State Fair News

2022 State Fair of Texas concert headliners include Ashanti and more

Ashanti performs October 1.

Courtesy photo

The annual State Fair of Texas has locked in 2022 concert lineup, and it's music every day with acts that include Ashanti, Trace Adkins, and the Vandoliers.

This year's fair runs from September 30 through October 23, and will feature every genre of live music, from country to R&B to Norteño to electro-pop.

Of the more than 90 performers this year, 74 artists featured across the three live music stages, including four headlining acts, hail from Texas.

The Chevrolet Main Stage
Featuring headlining and regional acts, this is the big outdoor venue with a festival-type stage and experience, located next to the Craft Pavilion, near the Hall of State.

September 30
Trace Adkins takes the stage on Friday, September 30 at 8:30 pm. Adkins has sold more than 11 million albums and charted more than 37 singles, received multiple Grammy nominations, and won several ACM and CMT awards.

October 1
Ashanti starts the celebrations for the State Fair Classic, performing on Saturday, October 1 at 4 pm. This Grmmy winner is the first female artist to occupy two positions on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart, and has sold nearly 15 million records worldwide.

Preservation Hall Jazz Band brings traditional New Orleans jazz on Saturday, October 1 at 8:30 pm. Named after Preservation Hall in the French Quarter, the band was formed by tuba player Allan Jaffe in 1961. After Jaffe passed in 1987, the band continued to tour, aiming to nurture and perpetuate the art of New Orleans jazz.

October 2
La Fiera de Ojinaga performs at 8:30 pm, combining the best components of norteño with saxophone. La Fiera de Ojinaga released their debut album in 2013 and were one of the first groups to release their music digitally. The song "Imposible y Prohibido" has become one of the most viewed videos on the official Azteca Music Group channel on YouTube.

October 4
The Chris Pérez Band rocks fairgoers on October 4 at 8:30 pm. Fronted by Grammy award-winning guitarist, songwriter, and best-selling author Chris Pérez, the group is a Latin rock band infused with English and Spanish roots who won a Grammy for their album Resurrection. Pérez dedicated his crossover hit song "Best I Can" to his wife, the late Latin superstar, Selena, who performed at the Fair in 1994.

October 5
Kraig Parker with the Royal Tribute Band and Orchestra gives two shows at 5:30 and 8:30 pm. This is the ultimate tribute to Elvis Presley in concert, starring this international award-winning artist who has sold out venues worldwide.

October 6
Mystery guest. Oooh there's a special mystery guest performing at 5:30 and 8:30 pm. Follow the Fair on social media and sign up to be a Big Tex Insider at BigTex.com/Insider to be the first to know who it is.

October 7
The Vandoliers bring their signature mix of red dirt country, rock, and Tejano to the Main Stage, playing at 5:30 and 8:30 pm. Hailing from Texas, the group started recording in 2015 and have released three albums.

October 8
Jamestown Revival takes the stage at 8:30 pm. Childhood friends-turned-folk duo Zach Chance and Jonathan Clay released their debut album, Utah, in 2014. Are they from Utah? No. They're from Texas. Since their debut, they have been featured in Rolling Stone magazine, the Wall Street Journal, and performed at major festivals across the country. Their new album, Young Man, was recorded in Fort Worth.

October 9
Lucinda Williams will showcase her poetic singer-songwriter blues sound at 8:30 pm. Her 1998 album Car Wheels on a Gravel Road was a seminal work that helped her pave her own path in the music industry, with more than 14 albums under her belt, including a new album Good Souls, Better Angels in 2021.

October 10
Le Freak will groove with two shows at 3 and 5:30 pm. A tribute act that puts the fun in funk, Le Freak thrills fans with their retro gear and their covers of 70s and 80s disco hits.

October 14
Jason Boland & The Stragglers play the Chevy Main Stage at 8:30 pm. They've toured the world as leading ambassadors for red dirt music for 20 years, have 10 albums and more than 500,000 records sold.

October 15
Fitz & The Tantrums will light up the Chevy Main Stage at 8:30 pm, the first time this indie-pop band has played the State Fair. Their major label debut More Than Just a Dream featured back-to-back Platinum-certified #1 Alternative Radio singles with "The Walker" and "Out of My League," and they've performed on ABC’s Good Morning America, NBC's Today and more national shows.

October 16
Night Ranger rocks the stage at 8:30 pm. Popular 80s hard rock band is best known for "Sister Christian," which peaked at number five on the Billboard Hot 100. They've sold more than 17 million albums worldwide.

October 21
Girl Named Tom hits the stage at 8:30 pm. Sibling trio was established in 2019, with all three siblings harmonizing to a variety of material including acoustic pop, singer-songwriter, and more. In 2021, the group competed and won NBC's The Voice, making history as the first trio to win.

October 22
Resurrection: A Journey Tribute performs their '80s throwback at 5:30 and 8:30 pm. This tribute act recreates the experience of a Journey concert during the 80s, and has performing everywhere from AT&T Park, home of the San Francisco Giants, to Royal Caribbean International cruises.

October 23
La Mafia closes out the Fair music series with a show at 3 pm. With roots in the Northside neighborhood of Houston, La Mafia is known worldwide for its pop grupero style, combining the influences of Spanish music with English rock and pop music. The group has won five Grammy awards, winning Best Mexican-American/Tejano Music Performance two years in a row in 1997 and 1998.

