Shaboozey Brings an Outlaw Party to Dallas’ South Side Ballroom
Written and Captured By | Agnieszka Mojsiewicz
There are concerts where you know exactly what kind of crowd you are walking into. Then there are shows that make you look around the room and wonder, Who exactly is a Shaboozey fan?
On September 12th at South Side Ballroom in Dallas, the answer seemed to be: pretty much everyone.
Before Shaboozey took the stage, Brittney Spencer opened the night with a wonderfully intimate performance. Dressed in a leopard-print dress with a flower-adorned acoustic guitar in hand, Spencer looked every bit as captivating as she sounded. Shimmery green eyeshadow caught the stage lights while a fan blew through her hair, giving the whole set an effortless glamour.
Backed by bass and electric guitar, Spencer moved through her originals before offering a stunning rendition of “Killing Me Softly With His Song,” made famous by the Fugees. Her vocals were easily one of the first major moments of the night.
Spencer is generally placed under the country umbrella, but even in a short opening set, that label felt a little too small for what she was doing. Her voice moved comfortably through different sounds and influences without ever feeling forced. She is an artist on the rise, and one who deserves plenty of room to grow within the music industry.
Then it was time for Shaboozey. This was about the point when I really started paying attention to the crowd.
Concerts are one of my favorite places to people watch. As a human existing in the world, I like learning about people, and there may be no better little social experiment than putting thousands of strangers in a room because they all love the same artist.
So, what does a Shaboozey crowd look like?
Kids. Older couples. Cowboy hats and boots. People dressed head to toe country. Others who looked like they had simply decided to have a casual Saturday night out.
And somehow, the second Shaboozey appeared, none of those differences mattered anymore.
He emerged through a desert-themed set of cowboys and cacti under bright red lights, surrounded by enough theatrical smoke to make the room feel appropriately dusty and outlaw-ish. As a photographer, smoke and I have a complicated relationship. As a concertgoer, though? It looked pretty great.
He opened with “Til Sunday” from his newest album, The Outlaw Cherie Lee & Other Western Tales, before moving into “High Noon.” By the end of the second song, Shaboozey was already grinning, celebrating with the crowd and taking a swig straight from a bottle of Jack Daniel’s.
The room felt country in the best possible way. Loose. Friendly. A little rowdy without being obnoxious. People were polite to one another while also clearly waiting for an excuse to dance. There was a kind of freedom in the room, like everyone had collectively decided they were going to have a good night and nobody was interested in getting in the way of that.
About a third of the way through the show, Shaboozey brought Brittney Spencer back to the stage for a duet. The two sang together sweetly and with obvious joy, and the crowd welcomed Spencer back like she had never left. Her vocals had clearly made an impression during her opening set.
Then Dallas got another surprise.
Shaboozey introduced Leon Bridges.
The room absolutely erupted.
Together, they performed “Texas Sun,” a song that could hardly have found a better time or place than a Texas crowd on a warm September night. It was one of those moments when I briefly forgot I was supposed to be working. There were notes to take. Photos to make. And instead, for a second, I just watched.
Later came “Cowgirl,” and suddenly people around me started subtly creating extra space.
An inch here. A couple inches there.
It was line-dance time.
“Cowgirl” has already found a life beyond the album through an accompanying dance trend, something Shaboozey himself has encouraged online. Watching that translate into a packed Dallas ballroom was ridiculously fun. The crowd had been waiting for its moment, and now boots were moving.
As the night began winding down, something interesting happened. Nobody was heading for the exits.
Instead, people started going back to the bar.
They knew.
I knew.
It was time to get “Tipsy”.
“A Bar Song (Tipsy)” is the record that introduced Shaboozey to an enormous new audience, but hearing it in a room like this makes it easier to understand why the song connected so widely. Parents had brought their kids. Cowboys stood beside couples old enough to remember entirely different eras of country music. Somewhere inside one song was a little bit of nostalgia, a little bit of party music and a very simple invitation for everybody to join in. And everybody did.
Shaboozey smiled from ear to ear as South Side Ballroom shouted it back at him. For a few minutes, it seemed like he didn’t particularly want to leave either.
I usually come to these shows with a job to do. Photograph the concert. Take notes. Practice finding the words afterward that might explain what being in the room actually felt like.
This time, I ended the night standing in the merch line. With a Shaboozey T-shirt eventually in tow, I walked out of South Side Ballroom energized, refreshed and, more than anything, pleasantly surprised. A room full of children, couples, cowboys, casual fans and everyone in between had spent the night dancing together, being kind to each other and enjoying some new-age country music. Apparently, that is what a Shaboozey crowd looks like. And I’m glad I got to be part of it.
