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    Live Music Now

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

    Johnston Farrow
    Johnston Farrow
    Jun 12, 2018 | 2:40 pm

    It's the best weekend of the year for classic rock, new age, and heavy metal fans, as huge tours roll through through town, including a special show at Minute Maid Park. But there are plenty of other great acts from various genres to catch across town in another busy week on the Houston music scene.

    The Glitch Mob: headphone music for the dancefloor
    The Glitch Mob
    gained fame at the height of the cloying EDM movement, but their roots are more in late-'90s experimental electronic music that at the time thrillingly combined synths, samples, and hip-hop beats more akin to Aphex Twin. This is arty dance music for those who simply like to let the layers wash over them or those who prefer to let it all hang out on the dancefloor.

    The Glitch Mob play White Oak Music Hall, located at 2915 S. Main St. on Thursday, June 14. Elohim opens. Tickets are $20 plus a $8.62 service fee. Doors open at 8 pm.

    CultureMap Show of the Week: The Eagles
    The Eagles always straddled the line of being a rock band and a rebel country act (see “Desperado” as proof), so it wasn’t a huge surprise when the massive classic rock group tapped country megastar Vince Gill to fill the spot of the late Glenn Frey for their latest stadium/ballpark tour that will stop at Minute Maid Park on June 15. Keeping in line with the rebel country thing, none other than Chris Stapleton will open, fresh off a RodeoHouston performance. This will be one of the biggest shows of the year for those of a certain age demographic.

    The Eagles and Chris Stapleton are double-headers at Minute Maid Park, located at 501 Crawford St. on Friday, June 15. Tickets start at $99.50 plus service fees. Doors open at 7 pm.

    Post Malone blows up at Cynthia Woods
    Want to know how huge Post Malone is right now? Simply try to purchase a ticket for his show at Cynthia Woods. Tickets are going for $129 for lawn seats, which is an astronomical amount to see anyone, anywhere. To put it in perspective, one could buy a one-day ticket to Day for Night to see over a dozen great acts for around that amount. But that's what an artist can charge when they are coming into town with the No. 1 song in the country with "Psycho," his second such song to earn that distinction. The other, "Rockstar," features opener, 21 Savage. Expect a duet between these two after shelling out the big bucks to sweat on the lawn.

    Post Malone performs at Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, located 2005 Lake Robbins Dr. in The Woodlands, on Friday, June 15. SOB X RBE, Paris, and 21 Savage opens. Tickets start at $129 for lawn and general admission, plus service fees. Gates open at 7 pm.

    Emo-rockers flashback: The Get Up Kids
    Emo-rock has seen a bit of a revival as bands that made it big off the punk-meets-heartbreak genre in the '90s are reuniting and hitting the road, perhaps none more visible than Dashboard Confessional. Count The Get Up Kids in that group. They are back behind a new EP, Kicker, which beefs up their sound while remaining faithful to their original vision.

    The Get Up Kids hit White Oak Music Hall, located at 2915 S. Main St. on Friday, June 15. Casket Lottery opens. Tickets are $19.99 in advance plus a $5.35 service fee. Doors open at 8 pm.

    Houpalooza maybe brings tha hip-hop?
    This one is a mystery. Originally set to be a three-day festival in Missouri City, the Houpalooza fest site now states it will be a one-day event at George R. Brown. Other than Flo Rida and a Tupac birthday tribute, the line-up is sketchy at best on the event's website. According to concert website, Pollstar.com, Nick Cannon and reggaeton star Yandel will be there. Emails to organizers for clarification were unreturned. Proceed with caution.

    Houpalooza Music Festival with Flo Rida, Nick Cannon, Yandel and more will (hopefully) go down at George R. Brown Convention Center, located at 1001 Avenida De Las Americas, on Saturday, June 16. General admission tickets start at $50 plus service charges. Doors open at 4 pm.

    Laurel, or, wait for it…
    People love Yanni. Not anyone we know personally, but there are Yanni diehards out there, so much that the best tickets for his sold out show at the Smart Financial Centre in Sugar Land this weekend are going for over $3000 in what could be seen as Houston's Twilight Zone version of the NBA Finals. Regardless of what you think about Yanni, the mega-selling, new age, synth wizard is a global superstar and has found himself back in the spotlight with the absurd Yanni/Laurel internet sound debate. He'll be celebrating the 25th anniversary of his live appearance at the Greek Acropolis, which rocketed him up the charts and converted millions into new age music fanatics. We are not making this up - the subsequent abum sold four million copies.

    Yanni performs his masterwork Acropolis at Smart Financial Centre at Sugar Land, located at 18111 Lexington Blvd., Sugar Land, on Saturday, June 16. Tickets start at $79 on the resale market. Show starts at 8 pm.

