Frank Erwin Center

Giddyup!: Full RodeoHouston Lineup Announced

An Hour With AC/DC

A pacer by nature, Rocks Off is already so excited about Sunday's AC/DC show he can hardly sit down long enough to type a complete sentence. So imagine how difficult it was to sit at the keyboard while listening to a solid hour of Sirius/XM's "AC/DC Radio" channel. Or don't, actually, because ther ... More >>

Bruce Springsteen Confirms Second Houston Show in a Year

Alejandro Escovedo with Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band,"Always a Friend," Toyota Center, April 14, 2008 After last year's sold-out show that ended with both Alejandro Escovedo and Joe Ely duetting with the Boss, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band are headed back to Houston for ... More >>

Walk Away, Walk Away

And we will follow as local music figures recall tales of U2

Just Us Guys

The boys are back, as Bush and Bullock usher in the age of transpartisan politics

With or Without You: Memoirs of a U2 Adolescence and Young Adulthood

...I may regret this.​So there was a time, not long ago by geological reckoning, that I was a U2 fan. Growing up during the pre-Internet late 70s/early 80s in a town where the only place to buy music was a Camelot Music in the mall limited your options somewhat. Nevertheless, the Edge's loud, ring ... More >>

Rocks Off's Picks for This Weekend's Fun Fun Fun Festival

You can think of this weekend's Fun Fun Fun Fest in Austin as the indie, metal, and hip-hop little brother of the more staid Austin City Limits Music Festival. The fourth edition of the two-day event held in Waterloo Park in Austin starts tomorrow afternoon. Per our stated life path, Rocks Off will ... More >>

Which Hard-Rocking Northern Irishmen Might Blow AC/DC Off the Stage Sunday? The Answer Is The Answer

​Rocks Off is about as excited about Sunday's AC/DC show as we were for the Black Ice ballbreakers' show 11 months ago, but for a much different reason. Last time it was because we hadn't seen AC/DC since 1996 at Austin's Frank Erwin Center; this time it's because we're itching to see the band beh ... More >>

George Strait Looking For Sea Of Red At Austin Show

Photos by Craig Hlavaty​Of course Rocks Off is driving to Austin on Friday night to see George Strait and Reba McEntire at the Frank Erwin Center. Who do you think we are? Isn't everyone driving to Austin to see the Morrissey of Texas and the Queen of Modern Country? Anyhow, Rocks Off will b ... More >>

Friday Night: George Strait & Reba At Austin's Erwin Center

Photos by Marc Brubaker​George Strait, Reba McEntire Frank Erwin Center, Austin January 14, 2010 Friday night, Aftermath drove to Austin to catch one of the lone Texas stops on this round of tandem touring by the King and Queen of Country, George Strait and Reba McEntire, with Lee Ann Womack ... More >>

George Strait: No Unflattering Photos, Please

Marc BrubakerEvidently shooting George Strait from this angle and distance is OK.​Rocks Off does our best to shield our readers from all the red tape we have to go through in order to bring you a steady stream of concert reviews. For one thing, it's pretty boring - a bunch of emails and relea ... More >>

Shot In The Dark: How The Whole Mess Started

Mark C. AustinKings of Leon at Verizon Wireless Theater, October 2008​Just a couple of days now before Rocks Off - the person and the blog - proudly presents Shot In the Dark: Houston Press Concert Photography, our first-ever exhibit of live pics we've collected in about three and a half years ... More >>

Pop Rocks: R.E.M. - Talking About The Passion

So terribly, terribly young.​News of R.E.M.'s demise yesterday wasn't so much greatly exaggerated as it was endlessly propagated. I follow less than 100 people on Twitter and I'd conservatively estimate 500 of them made some mention of it. Quite a reaction to what has to be one of the most und ... More >>

Pop Rocks: R.E.M. -- They Got There From Here

So terribly, terribly young.​News of R.E.M.'s demise yesterday wasn't so much greatly exaggerated as it was endlessly propagated. I follow less than 100 people on Twitter and I'd conservatively estimate 500 of them made some mention of it. Quite a reaction to what has to be one of the most und ... More >>

French Onion Soup & Deathbugs: Our Nine Musical Turkeys Of 2011

Photo By Marc Brubaker and Monica Fuentes​Danzig Shame on us for thinking that a Danzig show would go off without a hitch, and infinite shame on Glenn Danzig for the debacle that was his "appearance" at Fun Fun Fun Fest in Austin. We will never look at French onion soup ever again without bel ... More >>

From The Sky Down: U2's "Bittersweet Song Of Disunity"

​What was the last great U2 album? Now, before you go and get your snotty Henry Rollins quotes lined up, recall that there was a period in the mid- to late 1980s when the Dublin foursome were both the biggest and most critically acclaimed band on the planet before veering off into sonic exper ... More >>