Event Type

Search More

Locations

Trees

2709 Elm St. Dallas, TX 75226-1425 | Downtown & Deep Ellum | 214-741-1122

Location Description:

This is the place where all Dallas rock music fans have been at one time in their lives. Visiting Trees is like a rite-of-passage for area high-school seniors, who have assured their parents that they're safe and sound at a friend's house. It's a place with great history and legend, like Kurt Cobain's infamous fight with a bouncer, and many ear-splitting performances from The Flaming Lips. In recent years Trees shut down and reopened with the help of new management. A fresh coat of paint and some remodeling around the bar has the once ramshackle operation looking as sleek as any ultra-lounge in town. A trip to Trees is a history lesson--plus you get to hear some great local and national bands.


Related Stories (84)

Upcoming Events

Related Stories

  • DC9 At Night: Last Night
    Charli XCX Trees, Dallas Saturday, October 18, 2014 Charli XCX's tour trucks are humming outside of Trees. The trucks are heavy duty and pack enough artillery for a pop star, or at least...
  • DC9 At Night: Interviews
    The lines "M-A-R-S. Mars, bitches," declare what The Outfit, TX, are shooting for with their current project. It'd be easy to chalk up the reference to the group's characteristic "cooly...
  • DC9 At Night: DC9 at Night
    Howdy, folks. The best thing that's gonna happen this month is the one and only State Fair of Texas. It's in your best interest to head on down to Fair Park and daze at the 55 foot...
  • DC9 At Night: Columns
    At some point in the career of a band, the members of the group reach an impasse with their relationship and go their separate ways. Of course, there's always money to be made, so the...
  • DC9 At Night: Interviews
    In North Texas, Ride for Dime is the best of the best for metal gigs. It's an event that not only showcases a lineup of killer metal bands at two of the top venues -- Trees and The Rail Club...
  • DC9 At Night: Local Music
    We'll give AraabMuzik this much: At least he didn't wait till the fans were already inside the door at Trees to cancel his concert. (Sorry, Young Thug, but not sorry.) In all seriousness,...
  • DC9 At Night: Local Music
    Growing old means letting go. Love fades and friends move away. The people closest to you -- mothers, fathers, grandparents, brothers and sisters, the whole nine -- they depart this earth....
  • DC9 At Night: Local Music
    Everybody has a story about Trees. It could be about one of the legendary punk shows from Deep Ellum's quote-unquote golden years. It could be about Kurt Cobain. Or it could be from any...
  • DC9 At Night: Feature Stories
    As far as album-release parties go, Goodnight Ned are about to put themselves in a class of their own. The Dallas band isn't pulling out any stops, with plans to have clowns, fortune...
  • DC9 At Night: Last Night
    The Antlers With Thus Owls Trees, Dallas Saturday, July 19, 2014 I was more than a little shocked when I walked in to Trees on Saturday night. Call me stupid, but my expectation was a...
  • DC9 At Night: Last Night
    Curren$y With DJ Fat Tony Trees, Dallas Tuesday, July 8, 2014 Last night red and blue lights lit the hazy stage at Trees, and the smell of incense was in the air with the attempt to cover...
  • DC9 At Night: Last Night
    Wye Oak With Pattern is Movement Trees, Dallas Saturday, July 5, 2014 About a quarter of the way through Wye Oak's set at Trees on Saturday night, a mother led her three children through...
  • DC9 At Night: DC9 at Night
    Say hello to July, everyone. While we've been taking special care to celebrate the wide bevy of versatile shows to visit the DFW in the past six months, it's been important that we highlight...
  • DC9 At Night: Last Night
    It sounds like cathedral music at first. Then, like modern classical. A drone of swinging chimes and rumbling gong is Swans' overture. Each tone is so exactly measured that, initially, it...
  • DC9 At Night: DC9 at Night
    Reverend Horton Heat is one of Dallas' gems. The stage name of artist Jim Heath (as well as the moniker of his backing band), Rev. Horton Heat is arguably the most recognizable psychobilly...
  • Calendar: Highlights
    For your sake and the sake of your family, it’s best that you decompress before daring to spend an extended amount of time with them, gathered around turkey and sides for a dinner...
  • DC9 At Night: Interviews
    To many, Connecticut's Fates Warning is the first progressive metal act. Started in 1983, the band has gone through a dizzying array of member changes including replacing original lead...
  • DC9 At Night: Last Night
    Red Bull and Trees hosted the Mountain South Regional Finals of the Thre3Style DJ competition on Saturday, February 23, 2013. Five of the region's most talented DJ stars assembled in a...
