Built To Spill have been at this since 1992, and they’ve never once made it easy. Doug Martsch still leads from the guitar, still lets songs stretch past the point of comfort, still operates out of Boise like the indie world never rearranged itself around him. The September 23 date at The Echo Lounge & Music Hall puts the band in a 1,000-capacity Live Nation room in Dallas’s Design District — grand chandeliers, VIP lounge, full-service bar. It’s a glossier frame than you’d expect for a band that’s been resolutely unglamorous for three decades, but Martsch doesn’t seem to care much about frames.
About Built To Spill
The most recent album, When the Wind Forgets Your Name (2022), brought a rebuilt rhythm section — Melanie Radford on bass and Teresa Esguerra on drums — and landed as the trippiest BTS record in years: lean, rugged, sludgy, and psychedelic in all the ways reviewers keep reaching back to Perfect from Now On to describe. This isn’t a legacy run on catalog; Martsch is still making records that matter. Live, that translates to extended jams, songs that stretch past their studio shapes, and covers that can eat fifteen minutes before the night is half done.
Opening the show is Paul Schalda, a Dallas-based troubadour with a genuine connection to the headliner. Schalda previously toured with Charles Bradley and met Martsch during that run — it was Perfect from Now On, specifically, that first pointed him toward the guitar and toward songwriting as a serious pursuit. A hometown opener with that kind of backstory isn’t filler. It’s the show starting early.
The Echo Lounge & Music Hall
The Echo Lounge sits at 1323 N. Stemmons Fwy in the Design District — 25,000 square feet, operated by Live Nation, with a 1,000-person capacity spread across the main floor and a mezzanine. State-of-the-art sound and lighting, a full outdoor patio, a VIP lounge. For Built To Spill’s live dynamics — the long crescendos, the improv windows — a room with real production capacity is the right call.
Tickets & Show Details
Show time is 7:00 PM on Wednesday, September 23. Tickets are available now via Ticketmaster and The Echo box office. The September 23 date is the second night of a five-city Texas run — Fort Worth the night before, then San Antonio, Austin, and Houston to follow before the leg closes in New Orleans. See all upcoming DFW shows for more.