August is easily the busiest month of the year for live music throughout the Bayou City in 2024. The biggest venues will be packed with high profile artists strutting their stuff throughout the Greater Houston area.
Have a hankering to see country stars at their commercial and artistic peak? You got 'em. What about faves from across the rock and roll spectrum? No problem. Rising and established rap stars? Absolutely.
Digging through all the lineups, CultureMap is ranking the 12 most notable to help narrow down your concert calendar. That means many beloved acts got the short straw (sorry Third Eye Blind and 311), but honesty is always the best policy when it comes to a night out.
Did we get the order right? Sound off on social media (as if you need our permission).
1. Luke Combs, August 9 and 10, NRG Stadium
How big is certified country star Luke Combs? He’s performed at NRG Stadium before, formerly at the 2019 edition of RodeoHouston. Since then, he’s taken his career to a stratospheric level, recently breaking the internet for his emotional duet of “Fast Car” with Tracy Chapman at the 2024 Grammy awards.
Seemingly vying with Morgan Wallen for the crown as the top modern male country artist in the world, Combs has racked up 17 No. 1 songs across his eight-year stint as a professional performer. He’s parlayed his mega-wattage into a two-night stint headlining NRG Stadium as part of his Growing Up and Getting Old tour, a feat few performers can claim. He’ll bring Cody Jinks, Charles Wesley Godwin, Hailey Whitters, and The Wilder Blue on the Friday date and Jordan Davis, Mitchell Tenpenny, Drew Parker, Colby Acuff on Saturday night.
2. Def Leppard, Journey and Steve Miller Band, August 14, Minute Maid Park
Hair metal heads, unite! Def Leppard continues to be a rock juggernaut, long after their ‘80s heyday, with numerous songs still seeping into our daily lives via seemingly continuous radio play (“Pour Some Sugar On Me,” “Photograph,” “Love Bites”) and younger artists discovering the guilty-pleasure riffage of the UK band (see Miley Cyrus’ recent appearance). Over 100 million albums sold can’t be wrong.
They’ll be joined on their Summer Stadium tour by a great lineup in Journey and the Steve Miller Band. The former last filled their own large-scale venue, playing to 72,000 at NRG Stadium back in 2022 at RodeoHouston, proving that the fans of the band – sans original vocalist Steve Perry – don’t stop believing in their live chops. Seventies giants, The Steve Miller Band, won’t be an afterthought, with countless hits of their own (“The Joker,” “Rock’n Me,” “Take the Money and Run”).
3. Chris Stapleton & Miranda Lambert, August 24, Minute Maid Park
Not to be outdone, one of Houston’s favorite country artists, Chris Stapleton, will also play to a packed audience at the confines of Minute Maid Park. The gravel-voiced, Nashville-based success story plays almost every year in H-town, but that hasn’t damped ticket sales for the “Tennessee Whiskey” crooner’s All-American Road Show tour.
He’ll be joined by solo country star, Miranda Lambert, who has been just as successful with her first seven albums going platinum. The bombshell blonde from Lindale, Texas first rose to fame after an appearance on the reality music competition, Nashville Star, in 2004 and since racked up No. 1 country hits in “The House That Built Me,” “Mama’s Broken Heart,” and “Bluebird.”
Grace Potter opens.
4. Future & Metro Boomin, August 12, Toyota Center
Forget about Drake and Kendrick. The prolific, three-time Grammy Award-winning artist Future touts one of the most impressive careers going, now playing arenas with producer Metro Boomin on the We Trust You Tour. Rising out of the legendary Atlanta Dungeon Family (OutKast, CeeLo Green), Future boasts ten No. 1 albums and a whopping 117 singles (61 as a featured artist). Maybe because he was bored or had some free time, he just released two albums this year alone, We Don’t Trust You and We Still Don’t Trust You.
5. Stone Temple Pilots & Live, August 22, The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
The ‘90s alt-rock nostalgia circuit is in full effect, and we’re here for it with two of the most successful acts from the era coming together for a cross-country tour in Stone Temple Pilots and Live. Each band – STP from California, Live from Pennsylvania – faced early claims they were aping Seattle grunge before settling into their own sound, now regarded in a much brighter light.
