2 Hawaiian Falls in Fort Worth area join Ripley’s family

Labor Day weekend is often a chance for people to get away one last time for the summer before work and school take over, but those who stay home will be rewarded with a lot of great events in and around Fort Worth. That includes a whopping eight concerts, three local theater productions, and the end of three completely different types of exhibitions.

Photo courtesy of The Weeknd

Below are the best ways to spend your free time this weekend. If you want more options, check out the calendar for an even longer list of the city’s best events.

Thursday, August 28

Mid-Cities Arts Collective presents Give My Regards to Broadway
Give My Regards to Broadway combines the greatest show tunes of George M. Cohan with a sparkling story, making for a charming, toe-tapping musical. The Cohan songs are among his most memorable, including “Give My Regards to Broadway,” “You’re A Grand Old Flag,” “When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again,” and more. The youth production from Mid-Cities Arts Collective runs through September 13 at Platinum Music Complex in North Richland Hills.

The Weeknd in concert
Enigmatic singer The Weeknd has a style that’s all his own, putting a spin on R&B and pop music that sounds like almost nothing else out there. That uniqueness has translated into a degree of popularity that few other artists enjoy, with each of his six albums – including his most recent, Hurry Up Tomorrow – landing at either No. 1 or No. 2 on the Billboard 200. He also headlined the halftime show at Super Bowl LV in 2021. He’ll play the second of two shows at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, joined by Playboi Carti and Mike Dean.

Shinedown in concert
Rock band Shinedown has been recording music for over 20 years, putting together a steady-if-unspectacular career that’s featured five top 10 albums on the Billboard 200 chart, most recently Planet Zero in 2022. At this concert at Dickies Arena, they’ll be joined by an even longer-tenured rock band, Bush, as well as up-and-coming country star Morgan Wade.

Stage West Theatre presents Fat Ham
Juicy’s got a lot on his plate – his mom just married his uncle. All he wants is to make his own way as a queer Black man in a Southern family. But here’s the rub – his father’s ghost just turned up at a backyard barbecue demanding vengeance. In this reinvention of Shakespeare’s masterpiece, a young man vows to break the cycles of violence in service of his own liberation and joy. The production runs through September 15 at Stage West.

Friday, August 29

Theatre Denton presents Native Gardens
Native Gardens is a clever comedy where neighbors clash over their gardens and culture differences, leading to a border dispute and a war of class, privilege, and entitlement. The production runs through September 7 at Theatre Denton.

Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra presents Windborne’s The Music of Queen
Queen unapologetically rocked their way from the UK in the 1970s. With their unique sound, they helped shape what it means to be a rock band. Vocalist MiG Ayesa will bring the legendary energy of Freddie Mercury to the stage with the music of Queen’s chart-topping hits and enduring albums, backed by the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra. There will be performances on Friday and Saturday at Bass Performance Hall.

Jason Boland and the Stragglers in concert
Members of the Red Dirt/Texas Country genre, Jason Boland & The Stragglers are actually a product of Oklahoma, having gotten their start when Boland and drummer Brad Rice met at Oklahoma State University. But they’ve proved their Texas bona fides since then, with one of their albums named Live and Lit at Billy Bob’s Texas. They’ll play at Billy Bob’s Texas in support of their new album, The Last Kings of Babylon.

Saturday, August 30

Sam Riggs in concert
Country singer Sam Riggs is the definition of persistent. After moving to Austin from his native Florida in 2007, it took him six years to release his first album in 2013, which saw one of its songs featured on the TV show Nashville and earned Riggs the Artist of the Year award from the Texas Music Awards. Ten years later, however, Riggs has only released one more album – 2016’s Breathless – yet he’s still out there trying to live his music dream. He’ll play at Tannahill’s Tavern & Music Hall.