  • DC9 At Night: Last Night
    Here was my reaction after 30 seconds of Googling Metalachi: "I have to see this live. It's like my childhood and teenage years got together to blow my whole world asunder." Metalachi...
  • DC9 At Night: My First Show
    Erika Wennerstrom and her fantastic band, Heartless Bastards, return to Dallas on Saturday night. In preview of their show at Trees, Wennerstrom shed some light on her (lack of) formal...
  • Calendar: Highlights
    Hey guys, have you ever been dragged to a traditional performance of The Nutcracker? How was it? Did you find yourself checking your phone for Mavs highlights or silent suicide techniques?...
  • DC9 At Night: Interviews
    Even without considering his most recent band, OFF!, Keith Morris' punk rock credentials would be secure. Best known as the original singer for Black Flag and the founding member of the...
  • Music: Show Preview
    Billed as "an acoustic collaborative event," this year's edition of The Revival Tour features Chuck Ragan, Tom Gabel, Dan Andriano and Cory Branan. Definitely not a situation where open G, C...
  • Music: Columns
    For Lucero's Ben Nichols, the development of his band's sound has been a matter of mere evolution, not a purposeful attempt to piss off longtime fans who wish they would play the same songs...
  • Music: Show Preview
    Of Montreal's Keven Barnes has gone through one of the most fascinating evolutions of any pop songwriter in the past two decades. Starting with 1999's The Gay Parade and continuing with last...
  • Music: Show Preview
    Mississippi's Big K.R.I.T. hasn't always been such a man of mystery. His acclaimed mixtapes have been available for free and he's vying for valedictorian of the current DIY, next-big-thing...
  • DC9 At Night: Interviews
    Even after more than 20 years in the music business, Ronan Harris of VNV Nation still rambles on like a kid half his age. Enthusiastic and confident in the extreme, Harris believes...
  • DC9 At Night: Interviews
    Are people still using PlayStations? If the brand is looking for a charming accomplishment via their product, they need look no further than Big K.R.I.T. As a resourceful teenager, Justin...
  • Music: Show Preview
    Michael Wayne Atha, better known as Yelawolf, the Alabama-born skater-turned-rapper, is navigating an interesting path in the current class of hip-hop all-stars. A quick cameo on Missy...
  • Music: Feature
    The unofficial turning point for local hip-hop came with the late 2009 release of Sore Losers' Free Loaders, a free mixtape that gave Dallas artists like The Mohicans, A.Dd+, Tunk and -topic...
  • DC9 At Night: Interviews
    Corey Taylor is one busy dude. Not only does the guy front two metal bands, Slipknot and Stone Sour, but Taylor somehow founds time to write an autobiography and do a quick stint as a...
  • Calendar: Highlights
    You may remember him from his aborted run for the 2008 Libertarian presidential nomination, from his fight-provoking confrontational 2004 Austin set when he followed the political bombast of...
  • City of Ate: Beer
    Comedian Doug Stanhope, who performs tonight at Trees, seldom ventures onstage without a drink. Usually it's a beer. As anti-establishment as he comes off in his act, you might think he...
  • The Mixmaster: Q&A
    You may remember him from his aborted run for the 2008 Libertarian presidential nomination, from his fight-provoking confrontational 2004 Austin set when he followed the political bombast of...
  • DC9 At Night: Interviews
    In various incarnations over the course of three decades, New Jersey's The Misfits have made a mark in the history of punk rock. Starting way back in 1977, singer Glenn Danzig and bassist...
  • DC9 At Night: Last Night
    We Were Promised Jetpacks, Royal Bangs, Bear Hands Trees November 5 Better than: feeling the 5.6 earthquake and wondering how the hell an earthquake could happen here. Glasgow's We Were...
  • Music: Columns
    There is never a convenient time to get cancer. It doesn't matter what age you are or where you are in life; no one wants this roadblock. And, worse, when it comes to lymphoma, it can happen...
  • DC9 At Night: My First Show
    Scotland's We Were Promised Jetpacks triumphantly return to the DFW area this week, headlining at Trees on Saturday. As evidenced by their newly-released record, In the Pit of the Stomach,...
  • DC9 At Night: Interviews
    As much of a performance art group as a regular rock band, San Francisco's Beats Antique began as backing musicians on an album of belly dancing music. So impressed was lead dancer Zoe...
  • Music: Featured Stories
    For years, Deep Ellum sat vacant. By the late '70s, the neighborhood that had once served as the playground for blues icons of the early 20th century — Blind Lemon Jefferson, Lead...
