Live Music Now

These are the 7 best shows to see in Houston this week

The first half of the next week in live music is a relatively calm one, as if the city is bracing for the storm that is the greatest show on dirt: RodeoHouston.

Three weeks of nightly concerts will feature the best that country music has to offer with the sprinkling of pop, soul and Latin acts thrown in for good measure. Add a brand new, state-of-the-art Stars Over Texas stage with double the lights and the best sound system money can buy and you get one of the most sought after events of the year in this fine city, attracting a few million attendees with an affection for tight denim jeans and leather boots.

The party kicks off with the inarguably the biggest country star ever, Garth Brooks, who will christen the star-shaped stage on Tuesday, February 27. He’ll also close out RodeoHouston on Sunday, March 18. With no new album to promote, expect Brooks to bring the hits hard and heavy. Because you haven’t lived until you've sung "Friends In Low Places" with 75,000 country fans.

Homewood, Alabama’s finest C&W band, Little Big Town, will bring their two dozen country hits to the Stars Over Texas stage on Wednesday night. Not to be outdone, The Voice judge and Gwen Stefani fiancé Blake Shelton, will trot out his collection of No. 1 hits – 17 consecutive, which is just insane – on Thursday, March 1.

Rodeo Houston starts Tuesday, February 27 and runs through March 18 at NRG Stadium, 1 NRG Parkway. Tickets are available on the RodeoHouston website and resale market. All three shows start at 6:45 pm, but get there early for some Rodeo action.

Best blues show of the week
Beth Hart made a name for herself in the late-’90s, early-2000s with a pair of excellent pop albums, 1999’s Screaming for My Supper and 2003’s Leave the Light On, even touching the cultural zeitgeist by appearing on an episode of Beverly Hills, 90210, where she performed "LA Song (Out of this Town)," a piano-ballad that fit next to the Vanessa Carlton and Michelle Branch types of that time.

But her secret weapon last has extended her career is her powerful, smoky vocals that she paired with blues guitar virtuoso Joe Bonamassa (who opened for B.B. King when he was 12 years-old), scoring them both a Grammy nomination in their time together. Simply put, Hart can wail up a storm and Bonamassa’s dirty licks are some of the best you’ll hear this side of the Mississippi Delta. The two together are simply magic. Their latest, the recently released Black Coffee, may be their best album yet.

Beth Hart performs vocal acrobatics at the House of Blues, 1204 Caroline St., Saturday, February 24. Tickets start at $31 plus fees. Doors open at 7 pm.

Best example of solo, eclectic indie-folk
Fans of Pitchfork flavored folk-rock will get a thrill out of seeing two revered cult acts performing together. Vetiver lead singer Andy Cabic and Fruit Bats Eric D. Johnson will each play a solo set at McGonigel’s Mucky Duck, stripped down versions of their whimsical and melodic indie-folk that brought them both notoriety in the mid-2000s. Vetiver is the stranger of the two (see 2004’s self-titled debut), while Fruit Bats make more traditional indie as on 2016’s great Absolute Loser. Both have direct influences on each other as Johnson spent some time playing in Cabic’s band. This will be a fun, unique show.

Vetiver and Fruit Bats bring the eclectic folk to McGonigel’s Mucky Duck, 2425 Norfolk St., Saturday, February 24. Tickets start at $20. The show starts at 7 pm.

Best chance to hear the Sia second coming
Fans of Sia will love Ella Vos. The Los Angeles-based chanteuse creates atmospheric, intimate songs of longing and heartache that feature just enough bouncy syncopation to make it a head nodding delight. Find out why Rolling Stone named her an artist to watch as she brings songs from her worthy 2017 offering, Words I Never Said, to Warehouse Live.

The enchanting Ella Vos performs at Warehouse Live Studio, located at 813 St. Emanuel Street, Sunday, February 25. Sharaya Summers opens. Tickets are $15 plus fees. Doors open at 7 pm.

