Live Music Now

These are the 7 best concerts to catch in Houston this week

Before we get to the best shows of the week, let’s take a moment to point out a win-win for the local music scene and community members of the near-north end of the city.

On April 24, news broke on a settlement of a lawsuit brought by community members against music venue White Oak Music Hall. Neighbors of the concert space complained about the noise from lawn shows, while White Oak owners and operators stated they were simply trying to provide progressive programming at a mid-sized venue the city sorely lacked close to downtown.

Both parties agreed on a set number of shows White Oak Music Hall can have, how late shows can go on nights that Houston ISD is in session, and White Oak agreed to no shows during student STAAR testing nights. Also, decibel levels will be monitored at all times. For music fans, White Oak can go back to having lawn shows and booking bigger acts to play to more attendees.

While surely arduous, both sides should be commended for reaching a compromise that appears to be positive for both sides. For more, please see the story by our content partner, ABC13.

Speaking of shows, there are plenty of great ones in the week ahead. Here are CultureMap’s best and biggest:

Goin’ to Church

Nashville based country star Eric Church was set to play at Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion just after Hurricane Harvey rolled through town. Instead of canceling the show outright, Church rescheduled and invited 300 first responders as his guest. Classy dude. Church has been a major headliner for a few years now, having opened RodeoHouston back in 2015. He has numerous No. 1 hits to his credit and is known for his patriotic party tunes and stylish looks.

Eric Church performs at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, located at 2005 Lake Robbins Dr., The Woodlands, TX. Steve Earle and the Dukes and The Texas Gentlemen and Elle King open. Tickets start at $43 for the lawn and reserved, plus fees. General admission for pit is $129 plus fees. Gates open at 7 pm.

Feel the Byrne at White Oak
One of the godfathers of indie rock, former Talking Heads frontman David Byrne has made a career on not only writing great songs, but making performances as visually striking as the subject matter of his lyrics. Expect more of the same when his American Utopia tour comes to town, promoting the similarly titled album, his first solo album in several years. According to his website, he “has been collecting stories, news, ideas, and other items that all either embody or identify examples of things that inspire optimism." Anyone who’s seen the classic concert film, Stop Making Sense, knows they can expect a show that’s a delight for all senses as he brings his vision to life.

David Byrne performs on the White Oak Music Hall Lawn, located at 2915 N Main St. on Saturday, April 28. Acclaimed indie rock act Perfume Genius opens. Tickets are $55 plus fees. Gates open at 7 pm.

Think Pink
Thank the Houston Rockets for a scheduling change. Popstar Pink was set to play on Sunday, April 29, but that date has been moved to Friday, April 27 in case the arena is needed if the Rockets’ first-round match-up goes to Game 7 (any sports fan know it shouldn’t get to that point). No matter what night she plays, Pink will put on a barnstormer, with her Beautiful Trauma tour garnering rave reviews. She has two decades of hits to pull from, so fans won’t be leaving disappointed and due to demand, a second show was added.

Pink and her catalog of hits will be at the Toyota Center, located at 1510 Polk St., on Friday, April 27; and Saturday, April 28. Tickets start at $79.95 plus fees. Show starts at 7:30 pm on Friday, 8 pm on Saturday.

Pyro, leather and metal in Sugar Land
Metal comes to Sugar Land! The U.K. masters of heavy metal, Judas Priest, are still going strong after nearly 50 years in existence. They just released their highest charting U.S. album, Firepower, and are currently on the first of two announced tours across the continent. Expect lots of pyro, leather, and breaking of laws as this legendary band plows through their extensive songbook.

Judas Priest bring the metal to Smart Financial Centre at Sugar Land, located at 18111 Lexington Blvd., Sugar Land on Sunday, April 29. Saxon and Black Star Riders open. Tickets start at $33.25 plus fees. Doors open at 7 pm.

White nights
One of the busiest men in the music industry, Jack White is back on the road with his latest solo effort, Boarding House Reach. He’s also up to his old tricks, some might say diva-like behavior, as this will be a no cell-phone performance. Having been in The White Stripes, Raconteurs, and The Dead Weather, it will be interesting to see what his set-list will be like. No matter what he plays, White is worth the price of admission just for his guitar chops alone. Fortunately for Houston music fans, we get him two nights.

Jack White shows off his guitar heroics at Revention Music Center, located at located at 520 Texas St., on Monday, April 30 and Tuesday, May 1. Tickets start at $79.50 plus fees. Doors open at 7 pm at both shows.

A big voice in the Bayou City
Merrill Garbus has been one of the most interesting artists in music since she debuted her Tune-Yards project back in 2006. She and bandmate Nate Brenner's meshing of seemingly disparate genres have captivated audiences everywhere. Her latest album, I can feel you creep into my private life, follows in the tradition of previous releases with syncopated rhythms, strange time signatures, synth and electronic flourishes along with Garbus' best instrument, her rich voice that she wields like a paintbrush on a canvas.

Tune-Yards bring the unexpected to White Oak Music Hall, located at 2915 N Main St., on Tuesday, May 1. My Brightest Diamond opens. Tickets start at $21 plus fees. Doors open at 7 pm.

Jason Isbell brings the Nashville Sound
Americana singer-songwriter Jason Isbell and his band The 400 Unit are on a hot streak. Their latest album, The Nashville Sound, has received great reviews, it received two 2018 Grammy Awards for Best Americana Album and Best American Root Song (“If We Were Vampires”), and it’s sold 120,000 copies, an impressive feat in the age of digital streaming. This follows two Grammy Awards for his 2015 record, Something More Than Free. Come see what the fuss is about and in the process, see a band at the height of their powers.

Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit plays at Smart Financial Centre located at 18111 Lexington Blvd., Sugar Land on Wednesday, May 2. Richard Thompson opens. Tickets start at $32.50 plus fees. Show starts at 8 pm.

Think Pink at Toyota Center on Friday, April 27 and Saturday, April 28.

Courtesy photo

Think Pink at Toyota Center on Friday, April 27 and Saturday, April 28.

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Movie Review

Meta-comedy remake Anaconda coils itself into an unfunny mess

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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