  • DC9 At Night: Interviews
    Minneapolis' After the Burial plays a brand of progressive metal that is technically impressive and catastrophically heavy. They're somewhat self-destructive, too: The band has been around...
  • Music: Feature
    Although it was October, the weather was unseasonably warm and humid. Inside Trees, the air conditioner that was set on high was having little effect. As the sold-out crowd made its way into...
  • DC9 At Night: Last Night
    Agnostic Front, The Hoodrats, The Mongoloids, Naysayer, Powertrip Trees September 18th, 2011 Better than: driving home hungover, sunburnt, and dehydrated from a long weekend at ACL.If...
  • DC9 At Night: Interviews
    For over 25 years, Roger Miret has been the rough-hewed mouthpiece for New York's Agnostic Front. In that time, his band has become one of the landmark hardcore/metal outfits, releasing...
  • Music: Show Preview
    Though hardcore never completely disappeared, it spent plenty of time in the wilderness before its resurgence the last half-dozen years. The same might be said of Agnostic Front, bellwether...
  • DC9 At Night: Interviews
    Last week, Hank Williams III released four CDs of new music -- songs that he had written over the span of six months. Sure, a lot of the ideas have been percolating in Williams' brain...
  • Calendar: Highlights
    James Dean, the epitome of '50s cool, raced cars -- a hobby that led to his death. Dean had a soft spot for the Porsche Spyder -- one shared his nickname "Little Bastard" -- which had a...
  • DC9 At Night: Last Night
    Trae Tha Truth, JMack, Big HudTreesAugust 13, 2011Better than: trying to act like Dallas has a hip-hop pedigree to compete with Houston.? There wasn't much of a build-up to Trae The Truth's...
  • DC9 At Night: Last Night
    C.J.Ramone, HoodratTreesJuly, 15, 2011Better than: most tribute acts in which a member of the original band performs that band's songs with a new backing band (we're looking at you, Axl)What...
  • DC9 At Night: Show Reviews
    Ishi, The Burning Hotels, Air ReviewTreesJune 24, 2011Better than: Twitter beef.?In usual fashion, Dallas came out on Friday night to dance. It's just what's happened around these part for...
  • Music: Show Preview
    When early-'90s grunge hit the market, it sounded the death knell for the good-time party that was hair metal. L.A. hairspray act Faster Pussycat saw this much firsthand: "One minute you're...
  • Music: Show Preview
    Smell that? It might be the scent of your roommate's fifth bong rip today. It could also just be Curren$y's tour bus nearing the Texas state line. As if you didn't already know that rap...
  • DC9 At Night: Last Night
    A-Trak, Kid Sister, The Gaslamp KillerTreesApril 19, 2011Better than: a rousing game of DJ Hero.? There weren't any grand entrances at Trees last night. Mostly, there were just...
  • Music: Show Preview
    From earning the title of DMC's world champion DJ in 1997 at the age of 15 to serving as Kanye West's personal DJ when the Chicago rapper broke into the mainstream to his titles of producer...
  • Music: Feature
    It was a familiar springtime scene in Deep Ellum last weekend, with Main Street blocked off and big stages erected at either end of the Deep Ellum Arts Fest. But the acts booked to play...
  • DC9 At Night: Last Night
    Big K.R.I.T., Freddie Gibbs and A.Dd+Trees April 2, 2011Better Than: Staying at home on a Saturday night??The headlining performers on Saturday night's bill at Trees were supposed to be big...
  • Music: Show Preview
    With his deep-voiced delivery, rough-hewn honesty and laid-back swagger, rapper Freddie Gibbs offers the perfect amalgam of his Midwest roots and latter-day L.A. residence. As Gibbs' single...
  • DC9 At Night: Interviews
    From 1982 to 1991, there probably wasn't a more interesting metal act than California's Death Angel. Not only did the band consist of five Filipinos, but they didn't stick to any standard...
  • Music: Show Preview
    Guitarist George Lynch auditioned for Ozzy Osbourne before hooking up with Don Dokken to form Dokken in 1980. Throughout that decade, the band's output was lumped in with the kind of...
  • DC9 At Night: Last Night
    Against Me!, Cheap Girls, FencesTreesJanuary 24, 2011Better than: seeing some lo-fi band that thinks it's punk rock.?The easiest way to describe the 80-minute onslaught Against Me! offered...
  • DC9 At Night: Interviews
    Fences is an indie pop outfit masterminded by Christopher Mansfield, an intense 27-year-old who now calls Seattle his home. Originally from Boston, Mansfield has the look of a scrawny punk,...
  • Music: Reviews/Previews
    Tom Gabel, frontman for Jacksonville, Florida, punk four-piece Against Me!, has never been scared to speak his mind. He made that much very clear when his band's fans cried foul upon the...