And both are celebrating 30 years of their critically best, and best-selling, albums. STP’s Purple is an alt-rock classic with timeless singles (“Vaseline,” “Interstate Love Song”). Live’s Throwing Copper is chockful of anthems, despite unfortunate placenta imagery (“Lightning Crashes”).
The equally underrated, Dave Pirner-led, Soul Asylum opens.
6. Ice Spice, August 26, 713 Music Hall
Few artists are as hot in the rap world as the 24-year-old, Bronx-raised Ice Spice. The current Rolling Stone cover star caught the hip-hop industry on fire with her unique look and rapping style, collecting awards and top 10 singles over the last few years after being discovered in the typical Gen Z way: on TikTok with her viral hit, “Munch (Feelin’ U).” She’ll be on the road promoting her first, just-released full-length, Y2K! – she was born on January 1, 2000 – after a series of high-profile guest appearances on singles with Nicki Minaj and Taylor Swift.
7. Kings of Leon, August 16, Toyota Center
Remember when critics tapped Kings of Leon as the Southern Strokes? The early-aughts quaintly monikered the Followill brothers and cousin as such with their chicken-fried version of the NYC rock band’s garage rock sound when they first hit. Since then, they've grown into something much more muscular and streamlined, finding success with the 2008 hit album, Only by the Night, with the ubiquitous single, “Sex on Fire.” After a hiatus, the Followills are back with this year’s regarded Can We Please Have Fun.
Phantogram, the excellent genre mixologist duo, which performed some fiery sets over the years in Houston, will open.
8. Jane’s Addiction, August 19, 713 Music Hall
Jane's Addiction, the Perry Farrell-led Los Angeles, unit is back. Surprisingly, after a series of ups and downs, the grandaddies of alt-rock and Lollapalooza have aged well, but what makes this tour special is it’s the first time that the original members – Perry with guitarist Dave Navarro, drummer Stephen Perkins, and bassist Eric Avery – are touring together in over 30 years. Apparently, time heals all wounds on the way to a searing rendition of “Mountain Song.”
Post-punk cult act Love & Rockets support.
9. Santana & Counting Crows, August 17, Toyota Center
The guitarist who seemingly can’t be kept down, Santana, 77, is still a regular on the concert circuit — deservedly so — despite a recent health scare last year when he was hospitalized following a bout of dizziness during a performance. This time around, he’ll be celebrating the 25th anniversary of Supernatural, his late-career resurgence that produced multiple Grammys and the earworm single “Smooth.” He’ll be joined by “Mr. Jones” act Counting Crows who are still making music, recently releasing Butter Miracle, Suite One.
10. The Roots, August 16, 713 Music Hall
Taking a break from their day job as the house band for The Tonight Show, the Questlove-led, Philly act The Roots knows good music. “Hip Hop’s first legitimate band” is touring with rap groups who would be worth the price of admission on their own merits in Digable Planets and The Pharcyde, comprising the Hip-Hop is the Love of My Life tour. Any true Hip Hop head will no doubt be in attendance, each of those on the bill producing critically acclaimed, groundbreaking material over the course of their careers.
11. Limp Bizkit, August 11, Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
What is the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Limp Bizkit? The red, backwards ballcap? Doing it all for the “Nookie?" The god-awful album titles? The Woodstock ’99 riots? No matter what the answer is, Fred Durst and his band of rap-rock misfits are on a full-scale comeback with the ironically named Loserville tour. Xavier Wulf, Eddy Baner Bones, Riff Raff, Corey Feldman, and N8 No Face will make an appearance on a slate that is – no word of a lie – getting pretty good reviews.
12. Thirty Seconds To Mars, August 29, The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
Oh, Jared Leto. The tries-too-hard frontman of Thirty Second to Mars will shed his Oscar Award-winning actor persona to play some tunes this summer, but only after he climbed the Empire State building to promote his new album, It’s the End of the World But It’s a Beautiful Day. Despite the cringe-factor that is the Leto life, here’s the thing: The sometimes vocalist can wail when he wants to, as proven on hit single “The Kill.” And the opening acts, AFI, Poppy, and Kenny Hoopla, are all solid if you like some metal mixed with your emo.
No. 1: Country star Luke Combs headlines NRG Stadium on August 9 & 10.
