Coolest Concert Venues

Coolest concert venues: Where to catch great live performances — big and small — in Houston

Want the low-down on where to see some of the best concerts Houston has to offer?

Whether you're looking to see your favorite touring band at an enormous venue or a fantastic local act in an intimate setting, we've got you covered with the top concert venues in the city.

WAREHOUSE LIVE

813 St. Emanuel St.
713-225-5483

Located near downtown on the East End, Warehouse Live is a 1920s warehouse that has been reborn as a concert venue for major bands as well as those on the verge. It features fantastic acoustics and attracts artists ranging from Drake and Rilo Kiley to Yo La Tengo and Passion Pit, just to name a few.

FITZGERALD'S

2706 White Oak Drive
713-862-3838

A Houston Heights staple since 1977, Fitzgerald's was once home to acts like James Brown and Stevie Ray Vaughan. The renovated dive is considered a local music headquarters for up-and-coming and established independent acts — think Aesop Rock, Minus the Bear and Twin Shadow — as well as local favorites like The Suffers and Los Skarnales.

HOUSE OF BLUES HOUSTON

1204 Caroline St.
888-402-5837

The House of Blues (and the accompanying Foundation Room) located in downtown's GreenStreet complex brings major acts (MGMT, Bone Thugs N' Harmony, The Black Crows) but is sometimes better enjoyed for its crazy cover bands — from Michael Jackson impersonators to '70s-inspired phenoms Le Freak.

CYNTHIA WOODS MITCHELL PAVILION

2005 Lake Robbins Dr.
281-363-3300

Although it's a bit of a drive for inner loopers, The Woodlands' Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion snags the biggest names coming to town — Lana Del Rey, Elton John and ZZ Top are just a few of the acts to grace the stage this year so far. If you don't want to pony up for the covered seats, the lawn is moderately priced. Rules on what you're allowed to bring can vary depending on the performer, so be sure to check the website beforehand.

TOYOTA CENTER

1510 Polk St.
713-758-7200

With a capacity of more than 18,000, Toyota Center vies with the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion for the biggest names in music, attracting pop superstars like Beyonce and Miley Cyrus, country legend Garth Brooks, rap impresario Kanye West or old-school rockers like Billy Joel and the Eagles. Easy access in downtown Houston and amenities, like separate restrooms and concessions, for club level ticketholders, make it a convenient venue for top-of-the-line concerts.

BAYOU MUSIC CENTER

520 Texas St.
713-230-1600

Located in the heart of downtown at Bayou Place, Bayou Music Center (formerly known as the Verizon Wireless Theater) is the perfect place to catch major acts in a more intimate setting. Although it plays host to touring comedians like Chelsea Handler and Kathy Griffin, musical acts such as Jill Scott, Danzig and Damien Rice are just a few who are scheduled to perform later this year.

WALTER'S DOWNTOWN

1120 Naylor St.
713-222-2679

After relocating from their long-time location on Washington, Walter's transitioned to a new space across town on Naylor Street and has continued to draw droves of dedicated local fans to their shows. Whether you're looking to see indie darlings Of Montreal, experimental musician Sir Richard Bishop or garage rockers King Tuff, the venue hosts a wonderfully eclectic variety of shows.

THE CONTINENTAL CLUB

3700 Main St.
713-529-9899

Located on Main Street in Midtown, the Continental Club draws classic acts from multiple genres, from Nick Gaitan & The Umbrella Man to Beetle to A Fistful of Soul (a no-cover '60s soul dance party hosted every third Friday of the month). The Houston counterpart to the Austin staple features a unique atmosphere, with original fixtures from the building's previous incarnation as a 1920s department store, along with tin ceiling tiles and vintage neon light fixtures.

300 Westheimer Rd.
713-526-8338

A Houston institution, this Montrose spot is known to attract a diverse, dance-loving crowd who enjoys uninhibited fun and live music acts that run the gamut from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs to Ministry. Be sure to check out Classic Numbers Night each Friday, Houston's longest running weekly event that features music and videos from the '80s mixed by long-time Numbers DJ, Wes Wallace.

AVANT GARDEN

411 Westheimer Rd.
832-519-1429

Avant Garden, a bar and performance art venue in a 102-year-old converted Victorian on lower Westheimer, was formerly known as Helios. Something creative happens almost every night, from jazz, ferocious DJs and live bands to poetry slams, belly dancing, improv comedy and much, much more.

