Concert News

100-city tour brings Avatar: The Last Airbender concert to Houston

Avatar: The Last Airbender In Concert will hit 100 cities including Houston.

Photo courtesy of GEA Live Marketing (Quatro Entertainment)

Fans will get to experience the Nickelodeon animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender in a whole new way when the tour Avatar: The Last Airbender In Concert comes to Smart Financial Centre in Sugar Land on Wednesday, September 18.

This will be the first opportunity for fans to experience the world of Avatar: The Last Airbender in a live format.

The Houston-area concert is part of a massive 100-city worldwide tour set to begin in Düsseldorf, Germany on April 27 and lasting through May 2025.

The tour will spread its love around Texas, with the following stops:

Dallas on September 15
San Antonio on September 19
Austin on September 20
Fort Worth on September 21

In other words, all the five cities where CultureMap has news bureaus. Smart thinking, Avatar.

Presented by Nickelodeon, GEA Live, and Senbla Avatar: The Last Airbender In Concert will be an over two-hour show featuring a live orchestra playing the show’s iconic musical score alongside highlights and favorite moments from all three seasons of the series.

Emmy Award-winning composer and musician Jeremy Zuckerman has teamed up with show co-creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko and editor Jeff Adams to expand the series original compositions for the concert series.

Tickets for the tour will go on sale on Friday, April 19at 10 am at Avatarinconcert.com.

NORTH AMERICAN TOUR DATES

SEP 7: Gammage Auditorium | Tempe, AZ
SEP 10: Buell Theatre | Denver, CO
SEP 11: Orpheum Theatre | Omaha, NE
SEP 12: The Fabulous Fox | St. Louis, MO
SEP 13: Des Moines Civic Center | Des Moines, IA
SEP 15: Majestic Theatre | Dallas, TX
SEP 17: Walton Arts Center | Fayetteville, AR
SEP 18: Smart Financial Centre at Sugar Land | Sugar Land, TX
SEP 19: Majestic Theatre | San Antonio, TX
SEP 20: Bass Concert Hall | Austin, TX
SEP 21: Will Rogers Auditorium | Fort Worth, TX
SEP 27 & 28: National Theatre | Washington, D.C.
SEP 29: Steven Tanger Center for the Performing Arts | Greensboro, NC
OCT 1: Mahalia Jackson Theatre | New Orleans, LA
OCT 3: Straz Center | Tampa Bay, FL
OCT 4: West Palm Beach, FL
OCT 5: Walt Disney Theatre | Orlando, FL
OCT 6: Moran Theater | Jacksonville, FL
OCT 8: Kings Theatre | Brooklyn, NY
OCT 9: Met Opera House | Philadelphia, PA
OCT 10: Count Basie Theatre | Red Bank, NJ
OCT 11: Oakdale Theatre | Wallingford, CT
OCT 12: Emerson Colonial Theater | Boston, MA
OCT 13: New Jersey Performing Arts Center | Newark, NJ
OCT 15: Belk Theatre | Charlotte, NC
OCT 16: The Hippodome Theatre | Baltimore, MD
OCT 17: KeyBank State Theatre | Cleveland, OH
OCT 18: Miller High Life Theatre | Milwaukee, WI
OCT 19: Cadillac Palace Theatre | Chicago, IL
OCT 20: Fisher Theatre | Detroit, MI
OCT 24: Palace Theatre | Columbus, OH
OCT 25: Overture Center For The Arts | Madison, WI
OCT 26: Murat Theatre | Indianapolis, IN
OCT 27: Andrew Jackson Hall | Nashville, TN
OCT 29: The Kentucky Center | Louisville, KY
OCT 30: Procter and Gamble Hall | Cincinnati, OH
NOV 2: Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts | Kansas CIty, MO
NOV 3: Orpheum Theatre | Minneapolis, MN
NOV 6: First Interstate Center for the Arts | Spokane, WA
NOV 7: Hult Center | Eugene, OR
NOV 8: Keller Auditorium Hall | Portland, OR
NOV 9: Moore Theatre | Seattle, WA
NOV 11: Velma V. Morrison Center for the Performing Arts | Boise, ID
NOV 12: Eccles Theatre | Salt Lake City, UT
NOV 14: SAFE Credit Union Performing Arts Center | Sacramento, CA
NOV 15: Fox Theatre | Riverside, CA
NOV 16: Reynolds Hall | Las Vegas, NV
NOV 17: Segerstrom Center for the Arts | Costa Mesa, CA
NOV 19 & 20: San Jose Center for the Performing Arts | San Jose, CA
NOV 21: San Diego Civic Center | San Diego, CA
NOV 22 & 23: Los Angeles, CA
NOV 24: Centennial Hall | Tucson, AZ

One More for the Road

ZZ Top honors late drummer Frank Beard with Austin tribute concert

ZZ Top/Facebook

ZZ Top will celebrate their late drummer, Frank Beard (middle, after a show in Canada), at one of his favorite venues.

Texas rock trio ZZ Top will play a tribute to their late drummer, Frank Beard, at their scheduled Austin tour stops at ACL Live at the Moody Theater on August 22 and 23. Beard died Monday, August 17, at 77.

The band announced Beard's death in a social media statement.

Lead vocalist and songwriter Billy Gibbons wrote, "Today, Elwood and I lost a great friend and collaborator, and the world lost one of the most naturally innovative drummers and a great and true son of Texas. His signature backbeat was key to keeping ZZ on top."

ZZ Top canceled performances in Salt Lake City and Colorado Springs following Beard's death. The Austin shows will be the band's first onstage again, offering a fitting time to celebrate the Texas great. A statement on the band's website calls the Austin City Limits stage "one of Frank’s favorite venues and in a city that had been something of a second home for him."

Beard was born near Tyler in Frankston, Texas, in 1949. He was raised in Irving, outside Dallas, and the band formed in Houston in 1969. The Austin Chronicle reported in 2013 that Beard was then splitting time between a house on Lake Travis, in Austin, and Houston. He died on his ranch in the Houston suburb of Richmond.

ZZ Top was known for its large performances and elaborate setup, none more so than the Worldwide Texas Tour, which included a Texas-shaped stage and a collection of live Texas animals.

In 1974, the band left its mark on Austin — for better or worse — at "ZZ Top’s First Annual Texas Sized Rompin’ Stompin’ Barndance & Bar B.Q." at the University of Texas. It was the first, but also the last, since around 80,000 of the band's "friends" trashed the venue, earned the disapproval of the famous Coach Royal, and were ostensibly responsible for the venue not hosting another rock show until 1995. ZZ Top's two encores had 20 years to ring out after the legendary, if infamous show.

ZZ Top will make their upcoming Austin appearances as part of The Big One! Tour on Saturday, August 22, at 8 pm and Sunday, August 23, at 7:30 pm. Tickets are still available for both shows at acllive.com.

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