Save Ferris in Dallas: When Parents Bring Their Daughters to See a Woman Own the Stage
Save Ferris at AM/FM - Dallas, TX
Before Save Ferris played a note at AM/FM in Dallas on August 28, 2026, one thing about the crowd stood out right away: there were more women than men, and a lot of parents had brought their daughters. Some of those daughters were adults who had grown up hearing Save Ferris in the car. Others were young enough to be discovering the band for themselves. On the 34th night of a 37-show summer tour celebrating It Means Everything, the night felt like more than a chance to hear a 1997 ska record played front to back. It felt like a reminder of what Monique Powell has meant to women for nearly three decades, and what she may now mean to the daughters standing in front of her.
Save Ferris at AM/FM - Dallas, TX
Powell has never been easy to ignore. Her voice is instantly recognizable, but just as important is the personality behind it. She is loud, funny, physical, opinionated and very much herself. She doesn’t perform like someone asking permission to be there. Earlier in the evening, I asked her about something I’ve been seeing more often at punk, ska and alternative shows: fathers bringing their daughters to see women fronting bands. Her response came quickly. “It makes me feel great about this generation of men,” Powell told me. She said she was encouraged by fathers who want their daughters to see “strong role models, women who are outspoken and who are authentically themselves.” Then she added, “It gives me hope.”
Save Ferris at AM/FM - Dallas, TX
That line stuck with me. Powell wasn’t trying to turn herself into a symbol. In fact, she joked that part of being onstage is “smoke and mirrors.” But underneath the performance is something very real. She is outspoken. She is comfortable being herself. She doesn’t make herself smaller. For a young girl standing in the audience, that can matter more than any speech about confidence or empowerment.
Melissa Cassidy understood that long before the show started. She had brought her 22-year-old daughter to AM/FM as a birthday gift. Melissa listened to Save Ferris when she was in high school and later played the band for her daughter in the car. Now they were standing together waiting to see the same woman Melissa had watched when she was younger. Melissa fronts a cover band herself and told me Powell had been an influence. “Monique was definitely an influence for me when I was younger,” she said.
Save Ferris at AM/FM - Dallas, TX
Then Melissa said something that summed up the whole idea better than I could. “We’re asked to shrink all the time, but we get real huge on stage.” That was the phrase I kept coming back to all night. Get real huge. That is exactly what a stage gives someone like Powell the chance to do. It is not just about being loud. It is about being fully yourself in front of people. Not softening your personality. Not worrying about whether you are too much. Not standing off to the side. For a young woman watching that, it matters.
One of the fathers in the crowd was John Leal, who brought his young daughter Jasmine to hear a band she loves. Jasmine is visually impaired, so her experience of the night was centered even more on the sound itself — Powell’s voice, the horns, the rhythm and the energy coming off the stage. John didn’t describe bringing Jasmine to concerts as some grand parenting philosophy. His daughter just loves music. “She gets to listen to a lot of music, and she is hugely into music,” he told me. Then he added, “She had beat before she could speak, really.”
Save Ferris at AM/FM - Dallas, TX
When a band Jasmine likes comes through town, John makes the effort to take her. “When there’s an opportunity for a band that comes through town that she likes, we will definitely go and see them,” he said. They had recently seen The Aquabats together, and Jasmine’s taste goes well beyond ska or punk. John mentioned Pentatonix too, then described her musical taste in the simplest way possible: “Anything that’s got a beat, it’s really right up her alley.”
That night, Jasmine got to hear her favorite Save Ferris song, “Lies,” performed live. She danced through it like nothing else around her mattered. It was one of those moments that told the story better than anything anyone could have said. There is a lot of conversation about representation and what young people need to see, but sometimes it is also about what they hear. Jasmine did not need to catch every gesture Powell made onstage to know who was leading the band. You could hear it in Powell’s voice. You could hear the confidence, the humor, the attitude and the control.
Save Ferris at AM/FM - Dallas, TX
That made Powell’s comments about fathers feel even more real once the show started. When she said it gave her hope to see men bringing daughters to watch strong women, those fathers were right there in front of her. John was one of them. Melissa’s story was another side of the same idea. She first saw Powell when she was younger, Powell had an impact on her, Melissa became a singer herself, and nearly 30 years later she brought her own daughter to see the same woman.
That is how influence gets passed down. Not through a lecture. Not through a slogan. You take your daughter to the show. You put her in front of someone who isn’t afraid to be loud, someone who isn’t afraid to lead, someone who isn’t worried about being too much, and you let her take from it what she will.
Save Ferris at AM/FM - Dallas, TX
Powell also knows these nights are not going to happen forever. Before the show, she talked about how hard it is to keep touring and the importance of smaller and mid-sized venues and what gets lost when live music shifts more toward expensive festivals. “Fans are lacking intimacy with their artists when that happens,” she said. At smaller venues, people can still “feel like they’re a part of something special.”
That was true at AM/FM. People were close. Parents stood beside their kids. Melissa could look at her daughter and know she was seeing the same woman who had once influenced her. John could stand next to Jasmine while she heard a song she loves. Powell could look out from the stage and see exactly who was there.
Save Ferris at AM/FM - Dallas, TX
Maybe that is why her comment about fathers bringing daughters was the thing that stayed with me most.
“It gives me hope.”
After seeing the audience in Dallas, it was easy to understand why.
Save Ferris at AM/FM - Dallas, TX
Save Ferris at AM/FM - Dallas, TX