Shiver With Antici…Pation.
Here’s a fun story to start the weekend. It’s about an Uber driver that discovered her boyfriend was cheating when she randomly picked up a female fare that wanted to be dropped off at her man’s house.
And here are several ways to keep the fun times rolling this weekend. In convenient list form, no less. — Cory Graves
Friday
Fan Expo Dallas at Dallas Convention Center
Boldly travel where no nerd has gone before — outside. Zing! Meet your favorite sci-fi celebs at this three day extravaganza, including Mark Hamill, some Doctor Who cast members and Stan Lee, in what he says will be his last Dallas con appearance. Just try to keep the freakouts to a minimum. — Calvin Cashen
Big Texas Beer Fest at Fair Park Automobile Building
The original Texas beer fest returns to the Fair Park Automobile Building this Friday and Saturday with some 120 breweries and over 500 beers on site for sampling. — CG
Craig Robinson at Arlington Improv
Oh, hey, Daryl from The Office is in town doing stand-up. — CG
Final Friday’s Hip-Hop Honors DJ Baby G at Three Links
The Bodega Brova, Bavu Blakes and several others are set to perform here. But the real highlight will be when Baby G reunites his Mad Flava crew for the first time in a very long time. — CG
Terrence Spectacle (Album Release) at Cinderblock Studios
After being shut down by the city for months, the Cinderblock Sessions team is now officially back in business, having got their building up to code with a freshly poured, crowd-funded parking lot. They’ll celebrate that fact along with young Dallas rapper Terrence Spectacle, who’ll be doing some celebrating of his own when he releases his five-track One Summer Night EP as part of this event. Everybody who pays to get in will get a complimentary copy. — CG
Lisa Lampanelli at Majestic Theatre
You might recognize her from her work as one of the meanest comedians on those Comedy Central roasts, where she can be seen slinging insults that cut deeply. But did you also know that Lampanelli’s actually quite generous? She totally is. — Erika Lambreton
Flava D at It’ll Do Club
The queen of UK garage producers hits our shores this weekend. — CG
Fran Lebowitz at Wyly Theatre
The subject of Martin Scorsese’s 202 documentary Public Speaking comes to town to do some humorous public speaking. — CG
Howie Day at Kessler Theater
Sure, he’s been arrested for locking a woman in his tour bus bathroom. But even the best fall down sometimes, right? Day’s hoping that, 10-plus years later, his fans will have forgotten all about that ugly incident. Meanwhile, others of us forgot he ever existed at all. — Jessica Petrocchi
Andrew Delaney & The Horse You Rode In On (Album Release) at Sundown (Free)
The local roots rockers release their latest record. The show is free. Kim Nall & the Fringe headlines. — CG
Panic! at the Disco at Allen Event Center (Sold Out)
Over the years, Panic! at the Disco has lost its exclamation point and a couple of founding members. More recently, the band brought the exclamation point back and released albums that have received heavy criticism for frontman Brendon Urie’s tendency to be a whiny little bitch. Not that he necessarily cares. Nor should he. — CG
The Soul Rebels, Big Freedia at Trees
The Soul Rebels might hail from New Orleans, but they aren’t one of those brass bands that play all that Treme kind of music. OK, so maybe they did appear in one episode of the short-lived HBO show. Still, they throw in hip-hop influences aplenty to make them a much different beast. It also makes them a perfect pairing with NOLA bounce queen Big Freedia, who opens this show. — CG
Victor Wooten Trio at Granada Theater
Victor Wooten will be soothing your beleaguered soul with funk, jazz and some nice jams, while simultaneously polishing his five Grammys onstage as the Gods of Jazz lift up their sunglasses to look upon him with a smile. — Chelsea Upton
Donnie Darko 4K at Texas Theatre
Richard Kelly has had one of the most idiosyncratic careers of any modern director. His first feature, Donnie Darko, failed to catch on in theaters in 2001, but quickly became a cult classic thanks to word-of-mouth and a director’s cut that helped the film make a little more sense. Here it’ll be shown in theaters for most of us that missed it in the first run, restored to 4K to boot. And after the screening, new local dark wave band ASUKUBUS will play a release show for its debut album. — Kip Mooney
Randy Rogers Band at The Bomb Factory
Randy Rogers Band’s 2016 was marked by the release of Watch This, his second collaborative LP with frequent touring buddy Wade Bowen. He’ll fly solo here, with no one to hold his beer while you watch him do this. — Obed Manuel
Shane Smith & The Saints at Billy Bob’s
