Lubbock this week: Tanner Usrey, Aaron Lewis and more

Five shows, three rooms and one very big Friday night out on U.S. 87: here's how Lubbock's week of Nov 2 shakes out.

It's a short list this week, five shows in all, but it covers most of what Lubbock does well: a country headliner on a field-sized lot at the south edge of town, two seated nights in the downtown hall named for the city's most famous son, and a pair of sweaty ones at Jake's Backroom. Here's the week of Nov 2, night by night.

Wednesday, Nov 4 — Aaron Lewis, DeVitt Jones Theater at The Buddy Holly Hall, 7pm. The week opens quiet and seated: Lewis brings his acoustic tour to the big room downtown. Tickets go through eTix.

Thursday, Nov 5 — Pop Evil, Jake's Backroom & Sports Cafe, 8pm. The loudest night of the week lands in a 450-capacity room, which is about as close as you'll get to a rock band this size. $25–$29 via Tixr.

Friday, Nov 6 — Tanner Usrey, Cook's Garage, 8pm. The week's main event, and the one to plan around. Details and tickets are on Cook's Garage's site.

Saturday, Nov 7 — Jay Webb with Caitlynne Curtis, Jake's Backroom & Sports Cafe, 7pm. Webb's Homesick Tour comes through the Backroom with Curtis opening. $20–$24 via Tixr.

Saturday, Nov 7 — Zach Williams with Cochren & Co. and Christian Hohn, DeVitt Jones Theater at The Buddy Holly Hall, 7pm. Same start time, opposite end of the spectrum: Williams' Revival Nights tour takes the downtown stage. Tickets via eTix.

If you only go out once, make it Friday. Cook's Garage sits out where U.S. 87 meets 114th Street, and it didn't start life as a concert venue. The Cook family opened it in 2017, and the music grew out of a restaurant that offered a side of live sets, on a lot that had held a warehouse for the family's business, as Lubbock Lights has told it. These days it hosts concerts, car shows and rodeos, and Visit Lubbock notes it has drawn a sellout crowd of 10,000 for William Clark Green's Cotton Fest. Anyone who's been knows the other draw: the walls of vintage gas station signs, which are half the reason people show up early.

Cook's Garage didn't start life as a concert venue; the music grew out of a restaurant with a side of live sets.

The other room doing double duty this week is newer. The Buddy Holly Hall of Performing Arts and Sciences opened downtown in 2021 at 1300 Mac Davis Lane, according to its Wikipedia entry, and the main stage, the Helen DeVitt Jones Theater, is named for the late local philanthropist and arts champion. The architects at Diamond Schmitt put the main theater at 2,297 seats (Canadian Architect); the building also holds the smaller Crickets Theater, a nod Lubbock doesn't need explained. Two shows there this week, both at 7pm, means downtown parking will be busier than usual on Saturday.

Jake's Backroom is the counterweight to both: a 450-capacity room where a Thursday rock show and a Saturday country one each get to feel bigger than the room. If the Holly Hall is where Lubbock dresses up and Cook's Garage is where it turns out in thousands, the Backroom is where it stands close to the stage.

It's a lean week on paper, but it's a well-spread one: something seated, something loud, and one Friday that'll have the south side of town lit up with neon. Pick your night, and get there early enough to read the signs.

Sources: How Cook's Garage grew from restaurant with music on the side to huge concert space (Lubbock Lights) (lubbocklights.com); Visit Lubbock: Cook's Garage (visitlubbock.org); Buddy Holly Hall of Performing Arts and Sciences (Wikipedia) (en.wikipedia.org); Diamond Schmitt Completes The Buddy Holly Hall in Texas (Canadian Architect) (canadianarchitect.com); Visit Lubbock: The Buddy Holly Hall of Performing Arts and Sciences (visitlubbock.org); Cook's Garage (cooksgarage.us); Aaron Lewis tickets (eTix) (etix.com); Pop Evil tickets (Tixr) (tixr.com); Jay Webb tickets (Tixr) (tixr.com); Zach Williams tickets (eTix) (etix.com)