20 OctOber 23– 29, 2025 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents Atiba Jefferson Lord Huron performs on Monday in Las Colinas. | LET’S DO THIS | t Music Renee Rapp 8 P.M. THURSDAY, OCT. 23, THE PAVILION AT TOYOTA MUSIC FACTORY, 300 W. LAS COLINAS BLVD. $51+ AT TICKETMASTER.COM North Carolina native Renee Rapp has dancing along the line between acting and singing for most of her career to this point. First earning notice on Broadway in Mean Girls, Rapp also turned heads as part of the TV series The Sex Lives of College Girls, a three-year run which saw her release a debut EP, Everything to Every- one, in 2022. Two albums later — the latest of which, Bite Me, dropped in August — and Rapp has fully stepped into the world of pop music. Rapp is maximizing her moment in the spot- light, making a powerful statement during a re- cent tour stop in Portland: “So let’s just make a few things abundantly fucking clear: Fuck ICE. Fuck this administration. And fuck Trump.” In that vein, Rapp is partnering with a pair of non- profits on her current tour, Save the Children and REVERB, donating a portion of proceeds to each. Ravyn Lenae will open. PRESTON JONES Halsey 8 P.M. FRIDAY, OCT. 24, SOUTH SIDE BALLROOM, 1135 BOTHAM JEAN BLVD. $176+ AT TICKETMASTER.COM Another in the recent spate of singers turned actors, Halsey first broke through with 2017’s “Bad at Love,” a single from their sophomore al- bum Hopeless Fountain Kingdom which went platinum eight times over. The New Jersey na- tive, born Ashley Frangipane, pivoted from the recording booth to the big screen in 2018, mak- ing a cameo in Bradley Cooper’s A Star is Born remake. Halsey is now balancing a burgeoning acting career — roles in 2023’s Americana and last year’s A24 splatterific thriller MaXXXine have earned positive notices — and marking the 10-year anniversary of debut LP Badlands with a celebratory tour. “There’s a really humbling experience as a musician when you sing a song that you wrote 10 years ago and you realize that it’s still relevant, and you’re like, ‘I guess I haven’t learned my goddamn lesson,’” Halsey told Rolling Stone last month. PJ The Mars Volta 8 P.M. SATURDAY, OCT. 25, THE BOMB FACTORY, 2713 CANTON ST. $39+ AT AXS.COM El Paso-formed psychedelic prog-rock outfit The Mars Volta — a sextet anchored by found- ers Omar Rodriguez-Lopez and Cedric Bixler- Zavala — has never approached its career in what could be considered a conventional man- ner over of the course of its roughly 15-year ca- reer. Riding the wave of daring, different rock bands in the early aughts, The Mars Volta dropped a couple certified masterpieces (De- Loused in the Comatorium; Frances the Mute) and then took a break for eight years. Revived in 2022, the Mars Volta has been busy in the last several months, with the release of a documen- tary (Omar and Cedric: If This Ever Gets Weird) and a new album, Lucro Sucio; Los Ojos del Va- cio, which dropped in April, but only after the band casually played the entire, then-unre- leased project in a series of sets opening for Deftones. PJ Lord Huron 8 P.M. MONDAY, OCT. 27, THE PAVILION AT TOYOTA MUSIC FACTORY, 300 W. LAS COLINAS BLVD. $50+ AT TICKETMASTER.COM There is an indefinable magnetism to the music made by Los Angeles-based indie rock four- some Lord Huron. Anchored by lead vocalist and songwriter Ben Schneider’s alternately plaintive and seductive vocals, the band’s cata- log, stretched across five studio albums to date (including this year’s The Cosmic Selector, Vol. 1), purees an eclectic mix of genres — country, folk, rock and pop — to create something be- witchingly cinematic. In concert, Lord Huron doubles down on theatrics; during a November tour stop at American Airlines Center, opening for Kacey Musgraves in 2024, Schneider sang the entirety of one song into the receiver of a payphone, shrouded in darkness and fog. It was completely arresting, and the promise of a full- length headlining showcase is deeply tantaliz- ing. With Kevin Morby. PJ Doechii 8 P.M. WEDNESDAY, OCT. 29, THE PAVILION AT TOYOTA MUSIC FACTORY, 300 W. LAS COLINAS BLVD. $39+ AT TICKETMASTER.COM Doechii (born Jaylah Hickmon) is in full flower at the moment, a blossoming which began last year with the release of her acclaimed mixtape Alligator Bites Never Heal and its hit singles like “Nissan Altima,” “Denial is a River” and “Anxi- ety.” Nominated at the 67th annual Grammy Awards for Best New Artist and Best Rap Per- formance, Doechii took home a trophy for Best Rap Album, and delivered a soul-stirring accep- tance speech: “I know there is some Black girl out there, so many Black women out there, who are watching me right now, and I wanna tell you, you can do it,” she said during the telecast. “Anything is possible. Don’t allow anybody to project any stereotypes on you that tell you that you can’t be here, that you’re too dark, or that you’re not smart enough, or that you’re too dramatic or you’re too loud. You are exactly who you need to be to be right where you are, and I am a testimony.” PJ