Shane Smith & The Saints are a folk rock band spawning in the wave of folk-rock bands that came after Mumford and Sons got big. They sound a lot like Mumford and Sons as well, whether you consider that a good or bad thing is up to you. Alls we know is they’re starting to get really big themselves. — Paul Wedding
Haters Roast at House of Blues
Your favorite RuPaul’s Drag Race contestants — Bob the Drag Queen, Acid Betty, Cynthia Lee Fontaine, Kim Chi, Darienne Lake, Jinkx Monsoon, Phi Phi O’Hara and Ginger Minj – share the stage for a night of adult-themed “stingers and zingers.” Shante you say – in stitches. — CG
TITAS Presents: Alvin Ailey American Dance at Winspear Opera House
The Ailey company has performed in 48 states and 71 countries on six continents, but the 79 ballets the “vital American cultural ambassador to the world” created during his lifetime drew upon his “blood memories of Texas.” The company performs three times this weekend. — CG
Commerce Street Night Market at Pike West Commerce
The first of these small business night markets of the year. From here on out, they’ll gather local mom and pops, musicians, restaurants and artists the last Friday of every month. — CG
Saturday
Fan Expo Dallas at Dallas Convention Center
Saturday and Sunday only, Tim Curry makes the rare public appearance alongside many of his old Rocky Horror castmates. — CG
Atlantis Aquarius (Album Release) at Three Links
Co-fronted by Jordan Cain and Taylor Lumby, Atlantis Aquarius also seems to be taking full advantage of its many connections. Over the past few months, playing on bills alongside many of its members other projects, the band has been able to establish itself as one of the more thrilling new live outfits around town. The band’s live prowess should serve it well this Saturday night, too, as it takes to the stage at Three Links to celebrate the release of its debut EP, a six-song collection called Nibirian Sun that features a combination of both studio and live recordings — the former portion produced by Jake Murphy, the latter recorded by Cal Quinn. More than just a concert, the release show will also continue the band’s theme of embracing its collaborators’ many talents. At the event, Quinn will display throughout the venue a collection of photos he’s taken of the band and run a photobooth where attendees can have their picture taken in the same aesthetic as the shots he’s taken of the band. Murphy’s band Natural Anthem, meanwhile, will open the show. — Pete Freedman
Rockers vs Mods Vintage Motorcycle and Scooter Show at Strokers Dallas
With RvM events happening all weekend just keep one thing in mind: Ain’t nothin’ better than a vintage Triumph motorcycle. If you spot one, keep it cool. But know that you will spot one. So, please, do keep it cool. — H. Drew Blackburn
Gringo Star, Boytoy at The Foundry (Free)
Gringo Star — brothers Nick and Peter Furgiuele, along with other band members Pete Delorenzo and Matt McCalvin — are a multi-tasked and talented rock quartet. The guys love expressing their music by jumping all around stage and switching up instruments with one another. No matter how many folks actually show up specifically for the music this time, the band’s live shows are hard to ignore. Plus, fried chicken! — Lauren Rushing
Super Fantasy Mercado at Red Bird Mall
An artist-curated installation/pop-up shop hawking limited edition goods. But make no mistake, there are bigger artistic/geopolitical statements being made here, too. — CG
Truth in Comedy at Checkered Past Winery
Also known as TIC, three blood-sucking storytellers will tell intimate tales about their lives, then a fourth comic will do a stand-up set based on those stories. An interesting concept! — CG
Eric Prydz at It’ll Do Club
If someone tells you that you’re dressed like a cast member in Eric Prydz’s “Call On Me” video, they mean you look like you’re in a workout class from the ’80s. And that you’re sexy. If you head out to the Swedish producer’s DJ set tonight, you’ll surely feel sexy, too. — PF
Mike Ryan at Billy Bob’s
Fort Worth-based Texas country outfit the Mike Ryan Band are currently working on a third record. It currently doesn’t have a release date, but it does have a fancy new lead single. “New Hometown,” a song about leaving town because everywhere you look reminds you of your ex, which was co-written with Chris DuBois and Brent Anderson, who were also behind Chris Janson‘s No. 1 single, “Buy Me A Boat.” And that song was fucking massive last summer. — CG
Jacob Metcalf, Leoncarlo, Gregory Uhlmann at Texas Theatre
Three guys that really comprehend nuance and how to make use of space share this intimate, sure-to-be special bill before Metcalf heads out on a five-week tour. — CG
“Man Wearing Hat” — New Work by Lenworth McIntosh at {neighborhood}
Joonbug’s back in town from Oakland, showing off his new works, #Lenworth2 for the entire month of April. — CG
