icons Air Supply will be the featured artists for the 2023 Legends Concert Series — The University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth’s signature fundraising event at Bass Performance Hall in Fort Worth at 7:30 pm. Cross has won five Grammys, an Oscar, a Golden Globe, had five top-10 singles and sold 10 million albums. Australian duo Air Supply is known for their harmonies, and had seven top-five singles on the Billboard Hot 100 list from 1979-1983, including the No. 1 hit “The One That You Love.”

Tickets go on sale Friday, March 17 at 10 am. The concert, presented by JPMorgan Chase & Co., will benefit HSC students and the establishment of HSC’s new College of Nursing.

June 24: Drake at American Airlines Center
Drake brings his 2023 "It’s All A Blur" tour to Dallas, part of a three-month run that kicks off in New Orleans on June 16 and travels to 21 cities across North America. In addition to Dallas, Drake will also go to Houston at the Toyota Center on June 21.

Ticket sales begin with a Cash App Card presale, going on sale March 15 at 12 pm through March 16 at 10 pm. There will also be a Sprite presale on March 16 from 12-10 pm; fans can look for updates on Sprite.com and sign up for Sprite emails to gain access.

June 30: TLC at The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory
Supergroup TLC and Jamaican icon Shaggy join forces with TLC & Shaggy: Hot Summer Nights Tour 2023, joined by special guests En Vogue and Sean Kingston. The tour kicks off on June 1 in Alabama and stops in Dallas at The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory in Irving on June 30, and The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion in The Woodlands on July 1. It'll be a hit-fest with “Waterfalls,” “No Scrubs,” “Unpretty,” and “Creep,” En Vogue’s “Hold On, My Loving (Never Gonna Get It)”, and “Free Your Mind”; and Sean Kingston’s “Beautiful Girls” and “Take You There.”

Tickets will be available starting with a Citi presale beginning on Tuesday, March 14. General onsale starts Friday, March 17 at 10 am at LiveNation.com.

July 15: Marca MP at The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory in Irving
Mexican group Marca MP, featuring singer-guitarist Chato, guitarist Omar Valdivia, and tuba-player Ernesto Franco, plays romantic songs and old-fashioned corridos with a daring aesthetic, heard on songs such as the upbeat corrido “El Güero”. Their 2023 Brindó Tour, promoting their single "Déjame Ser," has five Texas dates including Majestic Theatre in San Antonio on July 8; Smart Financial Centre at Sugar Land in Houston on July 14; and The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory in Irving on July 15.

Tickets will be available starting with Citi presale on Tuesday, March 14. Additional presales run throughout the week ahead of the general on sale beginning on Friday, March 17 at 10 am at livenation.com.

August 7: Jimmy Eat World and Manchester Orchestra at The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory
The two acts will co-headline The Amplified Echoes Tour, hitting 29 cities beginning July 11, with three Texas dates: at 713 Music Hall in Houston on August 7, Moody Amphitheater in Austin on August 8, and The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory in Dallas on August 9. Middle Kids will be joining the tour across all dates.

Ticket sales start with a Citi presale on Tuesday, March 14. Additional presales will run throughout the week ahead of the general on sale starting on Thursday, March 16 at 10 am at livenation.com.

August 23: Counting Crows at The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory
After a worldwide tour, rock band Counting Crows mounts a U.S. tour, joined by cult-favorite and longtime friend Dashboard Confessional, plus English singer/songwriter Frank Turner on select dates. The 56-date mega tour kicks off on June 13 in Omaha, with a stop at The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory in Irving on August 23. Other Texas dates include August 19 at Smart Financial Centre at Sugar Land, and August 22 at the Majestic Theatre in San Antonio.

Ticket presales begin on Tuesday, March 14 in select markets and the general ticket on-sale begins on Friday, March 17 at 10 am.

music concerts

Documentary News

Dallas native directs new Netflix series Waco: American Apocalypse

Waco: American Apocalypse

ATF agents at Waco compound in 1993.

Netflix has a new series on the tragedy that took place in Waco three decades ago: Called Waco: American Apocalypse, it's a three-part series documenting the standoff between cult leader David Koresh and the federal government that ended in a fiery inferno, televised live, with 76 people dead.

The series debuts on March 22, to coincide with the 30-year anniversary of the event which took place from February 28 to April 19, 1993. There's a trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scZ2x7R_XXc.

It's an oft-told tale and not the only new release to try and exploit the 30-year anniversary: Jeff Guinn, former books editor at the Fort Worth Star Telegram, just came out with a book also described as definitive, called Waco: David Korsh, the Branch Davidians, and a Legacy of Rage.

Waco: American Apocalypse is directed by another "local": Dallas native Tiller Russell (Night Stalker: The Hunt for a Serial Killer), who obtained never-before-seen videotapes of FBI negotiations, as well as raw news footage and interviews with insiders.

Those insiders include one of David Koresh’s spiritual wives; the last child released from the compound alive; a sniper from the FBI Hostage Rescue Team; the FBI Crisis Negotiation Unit Chief; journalists; and members of the ATF tactical team who watched colleagues die in the shootout against the heavily armed members of the religious sect.

The FBI videotaped inside the hostage negation room, thinking they'd be there maybe 24 hours, not 51 days.

"These are video cassettes that were sitting in somebody’s closet for 30 years, that show the mechanics of hostage negotiations in an intimate setting - not the hostage negotiation scenarios you see in films, but a team of people grinding, day in and day out, for 51 days," Russell says.

He also procured footage from Waco TV station KWTX, who had a reporter embedded in the initial gunfight.

While the standoff was broadcast live on TV at the time, much of it was out of camera range. The film uses 3D graphics to recreate the details of the compound.

Russell acknowledges that the tale of the cult leader who was also a pedophile, the debate over the right to bear arms, the constitutional limits of religious freedom, dredge up painful conversations that continue today.

"It cast a long shadow, pre-saging the Timothy McVeigh bombing in Oklahoma, the shooting at Colombine, and a growing distrust of government, but I think it's important to reckon with our past so we don't repeat mistakes," he says.

"So much of what’s roiling in culture today can be traced to Waco, a story about God and guns in America with all these children at the center whose lives were determined by the adults around them," he says. "There was no playbook for what happened, everyone was out on a limb, and people made mistakes. But almost everybody was trying to do their very best."

"I think this is a story that's often recalled in politicized terms, with finger-pointing on who screwed up and how did we get here, but there's a profound humanity to it all," he says.

history movies