we love the '80s

Flamboyant pop icon Boy George and Culture Club bring good karma to Houston with '80s faves Berlin and Howard Jones

Any self-respecting '80s New Wave/New Romantic/pop fan would no doubt possess a mixtape — or at least a Spotify playlist — featuring Boy George and Culture Club, Berlin, and Howard Jones. Now, Houston fans of all three can ditch the Maxell cassettes and experience the real thing, as all three acts head to town on a new tour.

Flamboyant '80s pop/fashion/culture icon Boy George and his act Culture Club will hit the The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion on Friday, August 11 as part of The Letting It Go Show, a 25-city summer U.S. tour featuring the three Big '80s acts. The day before The Woodlands stop, the tour will hit Dos Equis Pavilion in Dallas on Thursday, August 10 and Austin's Germania Insurance Amphitheater on Saturday, August 12.

Tickets for the Live Nation-produced show will be available starting with a Citi presale beginning on Wednesday, April 19. Expect more presales throughout the week ahead of the general onsale, which starts at 10 am Friday, April 21 at livenation.com.

As for the show, fans can expect Culture Club's singalong faves such as "Karma Chameleon," "Church of the Poisoned Mind," and the reggae-inspired song that started it all, "Do You Really Want To Hurt Me.” Boasting seven straight Top Ten hits in the U.S. and UK, Culture Club became a pop powerhouse through the early and mid-'80s, before pausing and eventually disbanding.

A lighting rod for identity politics and a style maverick who often donned androgynous and even head-scratching looks, Boy George (née George Alan O'Dowd) made a grandiose return in 1992 with his haunting, ethereal cover of Dave Berry's "The Crying Game" became the title song for the Oscar-nominated film of the same name. His resurgence led to his autobiography, Take It Like a Man, which was published in 1995. Devotees rejoiced when the Culture Club trio reunited in 1998, issuing the two-disc set VH1 Storytellers/Greatest Hits. (The current Culture Club lineup features George with bandmates Roy Hay and Mikey Craig.)

A favorite of '80s dance clubs long before they hit the mainstream, electronic dance/New Wave act Berlin shocked and rocked with its single "Sex (I'm A...)," which sparked bans and outrage with its (then) outrageous lyrics and lead singer Teri Nunn's sultry, breathy stylings. Chart toppers "No More Words" and the clubby "The Metro" followed, but the band struck solid gold with its lush ballad "Take My Breath Away," the unforgettable love scene track in Tom Cruise's Top Gun. Herself also an '80s icon, Nunn is seemingly ageless and was recently ranked No. 11 on VH1.com’s “100 Greatest Women in Rock.”

Photo courtesy of Berlin

Ageless singer Teri Nunn (center) and Berlin will bring the dance hits and are sure to take your breath away.

With more than 10 million albums sold worldwide, Howard Jones has transitioned from '80s and '90s pop act to current relevance thanks to his poppy, hummable hits be9ing used in screen hits like Stranger Things, Breaking Bad, The Watchmen, and more. Bursting on the scene as a hot new British act with "New Song," Jones (or HoJo as fans know him) followed with anthemic hits like "Everlasting Love," "What is Love," and "Life in One Day." Cherished for those smash singles and the slow singalong "No One is to Blame," he returned in the '90s with feel-good single "Lift Me Up."

Here is the full schedule of The Letting It Go tour dates:

Thu Jul 13 – West Palm Beach, FL – iTHINK Financial Amphitheatre

Sat Jul 15 – Tampa, FL – MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre

Sun Jul 16 – Jacksonville, FL – Daily's Place Amphitheatre

Tue Jul 18 – Atlanta, GA – Cadence Bank Amphitheatre at Chastain Park

Wed Jul 19 – Charlotte, NC – PNC Music Pavilion

Thu Jul 20 – Nashville, TN – Ascend Amphitheater

Sat Jul 22 – Bethel, NY – Bethel Woods Center for the Arts

Sun Jul 23 – Wantagh, NY – Northwell Health at Jones Beach Theater

Tue Jul 25 – Mansfield, MA – Xfinity Center

Wed Jul 26 – Holmdel, NJ – PNC Bank Arts Center

Fri Jul 28 – Bristow, VA – Jiffy Lube Live

Sat Jul 29 – Darien Center, NY – Darien Lake Amphitheater

Sun Jul 30 – Philadelphia, PA – TD Pavilion at the Mann

Tue Aug 01 – Toronto, ON – Budweiser Stage

Thu Aug 03 – Tinley Park, IL – Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre

