| LET’S DO THIS | Futurepop duo Purity t Music Red Bull Batalla Qualifier 2 P.M. SATURDAY, JULY 16, AT CLUB VIVO, 1930 PACIFIC AVE., FREE Since 2005, the Red Bull Batalla global free- style rap competition has given a platform for the hip-hop improvisers in the Spanish-speak- ing rap world to connect, develop and com- pete. Since then, the project has become the world’s biggest international freestyle battle competition, uniting Spanish speakers across the globe. One of the three Batalla events in the U.S. will take place this Saturday in Dallas’ Main Street District. The competition boasts some of the most dynamic Spanish-language lyricists that the U.S. has to offer, and attend- ees will see them compete in a bracket-style tournament, going bar-for-bar. The winners from the Dallas event will join other competi- tors at the National Final event in Miami, hop- ing to move on to the Red Bull Batalla World Final in Mexico City. While none of the compet- itors hail from DFW, three of the 16 competitors are from Texas. DAVID FLETCHER Purity Ring 7 P.M. SATURDAY, JULY 16, AT THE FACTORY IN DEEP ELLUM, 2713 CANTON ST., $28.50+ AT AXS.COM The members of Canadian futurepop duo Purity Ring were once a part of an indietronica band called Gobble Gobble, but when drummer Corin Roddick began experimenting with electronic music and beat-making, he asked vocalist Me- gan James to provide vocals for the song “Un- girthed.” With that, Purity Ring was born in 2010. Over the last dozen years, Purity Ring has combined various forms of electronic pop with hip-hop inspired lyrics and vocals, telling per- sonal stories with graphic imagery. The band is also known for taking its time between releases, dropping just three albums in the last decade. However, Purity Ring’s most recent album, Womb, was followed closely with the release of the graves EP just last month. The EP shows a level of polish that has divided critics who have grown to love the band’s visceral approach to songwriting. Vancouver trip-hop artist ekkstacy provides opening support. DF 24 Coheed and Cambria 6:30 P.M. SUNDAY, JULY 17, AT THE PAVILION AT TOYOTA MUSIC FACTORY, 300 W. LAS COLINAS BLVD., $29.50+ AT LIVENATION.COM While most bands from emo’s radio-age were mostly just flavors of the week with no real staying power, Coheed and Cambria was like the Rush of its time. Like its forebears, Coheed and Cambria spun epic tales, supported by even more epic instrumentals and fronted by the incredible falsetto of singer Claudio San- chez. Best known for its seven-album se- quence which told the story of The Armory Wars — an incredibly complex sci-fi story that expanded upon Sanchez’s series of comic books of the same name —Coheed and Cam- bria had its biggest successes with its second and third albums In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3 and Good Apollo, I’m Burning Star IV, Volume One: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness. The band released one album in 2015 that had nothing to do with The Armory Wars, but Coheed and Cambria is back at it with a new series continuing the story. DF Ring will be playing at The Factory in Deep Ellum on Saturday. Yuni Wilson Dirty Heads 6 P.M. WEDNESDAY, JULY 20, AT THE FACTORY IN DEEP ELLUM, 2713 CANTON ST., $46.50+ AT AXS.COM Honestly, it’s surprising that the Dirty Heads have done this well. When singer Jared “Dirty J” Watson, guitarist Dustin “Duddy B” Bush- nell, drummer Jon Olazabal and bassist David Foral put out the college radio-ready album A Port in Any Storm in 2008 and didn’t follow it up with anything for half a decade, it seemed like the band that didn’t take itself too seri- ously, seriously hadn’t. However, in that span of time Dirty Heads toured extensively, taking notes firsthand from the folks in O.A.R., 311, Pepper, Kottonmouth Kings, Matisyahu and their heroes in Sublime with Rome. As time has gone on, the band’s membership has only grown, and what started as a crunchy band to catch a groove has evolved into a full-on psy- chedelic project complete with horns and keys. It’s no surprise then that Dirty Heads are currently touring in support of the Best Of al- bum they released this time last year. DF Train 6:30 P.M. WEDNESDAY, JULY 20, AT DOS EQUIS PAVILION, 1818 FIRST AVE., $20+ AT LIVENATION.COM Say what you will about pop rock band Train, but singer Pat Monahan and company really know how to bring it with their songwriting. Train has had some moderate success as a roots rock band in the late ’90s, but there is a clear shift in the band’s sound once it reaches the 21st century. For their breakthrough single “Drops of Jupiter (Tell Me),” the band hired composer Paul Buckmaster to write the string arrangements expressly because he had writ- ten the string arrangements for Elton John’s “Burn Down the Mission.” So, while “Meet Vir- ginia” might have been this fun little rock song about a girl from the wrong side of the tracks, after “Drops of Jupiter,” Train sought the pop grandiosity heard in “Calling All An- gels,” “Cab,” “Hey, Soul Sister” and hit after hit, after yet another hit. And, as good as Train is going to be at this concert, the band has asked Jewel and Blues Traveler to open, to re- ally pack in that late ’90s nostalgia. DF JULY 14–20, 2022 DALLAS OBSERVER CLASSIFIED | MUSIC | DISH | CULTURE | UNFAIR PARK | CONTENTS dallasobserver.com