  • Music: Show Preview
    For a primer on the power of golden-age hip-hop, meet Chicago's Cool Kids, Exhibit A. The signifiers are everywhere you listen. There's the Detroit Pistons "Bad Boys" Starter cap, lovingly...
  • Music: Show Preview
    More than a decade has passed since Hagfish released what would turn out to be their final record (1999's self-titled affair). Tack on another five years to that total and you'll arrive at...
  • Music: Show Preview
    Adept at both production and turntablism, Gaslamp Killer—known for many years as the Motherfucking Gaslamp Killer (he's since dropped the Oedipal reference)—is as new-school as...
  • DC9 At Night: Last Night
    Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, GrassfightTreesOctober 24, 2010Better than: hanging onto what was left of my hearing.?"Spread your love like a fever." Black Rebel Motorcycle Club pretty...
  • Music: Feature
    Deep Ellum was on fire on Saturday. And, no, that's not some sort of lame-ass reference to the heat (which, let's be honest, was fairly oppressive). Rather, it's a lame-ass reference to the...
  • Music: Reviews/Previews
    Lightning Bolt is a two-piece band from Providence, Rhode Island, and in the past 12 years, Brian Chippendale (drums) and Brian Gibson (guitar) have released four chaotic, spazzy art-metal...
  • Music: Show Preview
    Rugged and shouty, the Savannah, Georgia, trio Black Tusk is bent on playing metal that plows blindly ahead instead of plodding atmospherically along. Years of demos and other self-released...
  • Music: Show Preview
    Trees, once hailed as one of the meccas of Dallas live performance, has yet to return to its former position of glory in its latest incarnation. But Friday night's Rusko show, brought to you...
  • News: Columns
    Picky: This is the trouble with Dallas: nitpickers. Whenever the city begins to make some progress, out they come with the complaints. Take the city's decision to go ahead with plans to...
  • Music: Show Preview
    With his soaring voice and arena-rock fluency, Todd Rundgren seemed destined for hit-after-hit superstardom when he released his third album, the entirely self-recorded Something/Anything,...
  • Music: Feature
    For the first time in some 15 years—and, more than likely, for the final time ever—the Buck Pets will play Trees on Saturday night. This comes as a surprise to many, chiefly...
  • Music: Show Preview
    The New York City hardcore legends of Agnostic Front definitely still bring it: They're still as loud and confrontational as always, even with their wrinkles, gray hair and degenerating...
  • Music: Show Preview
    Seems we're smack dab in the midst of a folk-rock revival around these parts—yup, again, I know. But it's undeniable, really: Between the four acts on this bill and many, many others...
  • Music: Show Preview
    2008 saw The Toadies triumphantly return to the music world with the release of its surprisingly still-in-form No Deliverance. 2009, meanwhile, saw even more successes from the band as it...
  • News: Featured Stories
    On a windswept rise in southwest Dallas, Frank Bracken squints into the late-afternoon sun and sweeps his wiry, flannel-clad arm across the empty expanse of chalky white caliche. This ridge...
  • Music: Column
    The only time I wear a suit is to attend a wedding or funeral. I suppose, then, my arrival at the Chapter 11 bankruptcy hearing on Wednesday, December 28, didn't bode well for the...
  • Music: Feature
    Well, Belmor Corp., Trees is all yours again. After going two months without paying rent for the building at 2709 Elm St., the Entertainment Collaborative lost its lease, which puts the keys...
  • Music: Feature
    I haven't stepped foot in Trees in several years--last time, I suspect, was when X's original line-up tore up the place, reducing it to splinters like it was 1979. I hadn't been in the...
  • Music: Feature
    Editor's note: Is Trees closing for good at the outset of 2006? As of press time, it has not been confirmed, though the answer could come even before this story reaches racks--check...
  • Music: Feature
    After months of attempting to reach an agreement, the Entertainment Collaborative, owner of Trees and Gypsy Tea Room, has finally and officially lost its lease to Trees' building. On...
  • Music: Column
    Unfortunately, Dallas music was better known for its losses than its gains this year. A few great bands faltered in 2005--Day of the Double Agent's decline was public and ugly. Denton's Skin...
  • Music: Featured Stories
    He's that guy with the crooked grin, filing away records in the corner of the store. He's giving you that sly, sideways glance, the bemused look of a kid who's found a new diversion. You...

Best of Award Recipient

Loading...