Weekend Event Planner

These are the 10 best things to do in Dallas this weekend

If you like music, comedy, or theater, this weekend across Dallas will bring you plenty of options for each. The weekend kicks off with two well-known comedians, before bands take center stage at no fewer than five concerts, along with a barbecue festival with a side of music. Theater productions include one aimed at kids and another featuring five short plays.

Below are the best ways to spend your free time this weekend. Want more options? Lucky for you, we have a much longer list of the city's best events.

Thursday, September 5

Whitney Cummings: Big Baby Tour
Comedian Whitney Cummings is best known for creating and starring in the NBC series Whitney. She also co-created the CBS comedy series 2 Broke Girls. She is currently the host of the podcast Good for You, which features conversations with her friends, fellow comedians, and experts in a variety of fields. She'll perform for one night only at Majestic Theatre.

Friday, September 6

Dallas Comedy Club presents Devon Walker
Before his current job as a featured player on Saturday Night Live, Devon Walker wrote for the hit Netflix animated series Big Mouth, as well as the Freeform series, Everything’s Trash (starring Phoebe Robinson). Walker was named one of Vulture’s "Comedians You Should And Will Know" in 2022, and has been featured on Comedy Central, NBC, and more. He'll perform four times through Saturday at Dallas Comedy Club.

Yesterday & Today: The Interactive Beatles Experience
Yesterday and Today: The Interactive Beatles Experience is a band, anchored by brothers Billy, Matthew, and Ryan McGuigan, that uses the works of The Beatles and leaves the song choices completely in the hands of the audience. Audience members fill out request cards prior to the show, and a set list is created based upon the songs chosen by that particular audience. The concert takes place at Wyly Theatre.

Incubus in concert
Unlike some, alt-rock band Incubus was not an overnight success. After forming in 1991, they didn't release their first album until 1995. Their third album featured some of their most popular songs to date, including "Pardon Me" and "Drive," and they finally broke through for good with 2001's Morning View. Although there's no particular notable anniversary for that album, they'll play it in its entirety at this concert, along with their other hits. The concert takes place at The Pavilion At Toyota Music Factory, with Coheed and Cambria as special guest.

Twenty One Pilots in concert
The rock/hip hop duo Twenty One Pilots also had a bit of a slow rise, releasing three albums before hitting it big with 2015's Blurryface and its inescapable hit, "Stressed Out." The hits and top-selling albums have only continued since then, with each of their next three albums making the top three on the Billboard 200 chart. They'll play at American Airlines Center on both Friday and Saturday in support of their new album, Clancy.

Saturday, September 7

TheatreWorks USA presents Cat Kid Comic Club: The Musical
In this production based on the work of author Dav Pilkey, Cat Kid and Molly Pollywog have started an epic club to teach 21 rambunctious baby frogs how to make their own comics. Their fishy father Flippy is overjoyed that his kids will learn to unleash their creativity, but when the frogs’ constant bickering and outrageous imaginations send their comics comically off the rails, Flippy flips out. There will be two performances at Wyly Theatre.

The Smokeout Fest
The Smokeout Fest will kick off with a barbecue competition with more than 50 teams showcasing their unique styles and secret recipes. Attendees will have the opportunity to taste the specialties and cast votes for their favorites, with the top three teams earning a share of $5,000 in prize money. The festival, taking place at Southfork Ranch, will also feature music performances from Gary Allan, Casey Donahew, Ryder Grimes, and Paul Cauthen.

The Mavericks in concert
For more than 30 years, The Mavericks have made their own way in the music industry, along the way becoming masters of country-Latin rock ’n’ roll. The band, born in the rich cultural mix of Miami, found their biggest success during their Nashville days in the 1990s, with hits like "O What a Thrill" and "Here Comes the Rain." They'll play at Majestic Theatre in support of their new album, Moon & Stars.

Rover Dramawerks presents One Day Only 30
Theater productions usually have months, if not years, to be perfected. At One Day Only, presented for the 30th time by Rover Dramawerks, five short plays will go from concept to curtain in just one day. The results can be seen at Cox Playhouse in Plano.

Sunday, September 8

Bush in concert
If you want to make Gen Xers feel old, just let them know that 2024 marks the 30th anniversary of Sixteen Stone, the debut album for British rock band Bush. That and their 1996 follow-up, Razorblade Suitcase, made them big stars thanks to hits like "Everything Zen," "Glycerine," and "Machinehead." Not so coincidentally, this tour is in support of their first-ever greatest hits album, Loaded: The Greatest Hits 1994–2023. They'll play at Dos Equis Pavilion, joined by special guests Jerry Cantrell and Candlebox.

