Austin Meade brings 'Almost Famous' to the Cotillion on Dec 11

The Texas singer, leaning harder into rock with every record, plays Wichita's domed "Round Mound of Sound" on Friday, Dec 11, with Dylan Marlowe.

There is no mistaking the Cotillion from Kellogg — the dome makes the introduction. On the second Friday of December, it gets a Texas singer who has been leaning harder into rock with every record.

Austin Meade plays the Cotillion Ballroom in Wichita on Friday, Dec 11, at 8 p.m., with Dylan Marlowe on the bill. The show was announced Oct 26, and tickets are on sale through Etix. It lands two weeks before Christmas, which makes it an easy gift if you know a fan.

Meade comes in behind *Almost Famous*, the record Rolling Stone framed as more Texas rock than country and called his sixth studio album. Antimusic, announcing a new run of dates in January, described it as his most personal and fully realized album to date. That January announcement opened a 2026 of touring through Texas, the Midwest, the East Coast and Canada, per Antimusic; his Wikipedia entry covers the career behind it. A December stop in Wichita comes near the end of that year on the road.

Dylan Marlowe shares the bill. He has headlined runs of his own, including the Did We Just Become Best Friends Tour he co-led with Conner Smith, as MusicRow reported. Pairing his country with Meade's heavier edge makes for a bill that covers a lot of ground in one night.

The dome makes the introduction.

The Cotillion has seen nights like this for a long time. It opened on Dec. 7, 1960, built by a group of local investors and designed by architect Robert T. Morris, according to Wikipedia. The 28,500-square-foot domed building at 11120 W. Kellogg earned the nickname the "Round Mound of Sound," and it holds about 2,000 for concerts. Over the decades it has hosted big band swing, country, heavy metal and hip-hop — and, less predictably, cat shows and cattle auctions. Richard and Catherine Leslie sold it in 2018 to Adam Hartke, Alex Thomas and partners, and in 2024 the ballroom was inducted into the Kansas Music Hall of Fame, as KMUW reported.

That is a lot of history under one dome, and a good stage for a singer whose records keep getting louder.

Grab tickets and give Dec 11 to the dome. It comes four days after the Cotillion's 66th birthday.

Sources: Austin Meade Is More Texas Rock Than Country on New Album ‘Almost Famous’ — Rolling Stone (rollingstone.com); Austin Meade announces new run of tour dates — Antimusic (musicpressbox.antimusic.com); Austin Meade — Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org); Dylan Marlowe, Conner Smith team for new Did We Just Become Best Friends Tour — MusicRow (musicrow.com); Cotillion Ballroom — Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org); The Cotillion Ballroom inducted into Kansas Music Hall of Fame — KMUW (kmuw.org); Austin Meade x Dylan Marlowe — Etix (etix.prf.hn)