Billy Joel

March 9/ARLINGTON – 7 p.m. at the AT&T Stadium with guest Stevie Nicks. Joel has long been established as one of the top-grossing touring artists in the U.S. and has sold more than 150 million records over the course his four-decade career. After recording a long string of hits including “Piano Man,” “New York State of Mind,” “Just the Way You Are,” “You May Be Right,” “Pressure,” “Uptown Girl,” “We Didn’t Start the Fire,” and “The River of Dreams,” Joel decided that he was done writing pop and rock songs. It’s a decision he’s stuck with; it’s been more than 20 years since he’s recorded a new pop or rock album. He’s composed new classical material instead, while continuing to play songs from his catalog in concert. Tickets are available on Ticketmaster.

Gary Allan

March 12/AUSTIN – 7 p.m. at the ProRodeo Austin. Tickets are $49 and up. They are available on Ticketmaster.  “I ain’t really happy,” sings Gary Allan on “Get Off on the Pain,” the down-home masterstroke that begins and provides the name for his new MCA Nashville collection, “until the sky starts driving rain.” Unhesitatingly frank, mercilessly guitar-crazed, it’s the rocked-out country confession of a smart guy drawn to what the rest of the world calls wrong roads and long shots, or complains of as aching bones and stubbornness, or — as Allan sings in a spectacular stretch of drawn-out soulful vowels — underestimates as dark horses. And as the California-born superstar releases his eighth studio album, it’s about the most Gary Allan piece anyone could imagine.