Aly & AJ: Silver Deliverer Tour 2025 (Austin & Dallas, TX)

Coming to the end of their 2025 Silver Deliverer Tour, Aly & AJ made a few stops down south in Texas and let me tell you, I have been delivered. This year’s tour celebrates both A&A’s newest studio album “Silver Deliverer” as well as marking the twentieth anniversary of the release of their 2005 debut album “Into the Rush.”

Year after year since their 2017 comeback, the Michalka sisters have been consistently raising their own bar, not only with their music, but their stage designs and overall tour productions. As a live music photographer, I would just like to kiss their lighting director right on the mouth. Another big step up was a massive circular screen design with a wave at the bottom. We also see, on both sides of the stage, giant wing structures and a big, blue, Silver Deliverer era rug center stage. I’ve loved every stage design since becoming a fan at the end of the A Touch of the Beat era and seeing the evolution in real time is incredible.

I had the pleasure of meeting Aly & AJ during their VIP meet and greet at both the Austin and Dallas shows on 11/1 at The Paramount Theatre and 11/2 at The Studio at the Bomb Factory. I’ve met them over ten times now and have been to seventeen shows, but each time it gets better. These women are the kindest, most thoughtful and generous people I know. They are so attentive to each person they meet and have the warmest sunshine energy. For their opening show of the tour in LA, I was approved to
photograph the show but with a change in PR, it ended up being a no-go. When I walked up to them, the first thing I did was show them a carousel of photos I took of one of their favorite bands, My Morning Jacket, who have become one of my favorites. They were stunned and AJ couldn’t believe I had taken them. I explained the LA show situation and AJ stopped mid-meet & greet to go find their tour manager to get me added to the media list! After shooting the shit for a few minutes, we parted ways and I
headed downstairs to join my fandom friends.

Opening the evenings on the Silver Deliverer Tour was the insanely talented and wickedly comical Amanda Shires. If there is one thing A&A know how to do, it’s booking an opening act that their audience may not be familiar with but turn them into fans. I knew of Amanda from the supergroup The Highwomen but had not yet heard her solo music. My favorite tune she played both nights was “Friend Zone” which came with hilarious banter for intros. In Dallas, my favorite moment was when she asked the front row what their favorite movies were. I will certainly be on the lookout for a headlining show from Shires in the future. Her vocals? STUNNING. Her fiddle playing? SO SICK. She’s like a dark-haired Dolly Parton when she speaks and draws you in like a siren when she sings. Be sure to stream her new album “Nobody’s Girl.”

Amanda Shires Gallery.

As Aly & AJ get set to take the stage, the lights dim and the screen on stage illuminates to show the girls backstage getting their in-ear monitors placed and ready to enter the room. The show begins with “Take Your Time,” an eerie, percussion-heavy intro with gorgeous red lighting. In Austin, I was so locked in to the side of the stage, waiting for A&A to appear, that I completely missed them coming down the aisles from the back of the venue. I heard the “woo’s” getting closer from back to front, turned around and there is Aly a mere inch away from me walking by with her signature smolder, a microphone and shaker.

The second song on the setlist each night is the title track of their newest album “Silver Deliverer.” In Austin, toward the end of the song, a string on Aly’s guitar string broke leading their guitar tech to come out and grab it from her. Like a professional, she spent the rest of the song singing like it ain’t nothin’ but a thang and went guitar-less for the entirety of “Dandelions.” A sweet moment to note for song three is the big screen showing imagery of Aly’s one-year-old son, Jack, whom the song was written about. When Aly delivers the line “I wonder if you’ll look like me,” she smiles and says a sweet “you do” before continuing the song.

The set rolls smoothly between upbeat songs like “What if Feels Like” and “Next to Nothing” from Silver Deliverer and soft, sweet songs from 2021’s A Touch of the Beat “Slow Dancing” and “Hold Out.” Fans (me) could be seen getting emotional during the transition into a beautiful outro of “No One” from “Into the Rush,” the first peek into the 20-year celebration. Keeping it slow and sweet, A&A brought Amanda Shires on stage to play fiddle while they performed “Blue Dress” from 2023’s With Love From album.
Shires stayed to play on fan-favorite “Lasso” as well, giving it just the right boost of that Americana feel especially on that ridiculously sick outro.

