Weekend Event Planner

Concerts rule the 12 best things to do in Dallas this weekend

Music takes center stage this weekend across Dallas, with half of the 12 events on this list being concerts featuring national touring artists. Other choices include a comedian from SNL, three local theater productions, a unique 24-hour theater event, and the final days of a notable art exhibition.

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, August 14

Jason Aldean in concert
Country singer Jason Aldean was named the Artist of the Decade for the 2010s by the Academy of Country Music, and it's not hard to see why. From 2010 to 2019, he released six albums, each of which went to No. 1 on the Billboard Country chart. He set such a high standard that the fact that his three 2020s albums - most recently Highway Desperado in 2023 - came in at No. 3, No. 2, and No. 6 count as a disappointment. He'll play at Dos Equis Pavilion, joined by Nate Smith and RaeLynn.

Dallas Comedy Club presents Michael Longfellow
Comedian Michael Longfellow is currently a cast member on Saturday Night Live. He joined as one of the new featured players of the show’s current 48th season. Prior to SNL, he was one of eight comedians chosen for the inaugural Netflix Introducing… showcase at the Netflix is a Joke Festival in 2022, and made his late night debut on Conan in 2018. He'll perform five times through Saturday at Dallas Comedy Club.

Chris Botti in concert
For over two decades, Grammy Award-winning trumpeter and composer Chris Botti has amassed a variety of honors, including multiple Gold and Platinum albums, to become the nation’s largest selling instrumental artist. He has performed with an array of legends, including Sting, Barbra Streisand, Tony Bennett, Yo-Yo Ma, Frank Sinatra, Paul Simon, and Andrea Bocelli. Botti has released 12 albums in his career, most recently Vol. 1 in 2023. He'll play at Majestic Theatre.

Friday, August 15

Theatre Denton presents Ken Ludwig’s Shakespeare in Hollywood
In Ken Ludwig’s Shakespeare in Hollywood, fairies from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream magically appear in 1934 Hollywood. They are delighted with the glitz and glamor of show biz and proceed to wreak enchantingly comic havoc on all that they encounter. The production runs through August 24 at Theatre Denton.

Lyric Stage and Turtle Creek Chorale present Guys & Dolls
Set in Damon Runyon’s mythical New York City, Guys & Dolls is an oddball romantic comedy. Gambler Nathan Detroit tries to find the cash to set up the biggest craps game in town while the authorities breathe down his neck; meanwhile, his girlfriend and nightclub performer, Adelaide, laments that they’ve been engaged for 14 years. Nathan turns to fellow gambler, Sky Masterson, for the dough, and Sky ends up chasing the straight-laced missionary, Sarah Brown, as a result. The production will have four performances through Sunday at Moody Performance Hall.

Lewisville Playhouse presents Blind Date
In Horton Foote’s charming one-act play Blind Date, an awkward evening of Southern matchmaking unfolds with wit and warmth. When an earnest aunt arranges a blind date for her reluctant niece, what begins as a quiet evening quickly spirals into a hilarious and poignant clash of generations, expectations, and emotions. With Foote’s signature blend of humor and humanity, Blind Date is a delightful exploration of family, romance, and the unpredictability of first impressions. The production will have three performances through Sunday at Lewisville Playhouse.

Drew and Ellie Holcomb in concert
Husband-and-wife duo Drew and Ellie Holcomb were originally part of the band Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors, an Americana band that started in 2005. When Ellie stopped touring to raise their children, she also started her own solo career. In recent years, the couple have collaborated on two albums, Coming Home: A Collection of Songs in 2022 and Memory Bank earlier this year. They'll perform at Majestic Theatre.

Saturday, August 16

Big Time Rush in concert
The boy band Big Time Rush was formed in conjunction with the Nickelodeon show of the same name in 2009, a series that ran for four seasons and produced three albums. After the show ended, the band went on hiatus, with the four members pursuing solo careers. But they reunited in 2023 to record a new album, Another Life, and they have been touring all over the world ever since. They'll play at Dos Equis Pavilion as part of their In Real Life Worldwide Tour.

Gillian Welch and David Rawlings in concert
Country/bluegrass singer Gillian Welch has partnered with guitarist David Rawlings for almost 30 years, starting with her 1996 debut album, Revival. They've gone on to record eight more albums together under her name, his name, or both. Their latest collaboration, Woodland in 2024, resulted in a Grammy Award for Best Folk Album, an honor they had also received in 2021. They'll play at Majestic Theatre.

BOLT! A 24-Hour Musical Project
In the unique theatrical event BOLT!, community members submit their favorite songs, and a team of writers randomly draw nine tracks from a bucket at 8 pm on August 15. From that moment, writers have until 8 am to craft a script that weaves the songs into a (moderately) cohesive narrative. As the sun rises, the clock starts ticking for actors, directors, and musicians to bring the script to life. They’ll have just 12 hours to rehearse, stage, and perform the finished musical by 8 pm on Saturday. They'll perform that production at The Addison Performing Arts Centre.

Sunday, August 17

Nasher Sculpture Center presents Otobong Nkanga: "Each Seed a Body" closing day
Sunday will be the final day to view Otobong Nkanga: "Each Seed a Body" at Nasher Sculpture Center, a new and re-envisioned work from the 2025 Nasher Prize laureate. The exhibition presents newly conceived iterations of major recurring projects, including Carved to Flow (2017-), along with a new work, each responding to the North Texas region. Nkanga engaged with Texan history, material culture, ecology, and community through a process of deep research and an exchange of knowledge.

