Live Music Now

These are the top 5 must-see concerts in Houston this week

After three weeks of RodeoHouston and then a big, successful weekend with In Bloom, one would think that the music scene would take a breather before ramping up for the summer months ahead. But spring time continues its hot streak with great shows for the live music fan. Here are the Top 5 shows coming up in Houston:

Best buzz act to see in a club before they blow up
To get a sense of how big K.Flay, also known as Kristine Meredith Flaherty, is getting, just look to this past year’s Grammy Awards. The 32-year-old alt-rock singer found herself nominated for two awards, Best Rock Song for her hit “Blood in the Cut” and Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical for her 2017 album Every Where Is Some Where. This put her in the company of Metallica, Foo Fighters, Roger Waters, and Bruno Mars.

Even though she didn’t pick up any hardware, the future is bright for this talented singer whose exhilarating blend of beats, guitars and in-your-face lyrics a la Alanis Morissette is set to launch her to even greater heights.

K.Flay brings the fury to White Oak Music Hall, located at 2915 N Main St., on Friday, March 30. Yungblud opens. Tickets are $15 in advance, plus fees. Doors open at 8 pm.

Yacht rock giants
The sweet, sweet harmonies of Chicago find their way to Sugar Land, where the classic rock group will bring their hits from across five (!) decades for fans who grew up to on them. Also known as one of the biggest dad rock bands of all time, Chicago has made a good late-career surge on the oldies circuit. The band started in the late-'60s when bands took to naming themselves after geographic locations for some reason (Boston, Kansas, America).

They started off releasing pretty good rock songs (“25 or 5 to 4”) before veering into the pure cheese of prom night ballads ("If You Leave Me Now," "Hard to Say I'm Sorry/Get Away," "You're the Inspiration") that many '80s kids probably can thank for their conception, but ultimately serve as a time capsule of an era when cars were really big, hair was shaggy, and fashion gaudy. Hey, 100 million albums sold can’t be wrong.

Chicago brings the oldies to the Smart Financial Centre at Sugar Land, located at 18111 Lexington Blvd. in Sugar Land, on Saturday, March 31. JD & The Straight Shot opens. Tickets start at $79.50 plus fees. Show starts at 8 pm.

Smoothest R&B sounds of the week
Critically acclaimed R&B artist Miguel brings his smooth voice and boundary pushing catalog that combines Prince and Stevie Wonder influences with the production sounds of The Weeknd and Frank Ocean to Houston for a sold out show. Miguel has been making big waves on the charts, including three top 10 albums in 2012’s Kaleidoscope Dream, 2015’s Wildheart, and 2017’s War & Leisure, the first of which is considered a modern R&B classic.

Most urban music fans will know him from the No. 1 Wale smash, “Lotus Flower Bomb, which was all over the radio back in 2011.

Miguel performs to a full house at Warehouse Live, located at 813 Saint Emanuel St., on Tuesday, April 3. Sir and Nonchalant Savant open. Tickets are sold out but you can try your luck on the ticket exchange. Doors open at 8 pm.

A side-project with a hella great singer
Brittany Howard, the booming-voiced lead singer and guitar of the massive Alabama Shakes, is taking a break from her day job to hit the road with friends Becca Mancari and Jesse Lafser as the trio Bermuda Triangle to ply acoustic based Americana tunes. The group only has two recorded songs right now, the tropicalia-tinged “Rosey,” and rootsy “Suzanne” so expect to hear cover tunes and hopefully new renditions of songs from her other band.

Bermuda Triangle plays at the Heights Theater, located at 339 W. 9th St., on Wednesday, April 4. Liz Cooper & The Stampede, Becca Mancari open. Tickets are $20, plus fees. Doors open at 7 pm.

Best NOLA party in HOU
By now, you’ve might have heard the story of Tank and the Bangas. The New Orleans funk-soul band, fronted by Tarriona “Tank” Ball and founded in 2011, broke it big when it won the NPR Tiny Desk Concert competition out of thousands of entries in 2017. The victory launched their career and they’ve been on the road ever since. The group quickly gained fame for putting on thrilling and infectious live shows emphasizing interaction between the band and audience. They are touring behind the release of the 2017 single, “Quick.”

Tank and the Bangas bring the NOLA party to White Oak Music Hall, located at 2915 N Main St., on Thursday, April 5. Tickets are $16 in advance, plus fees. Doors open at 8 pm.

New Orleans funk-soul band Tank and the Bangas plays White Oak Music Hall on Thursday, April 5.

Gus Bennett

New Orleans funk-soul band Tank and the Bangas plays White Oak Music Hall on Thursday, April 5.

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Movie Review

Ben Affleck cooks the books in chaotic sequel The Accountant 2

Photo by Warrick Page/Prime

Jon Bernthal and Ben Affleck in The Accountant 2.

In this Hollywood era of franchises, finding one to call their own is a priority for many movie stars. Over 30 years into his career, Ben Affleck had yet to find one; he did star as Batman in multiple movies, but that role has been interchangeable. He seemed to get a prime action hero role with 2016’s The Accountant, but somehow it’s taken nine years for The Accountant 2 to come out.

Affleck’s character of Christian Wolff is a high-functioning autistic man whose abilities to comb through mounds of data quickly and efficiently are matched only by his fighting skills. When Ray King (J.K. Simmons), a former Treasury agent who had previously hunted Christian, is murdered, King’s replacement, Marybeth Medina (Cynthia Addai-Robinson), calls on Christian to help figure out what happened and track down his killer.

The search quickly finds multiple criminal conspiracies, including a hitman ring, a scheme to abduct migrants, and more. Naturally, Wolff claims to need help in the endeavor, so his mercenary brother Braxton (Jon Bernthal) soon joins in on the quest. The two brothers work together to figure out the puzzle while also stopping to have some fun every now and then.

Directed by Gavin O’Connor and written by Bill Dubuque (both returning from the original), the film feels like it is missing many connective scenes. It often starts down one road and seems to be making good progress when it suddenly veers into another storytelling lane with no explanation. This happens multiple times throughout the film, to the point that it becomes almost impossible to tell what the main story is supposed to be.

In the first film, the oddity of having an autistic math genius also being a world-class marksman and fighter somehow made sense. This film leans much more into Christian’s physical skills, with the autistic side of things showing up in his (mostly) emotionless demeanor. While that works to a certain degree, the choppiness of the story undercuts the character traits that Affleck does his best to impart.

The best examples of the messiness of the film come in the multiple scenes that serve as nothing more than comic relief, with not even an attempt at connecting them to the main plot, such as it is. Two of them involve Christian proving himself to be a ladies man despite his lack of conversational skills, both of which fall flat as they seem to be making fun of his autism rather than highlighting positive aspects of it. Each of the comic scenes is so disparate in tone from the rest of the film that they essentially bring the story to a screeching halt.

Affleck is fine in the part, although he’s much better when Christian turns toward action hero mode than when he has to display the character’s autistic traits. Bernthal is great at being an over-the-top macho guy, and he gets to indulge that side of him throughout the film. Addai-Robinson is disserved by a role that doesn’t give her character any autonomy despite her high-powered position.

Affleck’s career has been one of the most up-and-down ones of any supposed A-list actor, and The Accountant 2 marks another down moment for him. He may have finally gotten his first sequel for a film in which he’s the main character, but don’t expect there to be a third installment.

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The Accountant 2 opens in theaters on April 25.

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