Locked & Loaded at Armoury, D.E. (Free)
They just can’t stay away for long. New York’s own Dezi 5 is back in the small pond yet again, playing a free show on this bar’s back patio. Cygnus, Fuzz Puppet and Mirror Box also perform. — CG
American Football at Granada Theater
Mike Kinsella’s (Cap’n Jazz, Joan of Arc, Owen) put the old emo band back together. Their first album in 17 years came out back in October, and now a tour to support the thing. — CG
”Arte y Pan Dulce” — A POC Art Show at The Meet Shop OC
An artistic safe space, artists of color, in addition to women, queer and trans artists, poets and performance artists will be celebrated at this group show. Stick it to the man! — CG
EdgeFest 25 at Toyota Stadium
In spite of no longer existing, The Edge announced its 25th annual EdgeFest will still take place, now under the promotional guidance of sister station The Eagle. Returning to Toyota Stadium this Saturday is the greatest hits fest of EdgeFest past performers featuring headliners Blink-182, along with The Offspring, 311, Chevelle, Toadies, The Naked and Famous, The Nixons and more. No joke! — CG
Experience Lowest Greenville
From 8 a.m. to 2 a.m., 19 Lower Greenville businesses will pull out the stops, drumming up extra experiential elements to show off the best the neighborhood has to offer. — CG
Big Sam’s Funky Nation at Dada
Dirty Dozen Brass Band tromboner Big Sam, hits town with his other NOLA brass outfit. — CG
April Fool’s Comedy Jam at Verizon Theatre
Lavell Crawford (Breaking Bad), Tony Rock (Chris’ brother) and Earthquake (Everybody Hates Chris) bring the jokes. We kid you not. — CG
Foam Wonderland at Gilley’s
Because some people like to have a legal excuse to get covered in frothy, white liquid surrounded by underage girls. — PW
Xtreme Knockout 35 at Gas Monkey Live
Two dudes named Peter Stanonik and Joseph Salas will pummel each other for the Muay Thai Championship belt. And a whole bunch of other scuffles to sit ringside for. — CG
Gangster Rap Yoga at Jade & Clover
Strengthen your practice with a round of early morning downward dawg. BYO water and mat – and some cash for donations if you want. — CG
Lucky Lou’s Tacofest!
Tacos, beer, live music and more beer. About all anyone really needs in life. On the other hand, pets need all kinds of stuff, like blankets, wash cloths and newspapers and such. So they’d really appreciate if you’d bring some of that stuff to donate to the Denton Animal Support Foundation if you come out to the party. — CG
Sunday
Fan Expo Dallas at Dallas Convention Center
The green Power Ranger, several Buffy castmembers and ’60s Batman and Robin are some of Sunday’s highlights. — CG
Heartless Bastards at Twilite Lounge (Free)
Heartless Bastards’ Erika Wennerstrom is playing a free solo show on Twilite’s outdoor patio. Like every back patio show to date, this one will hit capacity, meaning you won’t be able to get in if you don’t get there early enough. That is, except for the person who wins our April Baller Pack. One of the prizes in that pack is a VIP pass from Twilite that’ll allow you to cut in line, and get into shows even when they’re officially at capacity. Depending on when you’re reading this, you’ve got until 8 p.m. Friday night to enter. Missed out? Keep an eye out for our May prize pack, which will once again be filled to the brim with baller prizes. — CG
Ghostface Killah at Gas Monkey Live
Wu-Tang is for the children. — CG
Yuridia en Concierto at Majestic Theatre
She’s the top-selling female artist in Mexico, but the 30-year-old Latin pop singer is best known by the gringos for her Spanish language covers of songs by Bon Jovi, The Police, Roxette and others. — CG
Pictures with the Easter Bunny at Mutts Canine Cantina
Fur kids are kids, too. — CG
Monster Energy Outbreak at House of Blues
The energy drink company brings hot yung Atlanta rapper 21 Savage to town for his first headlining tour. Better rappers like Young M.A., Tee Grizzley, Young Nudy and No Plug open for the chemically-amped crowd. — CG
Parachute at Trees
Like The Killers, but Christian. — CG
Pretty in Pink w/ Andrew McCarthy Livestream Q&A at Alamo Drafthouse (Richardson)
The Brat Packer is promoting his first foray into the literary world, his debut YA novel Just Fly Away, with his digital appearance at this screening of his best-known flick. Pick up a signed copy of the book at the event, too. — CG
Lee Ann Womack at Kessler Theater
Woah, Aubrie Sellers’ mom is a country singer, too?! Guess we’ll have to throw on our fringe boots and get rowdy! — CG
Big D Marathon at Fair Park
Run, run, as fast as you can. — CG
Burlesque Brunch at The Nines (Free)
Every first Sunday, Lone Star Beer brings you a late brunch burlesque revue by the LollieBombs. — CG
To find out what else is going on today, this week and beyond, check out our event directory.