Lost '80s Live
Nostalgic fans can take a trip back in time at Lost '80s Live, a retro tour featuring a number of '80s favorites performing live on one stage. Performers will include A Flock of Seagulls, General Public, Big Country, The Vapors, The Icicle Works, Josie Cotton, Belouis Some, China Crisis, and The Polecats. The concert takes place at The Pavilion At Toyota Music Factory in Irving.

Otobong Nkanga (Nigerian/Belgian, b. 1974) Anamnesis, 2015, Plywood, gauze, coffee, tea, spices, cacao, raw tobacco, peat, 204 3/5 x 451 1/5 inches (520 x 1146 cm), Installation view of Streamline., Ozeane, Welthandel and Migration. Oceans, Global Trade and Migration at the Deichtorhallen, 2015

Photo courtesy of Otobong Nkanga

Otobong Nkanga: "Each Seed a Body" will close at Nasher Sculpture Center on August 17.

concerts music comedy theater galleries event-planner

Animal News

Latest animal to die at Dallas Zoo is young male gorilla named Zola

Dallas Zoo

Zola RIP

Another animal at the Dallas Zoo has died an untimely death: Zola, a young Western lowland gorilla, died on Wednesday, November 5, at age 23.

The zoo does not know why Zola died. A necropsy will be performed. According to their post, Zola was euthanized after showing symptoms of lethargy, reduced appetite, and signs of discomfort at the end of October.

"Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to begin breathing on his own afterward, despite the extraordinary efforts of our veterinary and animal care teams," their post says. "With his comfort as our priority, we made the difficult decision to let him go peacefully."

The zoo did not announce Zola's death immediately, instead waiting two days until Friday afternoon at 3 pm. Politicians and government agencies prefer to choose Friday afternoons to post news that is negative or controversial, since fewer people, and definitely fewer journalists, are online on Friday afternoons. It's called the "Friday news dump."

The death is very inconvenient for the Dallas Zoo since they were just about to ship off their male gorillas, which also include Juba, B'Wenzi, and Zola's half-brother Shana, to the San Antonio Zoo. Animals are very dear to the zoo — until it's time to ship them off to another zoo.

The relocation of the other three male gorillas is "temporarily on hold" but the zoo says they will be moved "when the time is right."

Other gorillas will be shipped in to replace them — although we do not know which gorillas and from where. The Association of Zoos & Aquariums, the overseeing body for zoos, only divulges that kind of intel on a "need to know" basis. Right now, you and I do not need to know. If we did know which gorillas were coming and where they were coming from, we might ask questions that would force the zoo to explain what it's up to.

Zola was born at the Bronx Zoo in 2002 and became internet famous as the "breakdancing gorilla" for splashing in pools and puddles. Some animal experts attributed his actions to frustration at being locked inside a zoo. He was relocated to the Calgary Zoo in 2009 when he was only 7 years old — zoos always play up what great bonds and family ties their animals have, until it's time to ship them somewhere else, and then suddenly the bonds and family ties don't matter.

Unfortunately, Zola did not "integrate well" at the Calgary Zoo, so he got shipped off to the Dallas Zoo in 2013.

At least now he won't have to be relocated again.

Death count
Zola's death is one more in a long-running series of deaths at the Dallas Zoo in recent years, the most previous being Jata, a 7-year-old painted dog who died in June 2024. Jata also showed signs of lethargy and decreased appetite, reportedly due to kidney disease.

Whenever a death occurs, they always wax on about their "extraordinary" veterinary and animal care teams — and yet, so many of these deaths were either unexplained or completely caught their teams by surprise.

Zola the Western lowland gorilla is the latest to join this death march of animals at the Dallas Zoo:

Jata, one of the zoo's three African painted dogs, died in June 2024, at seven years old.
Ferrell, a 15-year-old giraffe, died in December, 2023, following "an unexpected fall in the barn" that injured the giraffe's jaw so badly, they were forced to euthanize him.
Ajabu, a 6-year-old African elephant who died on May 8, 2023, from the herpes virus.
Pin, a 35-year-old lappet-faced vulture, died on January 22, 2023, cause unknown.
Jesse, a 14-year-old giraffe, died on October 29, 2021, cause unknown.
Auggie, a 19-year-old giraffe, died in late October 2021 of liver failure.
Marekani, a 3-month-old baby giraffe, sustained a mysterious injury and was euthanized on October 3, 2021.
Kirk, a 31-year-old chimpanzee, died in August 2021 due to "surprise" heart disease.
Keeya, a 6-year-old Hartmann's mountain zebra, died in March 2021 due to a mysterious unexplained head injury.
Subira, a 24-year-old silverback gorilla, died suddenly in March 2020, due to a cough, or maybe cardiovascular disease. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Hope, a 23-year-old Western lowland gorilla, died suddenly in November 2019 after being at the zoo for only two years.
Ola, an 8-year-old female African painted dog, was killed in July 2019 by two other painted dogs, less than a month after she was transferred to the zoo.
Witten, a 1-year-old giraffe, died in June 2019 during a physical exam under anesthesia when he suddenly stopped breathing.
Adhama, a baby hippopotamus, mysteriously died in 2018.
Kipenzi, a baby giraffe, died in 2015 after running in her enclosure.
Kamau, a young cheetah, died of pneumonia in 2014.
Johari, a female lion, was killed in front of zoo spectators in 2013 by male lions with whom she shared an enclosure.

And in February 2021, they lost a crow called Onyx who was part of their "animal ambassador team," "participating in a training session" for a bird show. He was never found.

animals