Live Music Now

These are the 6 best concerts in Houston this week

Southern fried rock act The Black Crowes announced their return this week, leaving fans of a certain age rejoicing.

The band, centered around brothers Chris and Rich Robinson, sold millions of albums in the '90s while garnering a ton of press due to the feuds between the band founders and a devotion to an excessive rock and roll lifestyle of a bygone era.

The brothers will take to the road for a 40-date tour, but odds they make it all the way through those dates are small — as inter-band conflict is a Black Crowes calling card, so much that even the notoriously estranged brothers Gallagher in Oasis remarked at the arguments between the two.

Thankfully, a Houston date at Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion is early on the slate, scheduled for June 20, 2020. They will play their debut 1990 album, Shake Your Money Maker, in full.

The Black Keys at Toyota Center
For a while, The Black Keys were the biggest band in the world, seemingly headlining every music festival behind their bluesy, high-powered, infectious alt-rock. But after traversing the globe, the Akron, Ohio duo, Dan Auerbach (guitar) and Patrick Carney (drums), took a five year break to work on other projects such as solo albums and having babies with pop stars (Carney is shacked up with Michelle Branch).

The itch to get back out on the road finally got the best of the Keys, who announced their "Let's Rock" tour around their 2019 album and they'll be bringing along another revered indie act with them in Modest Mouse for what should be one of the bigger alt-rock shows of the year.

The Black Keys perform at Toyota Center with Modest Mouse, located at 1510 Polk St., on Tuesday, November 12. Shannon and the Clams open. Tickets start at $54.40 plus service fees. Doors open at 6 pm.

Matt and Kim at White Oak
The cutest couple in indie music, Matt and Kim are known for their insane shows, built sparsely around a keyboard, drums, and two very enthusiastic performers. While that doesn't always make them critical darlings for their studio work, the naysayers obviously haven't been to a Matt and Kim show. The connection and stage presence of Matt Johnson and Kim Schifino make it work, a massive dance party every night.

They'll be celebrating the 10th anniversary of their breakthrough album, Grand, from which they earned an MTV Video Award for running naked through the streets of New York City for the video for "Lessons Learned." Clothes are probably required for this show.

Matt and Kim are at the White Oak Music Hall lawn, located at 2915 N. Main St., on Tuesday, November 12. Beach Goons open. Tickets start at $30 plus fees. Doors open at 7 pm.

Deadmau5 at Revention Music Center
The man responsible for masks becoming a popular gimmick among internationally known DJs — we're looking at you Marshmello — Joel Thomas Zimmerman aka Deadmau5 remains one of the biggest sound scientist in the world, best known for his day-glo mouse helmet that he wears on stage while dropping the beats.

Is it a marketing gimmick? Sure. But the outspoken Canadian DJ is one of the better performers in the game, slaying dancefloors with an thrilling mix of progressive house music. After an immediate sell-out, Revention added a Thursday show that still has tickets. Better yet, the show starts early, a great thing for old school ravers with an early wake-up call.

Deadmau5 is at the Revention Music Center, located at 520 Texas Ave., on Thursday, November 14 and Friday, November 15. Thursday night is sold out. Tickets start at $45 plus fees. Doors open at 7 pm both nights.

Two Door Cinema Club
Irish act Two Door Cinema Club were fortunate to come into the world when similar sounding acts like Phoenix and The Postal Service were riding high on the charts. They gained notice in the U.K. and U.S. with their debut album Tourist History and killer singles, "Something Good Can Work" and "What You Know." Kudos to them, as they ventured into new sounds on subsequent albums, 2012's Beacon and 2016's Gameshow. They are back with this year's False Alarm. This one is a lawn show, so be sure to bundle up before you head out.

Two Door Cinema Club plays the White Oak Music Hall lawn, located at 2915 N. Main St., on Thursday, November 14. Beach Goons open. Tickets start at $39.50 plus fees. Gates open at 6 pm.

Thievery Corporation at House of Blues
In Houston seemingly every year, Washington, D.C. trip-hop meets reggae meets dub act Thievery Corporation are back in H-town with their cosmopolitan groove. The band rose to fame in the late '90s with their mix of beats, electronics, and uplifting vocals. Anyone who ripped an mpeg off the internet in the mid-2000s will want to show up early as this show will feature the return of the fantastic indie dance act, Brazilian Girls.

Thievery Corporation return to the House of Blues, located at 1204 Caroline St., on Saturday, November 16. Brazilian Girls open. Tickets start at $40 plus fees. Doors open at 7 pm.

CultureMap recommends: Willie Nelson and His Family at Smart Financial Centre
Willie Nelson makes his requisite annual appearance on a Houston stage and like every year, this one is nearly sold out. Nelson has appeared on over 200 albums, sold millions of copies, has won every music award that a country legend can win, and really doesn't have much to prove after 60 years in the game.

But that doesn't mean he's close to being done performing. He gets a little help from his family of musicians — see Lukas Nelson — but for those who are fans of old school country, this is a can't miss show.

Willie Nelson and His Family perform at Smart Financial Centre at Sugar Land, located at 18111 Lexington Blvd. in Sugar Land, on Monday, November 11. Tickets start at $59.50 plus fees. Show starts at 8 pm.

CultureMap show of the week: The Black Keys are at Toyota Center on Tuesday, November 12.

Photo by Jim Herrington

CultureMap show of the week: The Black Keys are at Toyota Center on Tuesday, November 12.

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Movie Review

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

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.

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

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