While there is a good variety of events in and around Dallas this weekend, the theme will be music, with no fewer than eight different concerts taking place over the next four days. Other choices include a big convention for fans of movies/TV, a new local theater production, a visit from a well-known comedian, a convention with lots of oddities, and a stage production unlike any other.
Below are the best ways to spend your free time this weekend. If you want more options, check out the calendar for an even longer list of the city's best events.
Thursday, May 29
Eric Nadel’s Birthday Benefit featuring Shinyribs and The Secret Sisters
The annual birthday benefit show for Texas Rangers Hall of Fame broadcaster Eric Nadel will feature performances by Shinyribs and The Secret Sisters. The benefit supports the work of Grant Halliburton Foundation, a Dallas non-profit that provides mental health education, resources, and support to children, teens, and their families. The show will be at Longhorn Ballroom.
Natalia Lafourcade in concert
Mexican singer Natalia Lafourcade comes to Dallas as part of her Cancionera Tour in support of her new album, Cancionera. She will be debuting a new show with intimate arrangements as she reinterprets her classic hits and introduces new songs. Lafourcade will perform on both Thursday and Friday at Winspear Opera House.
Friday, May 30
Fan Expo Dallas
Fan Expo Dallas is the largest sci-fi, horror, anime, and gaming event in Texas, featuring family-friendly attractions, events, and celebrities. The list of celebrity guests will be headlined by a 40th anniversary celebration of Back to the Future featuring Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Tom Wilson, Elisabeth Shue, and more. Other guests will include John Cena, Orlando Bloom, Alicia Silverstone, Mr. T, John Boyega, Parker Posey, Walton Goggins, Anthony Daniels, and more. The event takes place at Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center.
Dierks Bentley in concert
There are few country singers with a higher profile than Dierks Bentley. He has released 10 albums since his debut in 2003, with seven of them reaching the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Country charts. Those albums have yielded 11 No. 1 songs, including "Come A Little Closer," "Free and Easy," and "Somewhere on a Beach." He'll play at Dos Equis Pavilion in support of his forthcoming new album, Broken Branches, set for release on June 13.
Theatre Denton presents The Marriage of Bette and Boo
The Marriage of Bette and Boo is a fast-paced comedy that finds the irony and humor in life’s most unhappy events as it chronicles one couple, Bette and Boo, through three decades of married life. The production runs through June 8 at the Campus Theatre in Denton.
Dallas Symphony Orchestra presents "Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 – 'Resurrection'"
The Dallas Symphony Orchestra's season finale concert, conducted by Fabio Luisi and featuring the Dallas Symphony Chorus, will consist entirely of Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 – "Resurrection." Featured vocalists will include soprano Sofia Fomina and mezzo-soprano Catrionia Morison. There will be three performances through Sunday at Meyerson Symphony Center.
Hyena's presents Dulcé Sloan
Comedian Dulcé Sloan is best known as a correspondent on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Trevor Noah. She also hosted the short-lived The Great American Joke Off on The CW. Sloan has been hailed by Variety, Rolling Stone, and Timeout LA as a Top Comedian to Watch, and honored as the NBC Stand UpShowcase Winner, a Montreal Just For Laughs New Face, and as a Comedian to Watch on The Steve Harvey Show. She'll perform four times through Saturday at Hyena's Comedy Nightclub.
Saturday, May 31
The Oddities & Curiosities Expo
The Oddities and Curiosities Expo is a one-of-a-kind traveling showcase that brings together hundreds of oddity vendors and artists from across the country, creating a playground for the strange and unusual. Attendees can browse and shop for rare and unique items, including taxidermy, preserved animal specimens, dark artistry, original horror and Halloween-inspired artwork, antiques, metaphysical accoutrements, handcrafted oddities, skulls, bones, and funeral collectibles. The event takes place on Saturday and Sunday at Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center.
Longhorn Jubilee featuring Drive-By Truckers
To celebrate Longhorn Ballroom’s 75th anniversary, the venue is hosting a series of events to honor the iconic room's past, present, and future. Dubbed the Longhorn Jubilee, the all-genre-encompassing event will unfold both inside the Ballroom and outside in the Courtyard combining music with food trucks, local vendors, and more. This event will feature performances by Drive-By Truckers, Deer Tick, Thelma & The Sleaze, and J. Isaiah Evans & The Boss Tweed.
Alison Krauss & Union Station in concert
Almost from the start of her career, country/bluegrass singer Allison Krauss has split her time between putting out solo albums and ones with her group, Union Station. The group released six albums over 22 years between 1989 and 2011, becoming one of the most popular bluegrass groups in the process. After 14 years, they've finally released a new album, Arcadia. They'll play at The Pavilion At Toyota Music Factory in Irving.
AT&T Performing Arts Center presents STOMP
STOMP is explosive, inventive, provocative, witty, and utterly unique. The international percussion sensation features an eight-member troupe that uses everything but conventional percussion instruments - like matchboxes, wooden poles, brooms, garbage cans, Zippo lighters, hubcaps - to fill the stage with magnificent rhythms. There will be performances on Saturday and Sunday at Winspear Opera House.
Sunday, June 1
Simple Minds in concert
After a bit of a slow start to their career, Scottish new wave band Simple Minds hit it big in 1985 when their song "Don't You (Forget About Me)" was used in the hit movie The Breakfast Club. While the band remained a big thing in their native United Kingdom, they were more of a one-hit wonder in the U.S., never reaching those heights again. They'll play at The Pavilion At Toyota Music Factory in Irving as part of their biggest live run across the US and Canada in four decades.
OMD in concert
Speaking of cult bands from across the pond, English electronic band Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (or, more simply, OMD) is celebrating the 45th anniversary of their recording career, having released their self-titled debut album in 1980. After a bit of a break in the late '90s/early 2000s, they've released four albums in the past 15 years, most recently Bauhaus Staircase in 2023. They'll play at Majestic Theatre.
STOMP will be at Winspear Opera House on May 31 and June 1.
Walk among the treetops at Go Ape!. Photo courtesy of Go Ape!