Super Bowl Musicfest

Free Midtown music festival stretches Super Bowl party corridor along light rail line

It looks like the area from Midtown to downtown along Houston's light rail line is going to be Music and Party Central during Super Bowl week.

The latest to join the action is Mid Main SuperFest, a free four-day music, art and food block party that will take place February 2 through 5 in the 3600 and 3700 blocks of Main Street near the Ensemble/HCC light rail stop. The celebration, sponsored by the soon-to-open Mid Main Lofts, in partnership with The Continental Club and Natachee’s Supper ‘n Punch, will feature pop-up shops, culinary demonstrations and nightly concerts on an outdoor stage on Winbern Street, which will be closed to traffic between Travis and Main Street.

The Dallas-based psychphonic ensemble The Polyphonic Spree will headline a concert on Saturday night, February 4. Other performances during the four-day event include Houston bands The TonTons, -.Us, Mikey & The Drags, A Fistful of Soul, The Grahamphone, DJ Tempty and Light Rock Express as well as Dallas-based Ishi and Louisiana-based The Stooges Brass Band and Geno Delafose & French Rockin’ Boogie.

Of course, organizers hope revelers will drop by the nearby Continental Club, Shoeshine Charley’s Big Top Lounge, Alley Kat Bar & Lounge and other clubs and bars in the area to hear other top performers. Other gathering spots in the area include Tacos A Go Go, the Breakfast Klub and several hip retail shops.

On Super Bowl Sunday, Urban Harvest will host a Gameday Brunch on Winbern Street featuring more than 15 chefs and restaurants serving an eclectic variety of gourmet fare for purchase.

Five percent of drink sales at the festival will benefit Bike Houston, a non-profit organization dedicated to creating safe bikeways to improve the quality of life for all Houstonians. Attendees are encouraged to bike, take METRORail, Uber, carpool, or park in one of the surrounding parking garages located near the property.

The area stretching from the Ensemble/HCC light rail stop to the Main Street light rail stop in downtown Houston is expected to be a hub of activity during Super Bowl week. A few blocks from the Mid Main SuperFest, in the (hopefully) soon-to-be-completed Midtown Park, ESPN will set up shop and broadcast its full line of NFL daily shows, including NFL Insiders, NFL Live, SportsCenter, the Super Bowl Sunday edition of NFL Countdown, and ESPN Radio's Mike & Mike show. (UPDATE: ESPN has decided to move its broadcast location to a parking lot adjacent to the Toyota Center in downtown Houston.)

And a few rail stops away, the free Super Bowl LIVE festitivies will take place from January 27 to Feb 5 in Discovery Green, with concerts featuring ZZ Top, Solange Knowles, and The Suffers, and a signature thrill ride.

For a comprehensive list of Super Bowl-related parties and activities, check out CultureMap's updated listing of events.

Here's the lineup for the Mid Main SuperFest:

Thursday, February 2
Mid Main SuperFest Stage
5 pm – DJ Tempty
6:30 pm – Geno Delafose & French Rockin’ Boogie
8:30 pm – The Stooges Brass Band

Friday, February 3
Mid Main SuperFest Stage
5 pm – The Grahamaphone
7 pm – Ishi
8:30 pm – The TonTons

Saturday, February 4
Winbern Street Art Market
Noon – Variety of local art and craft vendors on Winbern Street

Mid Main SuperFest Stage
3 pm – Mikey & The Drags
4 pm – A Fistful of Soul
7 pm - .Us
8:30 pm – The Polyphonic Spree

Sunday, February 5
Mid Main SuperFest Stage
10:30 am – Light Rock Express

Winbern Street
Urban Harvest Gameday Brunch features 15+ chefs, restaurants

The Polyphonic Spree performs on Saturday, February 4, at the Mid Main SuperFest.

Photo courtesy of Earth Day Texas

The Polyphonic Spree performs on Saturday, February 4, at the Mid Main SuperFest.

super-bowl

Movie Review

Anne Hathaway's busy 2026 continues with meta-thriller Verity

Photo by Alisha Wetherill

Anne Hathaway in Verity.

Anne Hathaway has been inescapable for movie fans in 2026, starring in no fewer than five different movies across multiple genres, including Mother Mary, The Devil Wears Prada 2, The Odyssey, and The End of Oak Street. The actor (who’s pregnant and about to take a well-earned break) is wrapping up her supremely busy year with the psychological thriller, Verity.

Hathaway plays the title character, Verity Crawford, a hugely successful author who writes beach read thrillers, often from the perspective of the villain. An unpublicized car accident renders her immobile and mute, and her husband, Jeremy (Josh Hartnett), and agents make the decision to recruit someone to ghostwrite her next book in order to continue her legacy.

The person hired for the job is Lowen Ashleigh (Dakota Johnson), an aspiring author whose books mostly get ignored. She’s eager to take on the project, but the reality of Verity’s situation throws her for a loop. When she discovers a secret file that seems to be Verity admitting to some very bad things, Lowen starts to spin even more, imagining situations that may not actually be happening.

Directed by Michael Showalter and adapted by Nick Antosca from the book by Colleen Hoover, the film initially has a nice rhythm to it, setting up the three main characters well and building up tension. Though current day Verity can’t speak or move, the film gets to the heart of her through old interviews Lowen watches to get to know her mind better. Using that footage and other small moments at the house, a type of rivalry develops between the two characters.

Strangely, though, Showalter and Antosca fail to capitalize on the early momentum. The story stagnates about halfway through the movie and never delivers on what it seems to be promising. Whether they’re too true to Hoover’s original story or change things too much is difficult to tell for those who haven’t read the book, but either way, the result is a big tease with not much in the way of a payoff.

What’s most disappointing about the film is its inability to decide on a tone. There are some points where it feels like over-the-top, campy fun, and others where it seems like the filmmakers are going for a straight-up horror vibe. The down-the-middle approach that they land on serves neither the story nor the characters well. Moments that should be full of suspense or could get laughs often fall flat because of the indecisiveness of the filmmakers.

Due to her character’s affliction, Hathaway is reduced to a supporting role in the film, but she gets by on presence alone and still has a few scenes where she demonstrates her star power. Johnson delivers a good performance despite her typical lack of emotion. Like many of her roles, it’s her body that seems to get more attention than her acting. Hartnett is on a roll thanks to recent roles in Oppenheimer and Trap, and he puts in solid work here, as well.

Verity has the bones of a tense thriller, but it’s filled in with a bunch of questionable story beats that don’t prove as satisfying as the premise. The meta-plot of the authors of thrillers becoming involved in a thriller themselves should have been juicy and full of great twists, but ultimately it’s as catatonic as Verity herself.

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Verity is now playing in theaters.

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