10 Best Concerts of the Week: Pussy Riot, Mammoth WVH, Sky Ferreira and More

We'll start off by wishing you and yours a Happy Thanksgiving. While DFW bars and venues will have happy hours and DJ nights on Thursday, your concert week kicks off on Friday, either giving praise in Fort Worth or seeing SIDEPIECE in the Design District. On Saturday, Del Castillo brings a bit of Latin Rock to Oak Cliff and Oak Cliff rapper Jayson Lyric plays a show at House of Blues. Also that night, Mammoth WVH brings its gigantic guitar sound to Deep Ellum and Cory Morrow plays in Fort Worth. Sunday is for Pussy Riot, which performs a full audio-visual show to Tulips. Tuesday brings two shows: a little punk show from The Menzingers in The Cedars and a huge pop extravaganza in Fort Worth thanks to the folks at KISS-FM. The concert week closes with a concert from Sky Ferreira who, for the past decade, has kept us mostly in the dark about the music she has been creating. What a week of exploration we have ahead of us.
Kirk Franklin
7 p.m., Friday, Nov. 24, Dickies Arena, 1911 Montgomery St., Fort Worth. $100+ at ticketmaster.com

Thanksgiving may be over, but there are still plenty of reasons to get yourself to church. This Friday, Dickies Arena hosts The Reunion Tour, featuring half a dozen heavy hitters from the world of gospel music. Tye Tribbett, The Clark Sisters, David & Tamela Mann and Israel Houghton will all be taking the stage that evening, leading up to headliner and hometown hero Kirk Franklin. Franklin grew up in Fort Worth, where he was raised by his aunt and attended the New Mount Rose Missionary Baptist Church. When Franklin was appointed minister of music, it caused quite the stir at Mount Rose, mostly because Franklin was 11 years old at the time. Had they known that the young man would go on to win 19 Grammy Awards and 22 Dove Awards over the course of his career, there probably wouldn't have been much of an uproar. Franklin released his seventh solo studio album, Father's Day, in October.
SIDEPIECE
7 p.m., Friday, Nov. 24, The Echo Lounge & Music Hall, 1323 N. Stemmons Freeway. $35.25+ at livenation.com

When Dylan Ragland and Ricky Mears first got together, SIDEPIECE was meant to be just a side project. Ragland had a small following under the name Party Favor, as did Mears with NITTI. The two had intended to a do a collaborative track in 2019, but their chemistry led seamlessly into a full-blown project. Success came fast for the duo as SIDEPIECE’s second single, the 2020 collaboration with Diplo “On My Mind,” earned them a 2021 Grammy nomination for "Best Dance Recording." Since then, the duo has had several tracks gain a lot of traction in the world of house music, though SIDEPIECE has yet to achieve the status of one-time collaborator Diplo. SIDEPIECE's Home Run Tour comes through the Design District Friday night.


Del Castillo
7 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 25, The Kessler, 1230 W. Davis St. $34+ at prekindle.com

You may have heard the Austin Latin rock band Del Castillo on the soundtracks for Once Upon a Time in Mexico, Kill Bill Vol. II, Alita Battle Angel, The Green Ghost, Machete, Sin City or Planet Terror. Led by brothers Rick and Mark del Castillo, the band was quite active from its formation at the turn of the century until 2012, when it parted ways with singer Alex Ruiz. The band lay almost completely dormant in the years following Ruiz's departure as members pursued other projects. Then, in 2019, with Ruiz back, the band released the single "Love." Another new single, "El Sombrero," came out earlier this year and the band has hinted that it is working on more new material. Opening will be Austin's Latina power trio, The Tiarras.
Jayson Lyric
7 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 25, House of Blues, 2200 N. Lamar St. $48 at livenation.com

Oak Cliff-born rapper Jayson Lyric has been making a name for himself and the Dallas rap scene for about a decade now. "Lyric" in not just a clever name, but a kind of mission statement The artist has dedicated himself to the lyrical content of his work and to finding the perfect music to highlight its content. Known for his varied verbal delivery, Lyric's breakout single "Self Love" earned the rapper a deal with Asylum Records in 2021 in partnership with his own label, NHouse Republic. The song racked up millions of streams across the services and received praise from artists such as Jazmine Sullivan, Meagan Good and La La Anthony. Lyric uses his own production team, House Productions, to make music that blends elements of hardcore trap, conscious rap, R&B and gospel. Charles K and Scuttino will open.
Mammoth WVH
7:30 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 25, The Factory in Deep Ellum, 2713 Canton St. $27.50 at axs.com

