This story was excerpted from Kennedi Landry’s Rangers Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
CHICAGO -- Eric Nadel never expected his birthday party to get this big.
The Eric Nadel Birthday Benefit concert, which is celebrating its 13th anniversary, is moving from the historic Kessler Theater in Dallas to the Longhorn Ballroom this year as part of the historic venue’s 75th anniversary celebration.
The Longhorn Ballroom has about three times the capacity of the Kessler Theater, allowing more space for sponsors, auction items and people attending the event. As the event grew bigger and bigger each year, Nadel and the Grant Halliburton Foundation were unable to accommodate all the people who wanted to join in on the fun.
Now they have more space than they know what to do with.
“Not at all, I never expected it to get this big,” Nadel said. “And I really haven't ever had the desire to grow it. That was never the goal. We love the Kessler. It's an intimate venue. We just got to the point where we outgrew it. It wasn't necessarily by design, but that's how it happened. When it started, it was just kind of a birthday party the first year we did it. Then the second year we decided to do it as a benefit. Then it started taking off. The Grant Halliburton Foundation is so good at running events and they have so many supporters that it pretty much had to grow, whether I wanted it to or not.”
WHEN: Thursday, May 29, 2025
7:00 p.m. Doors open
7:30 p.m. The Secret Sisters perform
9:00 p.m. Shinyribs perform
WHERE: Longhorn Ballroom, 216 Corinth St., Dallas, TX 75207
INFORMATION/TICKETS: GrantHalliburton.org/ericnadel
For the fourth year in a row, the benefit supports the work of Grant Halliburton Foundation, a Dallas nonprofit that provides mental health education, resources, and support to children, teens and their families.
The Grant Halliburton Foundation was established in 2006 in memory of a Dallas teen who battled depression and bipolar disorder for several years before he committed suicide at the age of 19.
The Foundation has become a primary resource for mental health issues in North Texas. It developed HereForTexas.com, an online searchable database of mental health resources in North Texas, as well as Here For Texas Mental Health Navigation Line, a free helpline. Both are no-cost community tools that aim to offer easy access for Texans seeking mental health and addiction resources and information.
“It's been great working with the Foundation, especially having had my own troubles with mental health issues,” Nadel said. “It’s great to be able to support them and all the work they do to erase the stigma around mental illness and make sure that people you know -- in their case, kids, but really everybody you know -- checks in with each other on their mental health, if there are any signs of danger.”
This year’s Benefit Concert, as always, includes a live and silent auction, which is live already.
Auction items include lunch or dinner with various members of the Rangers media like Nadel, Emily Jones, Dave Raymore and more. There is also the opportunity to bid for a round of golf with Derek Holland or Darren Oliver.
The live auction will be followed by double headliners The Secret Sisters and Shinyribs. The event is presented by Haynes Boone and the media sponsor is KXT 91.7.
“I'm excited to host this year’s birthday benefit at the Longhorn Ballroom as part of their 75th anniversary, what an honor,” Nadel said. “We’re showcasing two artists who present the most entertaining live shows I’ve ever seen. Secret Sisters’ humor and harmonies are totally endearing, and nobody puts on the type of dynamic, charismatic live show that Kevin Russell and Shinyribs present. It should be an epic night for the audience and for Grant Halliburton Foundation.”