ALLEY KAT BAR & LOUNGE

3718 Main St.
713-874-0722

Sitting only a few doors down from The Continental Club on Main Street, Alley Kat features a separate 'backroom' used for hosting great local concerts — ranging from rock to electronic — in an intimate space. You also can catch sets in the front bar area by incredible local DJ's like Gio Chamba and Damon Allen.

RUDYARD'S BRITISH PUB

2010 Waugh Dr.
713-521-0521

The upstairs space at Rudyard's delivers throbbing live music six nights a week with high-octane bands such as Flowers to Hide and the Fatal Flying Guilloteens. The venue also features Western Swing Wednesdays each week and hosts a number of events by local comedy theater troupe BooTown, including the ever-popular Grown-Up Storytime. This Montrose area institution also offers a fine selection of beers, mixed drinks and hearty pub food downstairs.

LAST CONCERT CAFE

1403 Nance St.
713-226-8563

This funky north downtown bar, concert venue and restaurant is on the National Register of Historic Places. It's nondescript (you've got to know where it is and knock to enter) but also super laid back with a back patio strewn with Christmas lights — and good Mexican food, to boot. The stage out back hosts bands like Green Mountain Grass, Steve Straker and Potroast, geered for a 19-and-up crowd.

Fitzgerald's.

Fitzgerald's Houston place exterior

Photo via fitzlive.com

Fitzgerald's.

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Movie Review

Meta-comedy remake Anaconda coils itself into an unfunny mess

Jack Black and Paul Rudd in Anaconda

Photo by Matt Grace

Jack Black and Paul Rudd in Anaconda.

In Hollywood’s never-ending quest to take advantage of existing intellectual property, seemingly no older movie is off limits, even if the original was not well-regarded. That’s certainly the case with 1997’s Anaconda, which is best known for being a lesser entry on the filmography of Ice Cube and Jennifer Lopez, as well as some horrendous accent work by Jon Voight.

The idea behind the new meta-sequel Anaconda is arguably a good one. Four friends — Doug (Jack Black), Griff (Paul Rudd), Claire (Thandiwe Newton), and Kenny (Steve Zahn) — who made homemade movies when they were teenagers decide to remake Anaconda on a shoestring budget. Egged on by Griff, an actor who can’t catch a break, the four of them pull together enough money to fly down to Brazil, hire a boat, and film a script written by Doug.

Naturally, almost nothing goes as planned in the Amazon, including losing their trained snake and running headlong into a criminal enterprise. Soon enough, everything else takes second place to the presence of a giant anaconda that is stalking them and anyone else who crosses its path.

Written and directed by Tom Gormican, with help from co-writer Kevin Etten, the film is designed to be an outrageous comedy peppered with laugh-out-loud moments that cover up the fact that there’s really no story. That would be all well and good … if anything the film had to offer was truly funny. Only a few scenes elicit any honest laughter, and so instead the audience is fed half-baked jokes, a story with no focus, and actors who ham it up to get any kind of reaction.

The biggest problem is that the meta-ness of the film goes too far. None of the core four characters possess any interesting traits, and their blandness is transferred over to the actors playing them. And so even as they face some harrowing situations or ones that could be funny, it’s difficult to care about anything they do since the filmmakers never make the basic effort of making the audience care about them.

It’s weird to say in a movie called Anaconda, but it becomes much too focused on the snake in the second half of the film. If the goal is to be a straight-up comedy, then everything up to and including the snake attacks should be serving that objective. But most of the time the attacks are either random or moments when the characters are already scared, and so any humor that could be mined all but disappears.

Black and Rudd are comedy all-stars who can typically be counted on to elevate even subpar material. That’s not the case here, as each only scores on a few occasions, with Black’s physicality being the funniest thing in the movie. Newton is not a good fit with this type of movie, and she isn’t done any favors by some seriously bad wigs. Zahn used to be the go-to guy for funny sidekicks, but he brings little to the table in this role.

Any attempt at rebooting/remaking an old piece of IP should make a concerted effort to differentiate itself from the original, and in that way, the new Anaconda succeeds. Unfortunately, that’s its only success, as the filmmakers can never find the right balance to turn it into the bawdy comedy they seemed to want.

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Anaconda is now playing in theaters.

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