Photo by Shervin Lainez

Bush will play at Dos Equis Pavilion on September 8.

comedy music concerts theater kids families festivals barbecue event-planner

Shaq Sighting

Shaquille O'Neal cruises Dallas lake in custom '64 Chevy Impala boat

Courtesy of Effortless Motors/Youtube

A still from the Effortless Motors video

“Oh, my God! My Impala boat has arrived!” The shout comes from NBA Hall-of-Famer Shaquille O’Neal, as seen in a viral video from California-based Effortless Motors.

Those on Lake Ray Hubbard one day in early July witnessed the 7-foot-1-inch basketball superstar, known worldwide as Shaq, cruising the North Texas waters in a convertible 1964 Chevrolet Impala. A surreal sight, onlookers say.

“I had to do a double take, rub my eyes, and hope no one had spiked my coffee,” says Rockwall resident Steve Johns via phone. Johns was doing maintenance on his berthed boat when he saw the celebrity steering the craft through the waves with two other men aboard.

The passengers were Ahmad Abdelrahman and Daniel Ubario, classic car specialists who founded Effortless Motors, a full-service auto concierge in Riverside, California. They built and delivered the custom craft to O'Neal and filmed both its reveal and its maiden voyage.

O’Neal had semi-jokingly discussed the idea with the men last March, on his 54th birthday, while commissioning a Chevy Impala ‘64 restoration for his multimillion-dollar car collection.

“He wanted something crazy that no one in the world has ever seen,” Abdelrahman, Effortless CEO, tells CultureMap in an interview.

In early July, the team delivered O'Neal's consigned classic car to his home in the Ridge Lakes of Heath subdivision, on the lake’s east side. The video shows O’Neal treating family members to low, rumbling rides around his otherwise quiet suburban enclave and appearing ecstatic as he hugs and heaps praise upon the car specialists.

“You did a great job. Oh, thank you! Everything is perfect,” O’Neal says about the $1.2 million street-ready Impala, whose price reflects the extensive modifications needed to accommodate Shaq’s XXL physique. “But you promised me the boat for my birthday,” O’Neal quips.

On cue, a second trailer arrives hauling the gold Impala boat, a nod to Doughboy (Ice Cube)’s 1993 ride in the movie Boyz n the Hood.

The logistics of delivering both a car and a surprise boat — and secretly setting up the latter’s trial run — were challenging, but O'Neal's reaction made everything worthwhile, Abdelrahman says.

“The best thing was knowing we built something that has never existed before," he says. "Seeing that Impala on the water, it’s like seeing a unicorn flying across the sky.”

In the video, Shaq is seen settling into the customized captain’s seat and navigating choppy waters as Abdelrahman exclaims, “First seven footer to drive a ‘64 Impala in the water.”

“Once again, Effortless Motors delivers,” O’Neal says into the camera.

The video then shows the famous TNT broadcaster stopping under storm clouds to sign autographs and snap photos with starstruck lakegoers. “We love your boat, Shaq,” a teenage boy is heard saying after snapping a selfie. “You’re the best, man. We love you!”

O’Neal has lived part-time in the Dallas area since 2022, when he bought a $1.2 million Carrollton mansion. He sold it for $1.7 million and moved into his current 5,100 square-foot, approximately $2 million Rockwall County estate in 2024.

Since then, sightings of the megastar abound around Dallas-Fort Worth. In Mesquite in 2024, he treated 20 students to $500 shopping sprees at JCPenney. On another occasion he gave a $500 gift card to a couple he met at Fort Worth’s JCPenney, which they paid forward to children in need. And earlier this year at the Rockwall Target, he distributed $100 bills to shoppers at random. He's also behind the Big Chicken restaurant franchise, whose Fort Worth location recently closed.

But Shaq isn't the only retired athlete taking high-end toys to Texas waters. While his Impala jetboat is one of a kind, other luxury autos afloat have been spotted nearby. Former Dallas Maverick Charlie Villanueva regularly is seen cruising his Rolls Royce amphi-boat near his Lake Ray Hubbard home, many Instagram commenters pointed out after Shaq’s maritime adventure went viral.

Automotive journalists at The Autopian noted that, based video footage, Shaq’s new toy is not amphibious but rather a fiberglass silhouette of the Impala attached to a jet boat hull.

“That doesn’t take away from the spectacle of the thing much, with the rather slab-sided Impala body cutting an unexpected shape through the water,” wrote The Autopian's Andrew Evans.

A still from the Effortless Motors video

Courtesy of Effortless Motors/Youtube

Shaq featured in the Effortless Motors video.

celebrities lake ray hubbard shaquille oneal impala boat cars rockwall shaquille o'neal