The Lone Star Music Series
Launched in 2019, this series aims to showcase the Texas-sized talent we have right here in our local area. Regional acts performing on the Chevrolet Main Stage this year will Brave Combo, The Powell Brothers, Peterson Brothers Band, Trevor Douglas, Rob Roy Parnell, Squeezebox Bandits, Beatlegras, Taylor Young Band, The 40 Acre Mule, Clay Melton, Retrophonics, Rathmore, Hannah Kirby, Ron Lawrence & Sazarac Jazz, No Rehearsal, and John Christopher Davis. Joining the regional acts on the Main Stage, Chevy House Party will feature a variety of popular local DJs, spinning some tunes to get the party started.

The Bud Light Stage
Located centrally in Cotton Bowl Plaza, this stage showcase local and regional talent all 24 days of the Fair, just steps away from all your fried food favorites. Notable acts include Joshua Ray Walker on Opening Day, September 30, fresh from an appearance on “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.” The first and only all-female mariachi band, Mariachi Rosas Divinas showcase their heartfelt style of mariachi on Sunday, October 2. Bree & The Fellas, a Dallas-based jazz and R&B group who will bring their smooth groove to the stage on October 21.

The Yuengling Stage
Located outside the Go Texan Pavilion, the Yuengling Stage features a Friday night comedy series, titled “Deep Fried Comedy,” along with live music throughout the week. Get ready to groove with Texan EJ Mathews on October 1. Take a trip back to early Nashville with Simon Flory on October 8. Having played together for more than 10 years, Dallas Asian Strings will serenade fairgoers with their extensive repertoire on October 12, and Claire Morales will rock the stage on October 22.

Season passes are now on sale at BigTex.com/Tickets.

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Goodbye Cruelty

Troubled SeaQuest Fort Worth aquarium at Ridgmar Mall shutters

Courtesy photo

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An aquarium at a Fort Worth mall long accused of animal cruelty has closed: SeaQuest Fort Worth, a marine-themed amusement at Ridgmar Mall, has shut its doors.

The SeaQuest Fort Worth, Texas location has removed their website, has reportedly placed a “closed to the public sign” on its door, and is now listed online as “permanently closed.”

The closing comes after PETA submitted a complaint to local authorities in August over whistleblower reports the group received from three former SeaQuest Fort Worth employees revealing that dozens of fish, including two sharks, perished at the seedy facility or during transport there.

The complaint prompted the Fort Worth Police Department to open a criminal cruelty-to-animals investigation into the disgraced mall aquarium.

“Champagne corks are popping at PETA now that this blight on beautiful Fort Worth has finally stopped exploiting animals and endangering the public,” says PETA Foundation Associate Director Molly Johnson in a release. “The SeaQuest chain is a scourge, and PETA will continue to call out its dreadful and deadly petting zoos until every location follows suit and closes.”

Prior to the closure, SeaQuest Fort Worth had racked up scores of citations under the federal Animal Welfare Act, including for failing to properly handle a sloth and a cat, both of whom bit visitors during interactions, and for a duck enclosure that was covered in feces and old food waste.

In 2019, the facility was cited for allowing dangerous handling of its animals by the public after there had been at least four incidents in which visitors were bitten or wounded at the facility.

In a January 2024 inspection, the facility was found to have numerous violations including dirty enclosures, accumulated feces, and an unsanitary food preparation area in which "the floor did not appear to have been cleaned in a very long time." A cramped enclosure for a porcupine provided little room for the porcupine to move around and wasn’t being cleaned frequently, making it impossible for the porcupine to avoid his own feces.

In March 2024, the facility ended up getting sued after a child was bitten. In August, whistleblowers reported the death of two sharks, Icarus and Achilles, who had been held in a tank too small for them, with poor water quality. The stress of their confinement affected them so severely that they stopped eating and died in May and June.

In response to the news, Humane Society of the United States state director Alex Gamez applauded the closure, stating, “another SeaQuest closing its doors is welcome news for the Humane Society of the United States, and we urge them to send all the animals neglected in their care to accredited sanctuaries, rather than to other SeaQuest locations or similar attractions."

"The horrific mall-based wild animal petting zoos are plagued with animal deaths, injured children and adults, and more than 100 federal Animal Welfare Act violations over the last five years, including most recently when customers were bitten by a sloth and Bengal cat during public interactions," Gamez said.

Unfortunately, SeaQuest is not the only facility of its kind, as there are hundreds of other places like it all over the country.

"While this may be the end of this SeaQuest location, we hope that the mall doesn’t allow another petting zoo to move into the space," Gamez said. "We urge the Ridgmar Mall and other shopping centers across the country to strongly reconsider ever hosting these cruel, inhumane exhibitions where animals are confined with no access to fresh air, sunlight or proper care, and are forced into stressful, inappropriate interactions with the public, day after day.”

SeaQuest CEO Vince Covino quit the beleaguered chain in August. Following pressure from the group, the chain's locations in Colorado, Connecticut, and Georgia have all closed. PETA has also helped stop SeaQuest from opening facilities in Florida, New York, and North Dakota.

In PETA’s campaign against SeaQuest Fort Worth, the group erected two sky-high billboards minutes from the facility, urging viewers to stay away — noting that sharks use between eight and 13 senses (way more than humans); that fish feel pain and have long memories; and that female ducks pick male ducks to mate with based on their dancing ability. Very human-like!

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