Winter concerts at WinStar: November 2026 to January 2027
Most WinStar concert trips start the same way: somebody already has tickets, or is about to, and now there are six or eight people who need somewhere to sleep. Lucas Oil Live has a show almost every weekend from mid-November to the end of January, and several of those weekends land on a holiday. Here is the lineup the way we'd plan it, one weekend at a time.
Every show below is at Lucas Oil Live unless we say otherwise, and WinStar lists each one at 8 p.m. Lineups and times can change, so check WinStar's event calendar before you buy anything.
November: Tejano, then Thanksgiving Friday
La Mafia, Friday, November 13. WinStar bills them as one of the most exciting Tejano acts of all time, and the people who grew up on La Mafia will not argue. A Friday show means the drive home can wait until Saturday afternoon.
Jodeci and Bobby Brown, Friday, November 27. This is the day after Thanksgiving. If the family is already together on Thursday, the plan more or less writes itself: turkey Thursday, R&B Friday, leftovers and a slow Saturday morning. Jodeci brought us Forever My Lady; Bobby Brown brought us My Prerogative.
Thanksgiving weekend is also the one weekend where a house beats a hotel room by the widest margin. You have a full kitchen for the leftovers somebody insisted on packing, and a living room for the people who would rather skip the show and stay in.
December: two doubleheader weekends and a Saturday for R&B
The first weekend in December is the one to circle. Los Tucanes de Tijuana with Tapy Quintero play Friday, December 4, and Tracy Byrd and Shenandoah play the next night, Saturday, December 5. That is norteño on Friday and nineties country on Saturday, and a group with mixed taste can split up for one night and come back together for the other. Book Friday and Saturday together and nobody has to choose.
Palomazo Norteño, Saturday, December 12. A palomazo is when the musicians stop taking turns and start playing together. It is two weeks before Christmas, and for a lot of families it is the start of the holidays.
Boyz II Men, Saturday, December 19. The last Saturday before Christmas. If you're planning a work outing or a friends' Christmas, this is the date to look at, and Saturday nights near WinStar go first.
New Year's Eve: two parties on one night
December 31 falls on a Thursday, and WinStar has two things going on. Earth, Wind & Fire plays Lucas Oil Live, and WinStar's own New Year's Eve party, Disco After Dark, runs in the WinStar Convention Center from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. Between the two, expect a busy night in Thackerville.
Two things to know. First, New Year's Day is a Friday, which makes this a four-day weekend for a lot of people, so think about Thursday through Sunday instead of a single night. Second, after midnight everyone leaves at once. A house a few minutes away means you're not waiting on a hotel elevator with two concerts' worth of people. You can get ready together before the show, and when it's over, the party moves to the firepit.
If your group has people who want the concert and people who want the dance floor, a house works for that too. Everyone goes where they want and meets back at the same kitchen at 1:30.
January: MLK weekend and a doubleheader to close the month
Keith Sweat, Saturday, January 16. Martin Luther King Jr. Day is Monday, January 18, so a lot of people have that Monday off. That turns a Saturday concert into two nights away instead of a drive home at midnight. WinStar calls this one an encore performance, so some of you have seen him here before.
Bill Engvall, Saturday, January 23. Comedy, not music, and an easy night to plan: dinner at the casino, the show, then back to the house. Bill Engvall made his name on the Blue Collar Comedy Tour, and if you've ever heard "here's your sign" you know what kind of night it is.
The last weekend of the month has two big shows back to back. Gerardo Ortiz plays Friday, January 29, and Lionel Richie plays Saturday, January 30. Lionel Richie is the kind of show where three generations sing along to Hello, and that is a good reason to bring the whole family and book the whole weekend.
Why a house works for a concert group
A concert trip with a group has its own rhythm. People arrive at different times, then all need the bathroom mirror in the same half hour, and nobody wants the night to end when the encore does. Spread across four hotel rooms, that gets awkward. Under one roof, it's just the weekend.
Each of our houses sleeps eight across three bedrooms, with two full bathrooms and double sinks in both, so eight people can get ready without a line out the door. There's a full kitchen, and a firepit in the backyard for the hour after the show when nobody is ready to sleep. Check-in is a door code, so the people driving in late after work don't need anyone to meet them, and parking at the house is free.
Our Morning Star Lane houses are a minute from WinStar, and our River Ranch Way houses are about a mile and a half away. Either way, the ride back after the encore is a few minutes, and the designated driver gets home before the garage has emptied.
For a group bigger than eight, book two houses next to each other. You get two kitchens and two sets of bathrooms, and the party can still end up around one firepit.
A few of the houses lean toward certain nights. Royal Flush Villa and Casino Royale both have a king bed, and Casino Royale has a poker table and a mixed-drink station for the nightcap. Group Ready is the one for a big, easygoing group, and the firepit out back is where everyone ends up. Hunter's Lodge has a long farmhouse table that seats all eight, which counts for a lot on Thanksgiving weekend.
Book in this order
For the holiday weekends especially (Thanksgiving Friday, December 4 and 5, New Year's Eve and MLK weekend), we'd book the house first and the tickets second. A ticket is one seat. The house is where all eight of you sleep, and on a weekend like New Year's Eve, places to stay close to WinStar are the part that runs short.
We keep a page for each show, with the date and the houses we'd suggest for it, on our WinStar events page. When you're ready, see every house and check your dates →