21 September 5 - 11, 2024 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents Twenty One Pilots 8 P.M. FRIDAY–SATURDAY, SEPT. 6–7, AMERICAN AIRLINES CENTER, 2500 VICTORY AVE. $99.50+ AT TICKETMASTER.COM It’s been a fascinating journey to this point in Twenty One Pilots’ career. The Ohio-formed alt- rock duo — Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun — has spent much of the last decade assembling a se- ries of conceptual albums, the latest of which, Clancy, dropped in May. The pair has amassed enormous visibility in the process of building its nearly 20-year career, which shifted into a new gear in 2015, when Blurryface, the band’s fourth studio album, saw singles “Stressed Out” and “Ride” ascend the charts and stay lodged at the top for weeks. Perhaps there’s no better indicator of Twenty One Pilots’ place in the pop landscape than the simple fact the band is setting up shop at an arena for two nights straight. Balu Brigada will open. PRESTON JONES Kaitlin Butts 10 P.M. FRIDAY, SEPT. 6, BILLY BOB’S TEXAS, 2520 RODEO PLAZA, FORT WORTH. $20+ AT AXS.COM For her third studio album, Roadrunner!, singer- songwriter Kaitlin Butts took a bold swing: reinter- preting, indirectly, the classic Rodgers & Hammerstein musical Oklahoma!, both the bane and pride of anyone who hails from the Sooner State. (Butts, a Tulsa native, has proclaimed her ad- oration for the work in multiple press interviews.) Butts is a formidable talent, drawing on a love of musical theater and marrying it to razor-sharp, and often quite dryly funny, songwriting. Tracks such as “Other Girls (Ain’t Having Any Fun)” and “Hunt You Down” showcase Butts’ elastic sensibility — the stormy drama of “Other Girls” up against the bouncy, feisty “Hunt You Down” (the cheeky video for which features Butts serenading her husband, Flatland Cavalry’s Cleto Cordero). With country music in the hands of talents like hers, the genre’s future is almost blindingly bright. PJ The Mavericks 8 P.M. SATURDAY, SEPT. 7, MAJESTIC THEATRE, 1925 ELM ST. $42.50+ AT AXS.COM If you’re not a fan of the Mavericks, what are you doing with your life? This profoundly talented quartet — expanding to an octet in concert — is conversant in country, jazz, pop and Latin-flavored rhythms, finely honed by its relentless dedication to touring, and it has endured for decades purely on the strength of its songs and showmanship. Led by the sonorous pipes of singer-songwriter Raul Malo, the Miami-formed Mavericks recently re- leased its 13th studio album, Moon & Stars, which features a handful of collaborators, including Sierra Ferrell, Maggie Rose and Nicole Atkins, as well as songwriting contributions from the likes of Bernie Taupin. It’s more fuel for the group’s one-of-a-kind live performance — this trip back through North Texas is on the heels of a Fort Worth appearance in February. Hogslop String Band will open. PJ Green Day 5:30 P.M. WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 11, GLOBE LIFE FIELD, 734 STADIUM DRIVE, ARLINGTON. $45+ AT TICKETMASTER.COM Ahead of the curve, or just stating the obvious? It’s a question worth considering as Green Day’s magnum opus American Idiot turns 20, and is, arguably, even more relevant now than when it was first released amid the furor of President George W. Bush’s first term in office. The seeth- ing punk anthems have aged extraordinarily well, musically and lyrically, which makes it un- derstandable why Billie Joe Armstrong and his bandmates are hitting the road on the “Saviors” tour to perform both Idiot and Dookie (some- how also celebrating its 30th anniversary this year) in full. Weird as it may be to think of Green Day as a legacy act, that is exactly what the Bay Area punks have become — born of cramped clubs and meager means, now selling out stadi- ums worldwide for multiple generations of fans. The time, it flies. With Smashing Pumpkins, Ran- cid and the Linda Lindas. PJ Childish Gambino 8 P.M. WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 11, AMERICAN AIRLINES CENTER, 2500 VICTORY AVE. $59.50+ AT TICKETMASTER.COM Multi-hyphenate talent Donald Glover has per- fected the art of knowing when to walk away, so it’s little surprise he’s choosing now to call it a day with his musical alter ego Childish Gambino. After cresting in popularity with the provocative 2018 single “This is America,” subsequently signing with a major label and dropping a pair of career-cap- ping albums earlier this year (Atavista and Bando Stone & the New World), Glover is taking his ex- pansive approach to R&B and hip-hop for one last journey through U.S. arenas before turning his at- tention back to his family, as well as acting, writing, directing and overseeing his “creative incubator” Gilga. Given Glover’s creative appetites, however (to say nothing of the music industry’s appetite for nostalgia), it’s entirely possible we haven’t heard the last of Childish Gambino. With Willow. PJ Paras Griffin/Getty Images Childish Gambino will perform Sept. 11 at American Airlines Center. | LET’S DO THIS | t Music