Returning to North Texas for the second time this year after opening Metallica's M72 World Tour, which brought Pantera home to Arlington, Wolfgang Van Halen and his band Mammoth WVH will play Deep Ellum with Nita Strauss on The Mammoth II Tour. The Mammoth name comes from one of the first names used by the band Van Halen, but it has been used by Eddie Van Halen's son Wolfgang since 2018. Mammoth WVH released its first single in 2020 and a first album the following year when the band opened for Guns N' Roses on tour. Despite all the connections to the band Van Halen, Mammoth WVH sounds nothing like it, opting for heavier riffs and alt-metal vocals. The band's second album, Mammoth II, was released in August and was met by critical praise for its large sound and variety of songs.
Cory Morrow
8 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 25, Tannahill's Tavern & Music Hall, 122 E. Exchange Ave., Fort Worth. $30+ at ticketmaster.com

Born and raised in Houston, Cory Morrow is a Texas country singer-songwriter whose popularity has been steadily growing on alternative country radio stations such as KHYI 95.3 The Range. Morrow started playing guitar as a student at Memorial High School in Houston and developed his guitar prowess at Texas Tech University. In 1993, he moved to Austin to pursue a career in music and has been building a following of fans ever since in the red dirt music scene. Morrow has sold over 200,000 albums as a completely independent artist. In 2002, his Outside the Lines reached the No. 28 spot on Billboard's Country Album chart, which is quite a feat for an independent artist. Morrow released his most recent solo album, Whiskey and Pride, in 2018, but in 2021, he put out a collaborative country album with fellow Texas country musician Pat Green. Singer-songwriter Case Hardin opens for Morrow on Saturday night.
Pussy Riot
7 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 26, Tulips, 112 St. Louis Ave. $30+ at prekindle.com

While Nadya Tolokonnikova has been the primary face of the Russian performance art group in recent years, it is important to keep in mind that Pussy Riot always was and always will be a collaborative, collective project that brings together music, art and performance. That said, Pussy Riot (without Tolokonnikova) will present an activist multimedia experience on Sunday at Tulips in Fort Worth with members Masha Alyokhina, Diana Burkot, Olga Borisova, Alina Petrova, Vasily Bogatov and Alexander Cheparukhin. With the exception of Borisova, Each of these members has been a part of the collective for over a decade. Alyokhina and Burkot were a part of the performance at Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in 2011 that led to the imprisonment of three of its members. Alyokhina was arrested along with Tolokonnikova, but Burkot escaped arrest. This will undoubtedly be an incredible audio-visual experience.
The Menzingers
6 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 28, South Side Music Hall, 1135 Botham Jean Blvd. $25 at seetickets.us

Scranton, Pennsylvania, punk band The Menzingers have spent over 15 years building a reputation on solid punk rock music with heartfelt lyrics. Guitarists Greg Barnett and Tom May, bassist Eric Keen and drummer Joe Godino have stuck together since the band's founding in 2006, releasing seven albums and numerous EPs and singles. The band rose to prominence in the punk world by finding its way into the opening spots on tours for Anti-Flag and Against Me! While The Menzingers may be derided as being too nostalgic for a punk band, the band was signed to iconic punk label Epitaph Records because founder Brett Gurewitz said that the band reminded him of the pure punk rock he grew up with. Opening will be Atlanta rock band Microwave, Michigan queer rock band Rodeo Boys and emo revivalists Cloud Nothings.
106.1 KISS FM's Jingle Ball
7:30 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 28, Dickies Arena, 1911 Montgomery St., Fort Worth. $23+ at ticketmaster.com

For as long as we can remember, every single year 106.1 KISS FM pulls out all the stops when it comes to its annual Jingle Ball concert, and this year is no different. Mixing together pop stars from today and yesteryear, this year's Jingle Ball is sure to help burn some leftover calories from Thanksgiving and get you into the holiday spirit. Representing pop from the '90s will be reggae-fusion artist Shaggy; from the '00s comes pop rap artist Flo Rida; and from the '10s comes the boy band Big Time Rush. As for today's artists, Jingle Ball will have performances from rapper DOECHII (who was just in town opening for Doja Cat), pop rock band LANY, R&B artist Paul Russell, rapper Kaliii, K-pop group P1Harmony and K-pop artist AleXa. All of that will be leading up to the night's headliner, Nashville singer and rapper Jelly Roll, who just received the Grammy nomination for Best New Artist.
Sky Ferreira
8 p.m., Wednesday, Nov. 29, Trees, 2709 Elm St. $32 at axs.com

Synth-pop singer Sky Ferreira made her biggest impression on the music world back in 2013 when she released her only proper album to date, Night Time, My Time. Up to that point, Ferreira had some success as a model and actress, starring in a few films and appearing in a few magazines, but Night Time, My Time was not what one would have expected from a 21-year-old actress/model making the transition to music. The album was instantly adored by music critics, who compared the work to genre-defining artists like Suicide, Bauhaus, Siouxsie and the Banshees, and Blondie. Since 2015, Ferreira has been teasing her second album, Masochism. She released the album's first single, "Downhill Lullaby," in 2019 and its second single, "Don't Forget," in 2022. In between, she did a feature on Charli XCX's "Cross You Out," but that is it for her musical output these past 10 years. So, what she has in store for her show Wednesday night may be uncertain, but it's certain to be special.