Reaching back into the back of their catalog, Aly & AJ performed one of their biggest hits, “Chemicals React,” and not a single audience member was still. The rowdy crowds were jumping, smiling and singing so happily along. The nostalgia was too real amongst rooms of millennial girls, gays and theys. “With Love From” was next and while they were singing, Aly’s husband/the band’s creative director, photographer,
videographer extraordinaire, Stephen was walking by taking photos. I reached my hand out to give him a high five as I usually do when I spot him at shows. He asked if I had my camera on me and when I held it up he motioned me over to get back into the photo pit! Literally the nicest dude ever. Their whole team are actually the best. I spent most of the set in the pit until the last couple songs.

About halfway through the set each night, the girls take pause to shed light on an important issue and highlight a wonderful organization that is near to their hearts. In 2022, A&A survived a mass shooting on the first night of their ATOTB Tour. For this tour, the duo put a spotlight on Everytown, an organization devoted to ending gun-violence and pushing for gun reform. Aly became overwhelmed with emotion (she mentioned in Austin she’d had a bit more to drink than usual the night before lol) as she gave a
heartwarming speech and urged fans to donate to the organization which entered them into a raffle to win a backstage meet and greet with A&A after the show. I have so much respect for these women but notably when they use their platform for good and desperately needed change in the world. After the speech, Aly & AJ perform their haunting song “Sirens” that is written about their experience with gun violence.

Aly & AJ Austin Gallery.

The girls jump right into some more upbeat songs from ATOTB including “Listen!!!,” gorgeous fan-favorite “Pretty Places” with a serious banger of an outro change, and “Don’t Need Nothing.” After introducing their band members, Andy Toy on keys, Kurtis Keber on bass, Ben Zelico on drums and Sam Stewart on guitar, A&A brought it back to the nostalgia of Into the Rush. While delivering a dynamite performance of “Rush,” Stephen scanned the barricade with his video camera, and the crowd could be seen singing and dancing their hearts out on the big screen!

Bringing it down just a little, stools were brought out to center stage where Aly & AJ performed acoustic versions of ITR’s “Something More” and “Out of the Blue,” bringing tears to many eyes and smiles. It was honestly so beautiful to see so many inner children being healed at these shows. I am not an OG fan but there were many in the crowds that have been along for the ride since the beginning twenty years ago.

Rounding out the outrageously wonderful set, the mood was brought all the way up with Silver Deliverer (and More Silver ep) favorites. “I Don’t Know What It Is” kicked off the ending with insane lighting and an epic guitar solo. The duo then played “The Last Town,” a song they played while it was unreleased during the WLF tour. When that tour ended, as well as after Silver Deliverer’s release, the fans demanded TLT get a studio release – and it did on their new ep More Silver. Colorful, flashing lights flooded the room as they brought it home with “Places to Run” and holy SMOKES!!! The energy was so intense, and the crowds were rowdy as hell! The instrumentation, the vocals, the harmonies all sent me straight to Heaven.

Aly & AJ thanked everyone for coming out to the shows as they waved and exited the stage. As the audience roared with cheer and applause, the big screen lit again and showed A&A backstage smiling while they listened. In Dallas, they could be seen welcoming a bit of liquor being poured into a can and each taking a chug – note that Aly made the funniest face haha. A couple cheeky smiles and nods later, they made their way back to the stage for an epic encore of their most popular hit song “Potential Breakup Song” and the crowd went crazy! Stephen made his way back into the pit with his video camera and had the barricaders up on the screen. Aly & AJ both energetically moved across the stage to their opposite sides and brought it home, meeting in the middle with a big bow. I cannot explain how cathartic it is to yell “I WANT MY SHIT BACK” in a room full of fans. Just delightful, really.

Aly & AJ Dallas Gallery.

Aly & AJ have been proving they are true rock stars for a while now and it’s about time the world noticed! They have such a passion for storytelling and a gift for songwriting, melodies and instrumentation that leave anyone that listens in awe. The Silver Deliverer Tour has wrapped up by the time you are reading this but don’t let that stop you from getting A&A on your radar! Start listening to Silver Deliverer now and
work your way backwards through their discography. I PROMISE you will love every bit of it.

PHOTO CREDIT: Live photos by Jess Fagan for ZRockR Magazine – (c) 2025 – All Rights Reserved.