Allen Stone Brings a Funk Revival to Dallas and Gets Personal With Fans

At House of Blues on Thursday, a little girl with a tablet had her arms stretched over her head, trying to get a good angle. To her right, an older couple reclined against the sidebar to sing along with the fun songs and embrace during the slow ones. In the back, groups of friends or family, crossing all age, race and gender demographics, grooved to the same beat.

That beat was the power of funk music, wielded by Allen Stone.

The singer-songwriter was in Dallas Thursday night for the second leg of his A Bit of Everywhere Tour. The tour was named after fans voted for it on Stone’s Instagram, beating out “The About Damn Time Tour,” “The Untitled Gathering Tour” and “The Errors Tour (Allen’s Version).”

At around 9 p.m., the band came onto the stage and played an instrumental intro before Stone emerged from backstage with a guitar. He wore a blazer that looked like a sailor’s coat, with red sunglasses and white slacks. The band opened with “Voodoo,” a bonus track from Stone's 2015 album Radius.

A cover of Bob Marley’s “Is This Love” followed, and Stone played his own reggae-inspired track, “Five Minutes,” a few songs later.

The singer also previewed “Can’t Explain This Love,” a dirty funk track with a talkbox that is set to release on Aug. 21. Then, things slowed down with “Bed I Made,” which features Alessia Cara on the album version, and “Where You’re At” from 2019's Building Balance.

“I’m gonna have a drink and let these guys take it away,” Stone said of his band, before going backstage. His band covered Prince’s “I Wanna Be Your Lover,” before Stone ran back on stage with a tambourine and full outfit change. The energy remained high, with the talkbox-heavy “Chippin’ Away” and “Back To The Swing,” both tracks from his Building Balance.

With these high-energy songs, Stone’s stage presence is electric. He proved that he's an incredible frontman and seemed intentional about not leaving any part of the stage untouched or the crowd unattended.

At times, Stone’s cadence sounds almost like that of a pastor, matched perfectly by his band’s praise break style of jamming. It makes sense: Stone’s father was the pastor of a small church, and his mother led worship in the small town of Chewelah, Washington. He carries that sort of powerful, controlled chaos with him to the stage, even taking time between songs to shout, “Hallelujah!”

Stone closed the show with perhaps his biggest radio hit, “Brown Eyed Lover,” a swelling rock-soul song on which his voice croons like Stevie Wonder. But that wasn’t really the end.

Moments later, Stone walked back onto the stage and performed two unreleased songs solo on acoustic. The first was titled “Way Out,” a ballad he said he wrote for his two young sons.

“This is the kind of song I wish my dad had sung to me,” he said.

He followed it up with the equally soulful “Reason Why,” then brought the band back out for “Consider Me” and “Unaware.”

After the final verse of "Unaware," Stone took some time to introduce each member of his backstage touring crew, saying, “They stand on the sidelines and don’t get to shine like us.”

Stone is a man of the people, whether it be his people or the people who came to see him. After the show ended, he stayed in front of the stage for about 10 minutes to sign autographs and take pictures.

It’s that extra level of charisma that takes him from a fun indie artist to a bona fide star. At every turn, as a singer, dancer, storyteller or personality — even after a show with the house lights on — Allen Stone goes above and beyond.