Panic! at the Disco
With Youngblood the Hawke and Walk the Moon, 7 p.m. Friday, August 22, at South Side Music Hall, 1135 S. Lamar St., 214-421-2021 or southsidemusichall.com, $39.50-$45
Man, Las Vegas is weird. Look at the list of bands from there: The Killers, Imagine Dragons and Friday night's headliner at the South Side Music Hall, Panic! at the Disco. One was the only band to survive the nu-new wave boom of the mid-2000s, one is currently selling out arenas and one is the only band not named Fall Out Boy that is still drawing pop-punk fans in the thousands. In other words, what happens (musically) in Vegas gets huge and doesn't stay in Vegas. Panic! at the Disco's 2013 release, Too Weird to Live, Too Rare to Die!, was a drastic move away from their pop-punk roots into the world of EDM, with heavy hip-hop influences. It's a smart move by a band that is trying not only to survive eight years after they broke through, but find new fans. Jaime-Paul Falcon
Aerosmith
With Slash, 7:30 p.m. Friday, August 22, at the American Airlines Center, 2500 Victory Ave., 214-222-3687 or americanairlinescenter.com, $49.50-$149.50
Despite the recent heart issues afflicting drummer Joey Kramer that caused the cancelation of a recent show in California, the seemingly ageless Aerosmith make their way back to Dallas this Friday. Surprisingly, out of all of the bands that had their heyday in the '70s, Aerosmith remain one of the few that have managed to make decent music in the decades since. The band's continued popularity is a statement to the enduring quality of Steven Tyler's sneering vocals and Joe Perry's always top-notch guitar playing. Of course, classic songs such as "Walk This Way," "Back in the Saddle" and "Sweet Emotion" don't hurt either. Darryl Smyers
One Direction
7 p.m. Sunday, August 24, at AT&T Stadium, 1 AT&T Way, Arlington, 817-892-4000 or attstadium.com, $45
After failed attempts at solo careers via the U.K.'s The X Factor, judge Simon Cowell decided these five young Englishmen (actually four; one is Irish) could be bigger and better as a group. And they are. Since One Direction's inception, young girls — probably some old ones as well — worldwide have been fawning over Harry, Zayn, Niall, Liam and Louis. They've sold millions of records. Between the five of them, they have 88.7 million Twitter followers. The band's first music video, "What Makes You Beautiful," has been watched more than 544 million times on YouTube. They are a boy band in the sense that they're boys in a band, but different because they don't dance, they don't wear matching outfits and they're open about having girlfriends — something boy bands typically try to keep quiet to satisfy their hormonal young fans. And while their songs may not get much deeper than young love, the beat is catchy enough for you to turn up your radio dial and dance along. Paige Skinner
Black Kids
With Chambers, 8 p.m. Monday, August 25, at Tree Links, 2704 Elm St., threelinksdeepellum.com, $7-$10
They were supposed to be somebodies. In 2007 when music blogs ruled the world (RIP Music Blogs, 2005-Whenever Gorilla Vs. Bear dies), Black Kids took the world by storm with their Myspace-released EP The Wizard of Ahhhs, gaining major hype from blogs and traditional media alike, including an 8.4 out of 10 rating from Pitchfork. Then everything went to hell when their LP Party Traumatic came out and Pitchfork's review of the album was a picture of two pugs standing next to each other, a caption that read "Sorry :/" and rating of 3.3. They never quite recovered. But hey, it's been six years and the band is still going. There are rumors of a new album and the band's been touring since late 2013, so maybe we have a comeback story on our hands. Jaime-Paul Falcon
OneRepublic
With Christina Perri, 7 p.m. Tuesday, August 26, at Gexa Energy Pavilion, 1818 1st Ave., 214-421-1111 or gexaenergypavilion.net, $20-$275
There's a good chance you've found yourself humming along to the hit "Counting Stars" in your car in recent months. That's because OneRepublic have been pretty much dominating the pop airwaves with that song and their most recent single, "Love Runs Out." But this band didn't come from nowhere. If you've forgotten, OneRepublic also graced us with "Apologize" and "Stop and Stare" more than seven years ago. And it's safe to say Ryan Tedder, OneRepublic's lead singer, is partly to blame for a lot of the songs getting stuck in your head. He's helped write and produce songs such as "Neon Lights" by Demi Lovato, "Rumour Has It" by Adele, "Halo" by Beyoncé and "Bleeding Love" by Leona Lewis. With songwriting credits like that, it's obvious OneRepublic will keep churning out hits. Paige Skinner
Clint Black
8 p.m. Wednesday, August 27, at McKinney Performing Arts Center, 111 N. Tennessee St., McKinney, mckinneytexas.org, Sold out
Clint Black's long and storied career, complete with 22 No. 1 songs and a plethora of CMA honors, makes him one of the most popular country entertainers of all time. Beyond that, he's also widely regarded as one of Nashville's best songwriters. After hitting it big in 1989 with "Killin' Time," Black enjoyed a great deal of commercial and critical success in the 1990s until he decided to take a hiatus from the music industry in 2001. Since rejoining the country scene in 2005, Black's recordings have largely flown under the radar, though they are both vocally and musically strong. Still, if recent shows in Dallas and other cities across the country are any indication, expect to hear plenty of Black's early- to late-'90s work mixed in with some of his favorite country covers at Wednesday night's sold-out show at the McKinney Performing Arts Center. Amy McCarthy