    CultureMap recommends: Slayer's curtain call
    It's a major study in contrast in Sugar Land this weekend as the Yanni crowds on Saturday will give way to metalheads on Sunday as Slayer comes to town on their final world tour. The legendary heavy metal act is bringing what might be the best line-up for anyone who has ever headbanged in leather and spikes with a who's-who of huge openers, including Anthrax.

    Also: How awesome would it be if Slayer convinced Yanni to stick around for a duet? A music fan can only dream.

    Slayer consumes the Smart Financial Centre at Sugar Land, located at 18111 Lexington Blvd., Sugar Land on Sunday, June 17. Anthrax, Behemoth, Lamb of God, and Testament open. Tickets start at $70 on the resale market. Show starts at 5 pm.

    Slayer, along with several heavy metal heavyweights, will consume the Smart Financial Centre at Sugar Land on Sunday, June 17.

    Slayer
    Photo by Martin Jausller
    Slayer, along with several heavy metal heavyweights, will consume the Smart Financial Centre at Sugar Land on Sunday, June 17.
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    Movie Review

    Avatar: Fire and Ash returns to Pandora with big action and bold visuals

    Alex Bentley
    Dec 18, 2025 | 5:00 pm
    Oona Chaplin in Avatar: Fire and Ash
    Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios
    Oona Chaplin in Avatar: Fire and Ash.

    For a series whose first two films made over $5 billion combined worldwide, Avatar has a curious lack of widespread cultural impact. The films seem to exist in a sort of vacuum, popping up for their run in theaters and then almost as quickly disappearing from the larger movie landscape. The third of five planned movies, Avatar: Fire and Ash, is finally being released three years after its predecessor, Avatar: The Way of Water.

    The new film finds the main duo, human-turned-Na’vi Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and his native Na’vi wife, Neytiri (Zoë Saldaña), still living with the water-loving Metkayina clan led by Ronal (Kate Winslet) and Tonowari (Cliff Curtis). While Jake and Neytiri still play a big part, the focus shifts significantly to their two surviving children, Lo’ak (Britain Dalton) and Tuk (Trinity Jo-Li Bliss), as well as two they’ve essentially adopted, Kiri (Sigourney Weaver) and Spider (Jack Champion).

    Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang), who lives on in a fabricated Na’vi body, is still looking for revenge on Jake, and he finds help in the form of the Mangkwan Clan (aka the Ash People), led by Varang (Oona Chaplin). Quaritch’s access to human weapons and the Mangkwan’s desire for more power on the moon known as Pandora make them a nice match, and they team up to try to dominate the other tribes.

    Aside from the story, the main point of making the films for writer/director James Cameron is showing off his considerable technical filmmaking prowess, and that is on full display right from the start. The characters zoom around both the air and sea on various creatures with which they’ve bonded, providing Cameron and his team with plenty of opportunities to put the audience right there with them. Cameron’s preferred viewing method of 3D makes the experience even more immersive, even if the high frame rate he uses makes some scenes look too realistic for their own good.

    The story, as it has been in the first two films, is a mixed bag. Cameron and co-writers Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver start off well, having Jake, Neytiri, and their kids continue mourning the death of Neteyam (Jamie Flatters) in the previous film. The struggle for power provides an interesting setup, but Cameron and his team seem to drag out the conflict for much too long. This is the longest Avatar film yet, and you really start to feel it in the back half as the filmmakers add on a bunch of unnecessary elements.

    Worse than the elongated story, though, is the hackneyed dialogue that Cameron, Jaffa, and Silver have come up with. Almost every main character is forced to spout lines that diminish the importance of the events around them. The writers seemingly couldn’t resist trying to throw in jokes despite them clashing with the tone of the scenes in which they’re said. Combined with the somewhat goofy nature of the Na’vi themselves (not to mention talking whales), the eye-rolling words detract from any excitement or emotion the story builds up.

    A pre-movie behind-the-scenes short film shows how the actors act out every scene in performance capture suits, lending an authenticity to their performances. Still, some performers are better than others, with Saldaña, Worthington, and Lang standing out. It’s more than a little weird having Weaver play a 14-year-old girl, but it works relatively well. Those who actually get to show their real faces are collectively fine, but none of them elevate the film overall.

    There are undoubtedly some Avatar superfans for which Fire and Ash will move the larger story forward in significant ways. For anyone else, though, the film is a demonstration of both the good and bad sides of Cameron. As he’s proven for 40 years, his visuals are (almost) beyond reproach, but the lack of a story that sticks with you long after you’ve left the theater keeps the film from being truly memorable.

    ---

    Avatar: Fire and Ash opens in theaters on December 19.

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