The Mavericks & Friends bring Raul Malo's songs to Prairie Band on Jan. 28

Without their late frontman, the Mavericks now tour with rotating guest singers. Their Thursday night in the Great Lakes Ballroom is one of the band's first 2027 dates.

The band name on the poster has changed. On Thursday, Jan. 28, 2027, the group playing Prairie Band Casino & Resort in Mayetta is billed as The Mavericks & Friends. That change says a lot about the night.

The details, from Prairie Band's own listing: 7 p.m. in the Great Lakes Ballroom, with tickets at $65 plus fees. The date was announced Oct. 14. Tickets are also listed on Ticketmaster.

Here's why the billing changed. The Mavericks' homepage now opens with a tribute: "Rest In Peace, Raul Malo. The Music Lives On." Malo was the band's frontman and its famous voice. He died in December 2025 at age 60 after a battle with cancer. Days earlier, his bandmates and more than 30 guest artists played two benefit shows at the Ryman Auditorium in his honor.

The touring band carries on that spirit. The Mavericks & Friends features Paul Deakin, Robert Reynolds, Eddie Perez and Jerry Dale McFadden, with rotating guest vocalists singing the songs. The band's site and the venue haven't said who will sing in Mayetta, so expect to find out at the show.

The songs are still here. On this tour, different friends sing them each night.

For Topeka-area fans, this is the closest the band gets on its early-2027 run. It also tests what a band can be without its singer. The Mavericks always ranged widely: country, Tex-Mex, rock and roll, and Latin music. Their 2024 album *Moon & Stars* came out on the band's own Mono Mundo Recordings. With different singers taking turns, the set could lean into that range in a way a single voice never quite did.

The room fits the show. Prairie Band Casino & Resort is owned by the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation, and the Great Lakes Ballroom books touring acts on Thursday nights through the winter. Our data puts the room at about 1,100. That's small enough to see the musicians' hands on the instruments, and it's a short drive north of Topeka on a January Thursday.

Tickets: Prairie Band Casino & Resort, $65 plus fees. Thursday, Jan. 28, 2027, 7 p.m., Great Lakes Ballroom.

Come for the songs and stay for the tribute. However the guest singers handle them, people will be singing along with them.

Sources: Prairie Band Casino & Resort — Epic Entertainment (The Mavericks & Friends) (prairieband.com); The Mavericks — official site (themavericksband.com); Ticketmaster — The Mavericks tour dates (ticketmaster.com); Wikipedia — Prairie Band Casino & Resort (en.wikipedia.org); KSNT — Prairie Band Casino concerts (digital-release.ksnt.com); The Mavericks - Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org); The Mavericks played two benefit shows at the Ryman in Raul Malo's honor (americansongwriter.com)