Best chance to hear that one song on the radio
Remember Stabbing Westward? The band that made a small dent in the late-’90s by aping Depeche Mode synth and Nine Inch Nails angst? AWOLNATION is sort of like that, but for today’s rock radio — interesting enough to not change the channel, but not quite great enough to download the album. But hey, if you’re into that sort of thing, the Nothing But Thieves tour could be something to see. Just don’t tell me “Hollow Moon (Bad Wolf)” isn’t a total rip-off of the 1997 Savage Garden hit “I Want You.”

AWOLNATION sails into the Revention Music Center, 520 Texas St., Thursday, March 1. Nothing But Thieves opens. Tickets start at $25. Doors open at 7 pm.

AWOLNATION will bring its aggressive synth jams to Revention Music Center on Thursday, March 1.

Photo courtesy of AWOLNATION

AWOLNATION will bring its aggressive synth jams to Revention Music Center on Thursday, March 1.

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Movie Review

Scarlett Johansson makes her directorial debut with Eleanor the Great

Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics

June Squibb in Eleanor the Great.

One of the more remarkable stories in recent movie history is the very late rise of actor June Squibb. Although not an unknown, having appeared in supporting roles in the 1990s and 2000s, Squibb became a sensation after earning an Oscar nomination for her role in Nebraska in 2013 at the age of 84. She has remained in demand ever since, even playing the lead role in Thelma in 2024 and now Eleanor the Great.

Eleanor (Squibb) is a long-retired woman living in Florida with her best friend, Bessie (Rita Zohar). When Bessie dies, Eleanor’s daughter Lisa (Jessica Hecht) insists she move back to New York to be closer to her family. With no other connections, Eleanor takes Lisa’s suggestion to go to her local Jewish community center to see if she can make some friends there.

Eleanor inadvertently gets pulled into a Holocaust survivor group, where everyone there assumes she shares their history. Out of embarrassment and a love for Bessie, who was a Holocaust survivor, Eleanor starts sharing Bessie’s stories as if they were her own. Nina (Erin Kellyman), an NYU student, happens to be at the meeting and takes a shine to Eleanor. Soon, the two of them are spending lots of time together, with Nina hoping to use Eleanor’s stories for a piece she’s writing for her journalism class.

Scarlett Johansson, making her directing debut, and writer Tory Kamen give Squibb a light-yet-dramatic showcase that plays directly to her strengths. Many films that focus on elderly characters use their age as a joke, pointing out how they don’t mesh well with modern times. The filmmakers mostly eschew that kind of storytelling, instead allowing Eleanor to be a full human being who gets caught up in a lie that she can’t seem to shake.

They also make the wise decision to give Eleanor a compelling foil in Nina, who’s dealing with her own trauma following the recent death of her mother. The grief that Nina and her father, Roger (Chiwetel Ejiofor), are experiencing adds a dimension to the story that that expands its emotional depth. Eleanor and Nina’s growing friendship is portrayed so believably that the inevitable reveal of Eleanor’s deception grows more heartbreaking by the minute.

Johansson has a few minor missteps in her first attempt as a feature filmmaker, but overall she demonstrates an ability to juggle a variety of characters and situations without losing the thread of the plot. The story is a familiar one that’s been done in different ways before, but Johansson and her team keep it engaging throughout despite its predictable beats.

Squibb, who is 95 years old (!!), is yet again a wonder in the role. While her and her character’s age are a big part of the story, that fact never overshadows her acting ability. She’s able to find nuances that make Eleanor into a large presence, proving she is a star through and through. The rest of the cast is also great, especially Kellyman and Ejiofor, who inhabit their storyline well without taking away from the main plot.

There are not many actors who still have the ability to carry an entire movie on their back in their nineties, but Squibb is a delightful exception. The fact that Eleanor the Great is not some disposable trifle makes her continued late-career renaissance all the more impressive, and even more reason to respect her and everyone involved in the film.

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Eleanor the Great is now playing in theaters.

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