Fri Aug 04 – Clarkston, MI – Pine Knob Music Theatre

Sat Aug 05 – Cincinnati, OH – Riverbend Music Center

Tue Aug 08 – Kansas City, MO – Starlight Theatre

Thu Aug 10 – Dallas, TX – Dos Equis Pavilion

Fri Aug 11 – The Woodlands, TX – Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion

Sat Aug 12 – Austin, TX – Germania Insurance Amphitheater

Mon Aug 14 – Rogers, AR – Walmart AMP

Fri Aug 18 – Phoenix, AZ – Talking Stick Resort Amphitheatre

Sat Aug 19 – San Diego, CA – North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre

Sun Aug 20 – Concord, CA – Concord Pavilion

Movie Review

Houston native Wes Anderson shows off comedic side in The Phoenician Scheme

Photo courtesy of TPS Productions/Focus Features

Benicio Del Toro, Mia Threapleton, and Michael Cera in The Phoenician Scheme.

If you were to do a poll of the best comedy filmmakers of the 21st century, writer/director Wes Anderson is not the obvious choice to come out on top, but there’s an argument to be made for him. His quirky style doesn’t yield the guffaws that more broad comedies do, but the absurd situations he creates in his films are often more consistently funny than anything else.

Anderson’s inimitable approach is once again on full display in The Phoenician Scheme. At its center is Zsa-Zsa Gorda (Benicio Del Toro), a much-hated businessman who’s looking to complete a number of big projects in the fictional country of Phoenicia. As he seems to be the target of multiple assassination attempts, he appoints his daughter, Liesl (Mia Threapleton), as his heir to try to ensure his legacy.

Both she and his new assistant, Bjorn (Michael Cera), accompany him around the country as he tries to enact a scheme to have others cover the bulk of the cost for the various projects. Those he attempts to convince include Phoenician Prince Farouk (Riz Ahmed), brothers Leland (Tom Hanks) and Reagan (Bryan Cranston), fellow businessman Marseille Bob (Mathieu Amalric), ship captain Marty (Jeffrey Wright), his Cousin Hilda (Scarlett Johansson), and Uncle Nubar (Benedict Cumberbatch).

Put in Andersonian terms, the film is a mix between the madcap antics from The Grand Budapest Hotel and the impenetrable storytelling of Asteroid City. If you were to try to understand every detail of what’s going on in the story of The Phoenician Scheme, it might take three or more viewings to do so. But the film is still highly entertaining because Anderson fills its frames with his typical visual delights, great wordplay, and his particular version of slapstick.

Much of the comedy of the film derives from Anderson inserting moments that initially come as a surprise and then utilizing them as running jokes. The film features more blood than usual for the filmmaker, but each time a character gets wounded (or worse), it gets funnier. The assassination attempts get broader as the film goes along, and the matter-of-fact way in which they’re treated by Gorda and others is also hilarious.

Of course, Anderson is the cinephile’s comedy director, so the film is also full of high-brow things like allusions to paintings, tributes to other filmmakers, and classical music. Each time Gorda has an attempt on his life, he briefly finds himself in a version of limbo, depicted in black-and-white by Anderson. The cast of characters Gorda finds there - including Bill Murray as God - could come straight out of a 1950s Ingmar Bergman movie.

Del Toro has delivered some great performances over the years, but this one is near the top for him. This is his second Anderson film (following The French Dispatch) and he nails the deadpan method. Also great is Cera, who uses a ridiculous accent to make a big impression. Threapleton, the daughter of Kate Winslet, makes the most of her first big film role. The list of supporting actors is too deep to properly laud everyone, but they all fit in seamlessly.

Opinions will differ, but for this critic’s money, Anderson is at his best when he fully leans into the comedy of his films. He does just that in The Phoenician Scheme, to the point that it doesn’t matter that the story is overly complex. The combination of his eye for visual detail, a witty script, and committed performances make it a success.

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The Phoenician Scheme is now playing in theaters.

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Movie Review

Houston native Wes Anderson shows off comedic side in The Phoenician Scheme