Concert News

Houston rap star Don Toliver rolls into town on high octane new tour

Don Toliver will perform at the Toyota Center on Thursday, May 14.

Courtesy of Don Toliver

Houston rap legend Don Toliver will perform a hometown show at the Toyota Center on Thursday, May 14.

The new concert is part of Toliver’s Octane Tour, a 30-city run through North America that begins in Orlando on May 8 and concludes in Denver on July 5. In addition to Houston, the rapper will perform in Dallas on June 13 and San Antonio on June 14.

He’ll be joined on all three Texas dates by by SahBabii, SoFaygo, and Chase B.

Toliver is touring in support of Octane, his fifth studio album that was released last month and debuted at No. 1 on both Spotify and Apple Music. Recorded during Toliver’s European tour and at sessions in California, Octane is inspired by Toliver’s love of cars and rally racing culture, according to press materials. A native Houstonian, Toliver is also known for tracks such as certified platinum singles “No Pole” and “Private Landing” featuring Justin Bieber, along with multi-platinum hits including “No Idea,” “After Party,” “Lemonade,” and “Bandit.”

Along with the tour announcement, Toliver has unveiled the video for Rendezvous, a track he recorded with Yeat.

Tickets will be available starting with the Citi presale beginning on Wednesday, February 4. Additional presales will run throughout the week ahead of the general on-sale beginning Friday, February 6 at 10 am at LiveNation.com.

Various VIP packages are also available, including early entry and access to a pre-show VIP lounge. Find those details at vipnation.com.

Octane 2026 Tour Dates

Fri May 8 – Orlando, FL @ Rolling Loud*^#
Tue May 12 – Tulsa, OK @ BOK Center*^+
Thu May 14 – Houston, TX @ Toyota Center*^+
Sun May 17 – Columbia, SC @ Colonial Life Arena*^+
Tue May 19 – Atlanta, GA @ State Farm Arena*^+
Thu May 21 – Charlotte, NC @ Spectrum Center*^+
Sat May 23 – Pittsburgh, PA @ PPG Paints Arena*^+
Sun May 24 – Philadelphia, PA @ Xfinity Mobile Arena*^+
Tue May 26 – Belmont Park, NY @ UBS Arena*^+
Wed May 27 – Newark, NJ @ Prudential Center*^+
Fri May 29 – Hartford, CT @ PeoplesBank Arena*^+
Sat May 30 – Boston, MA @ TD Garden*^+
Mon Jun 01 – New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden*^+
Tue Jun 02 – Baltimore, MD @ CFG Bank Arena*^+
Thu Jun 04 – Detroit, MI @ Little Caesars Arena*^+
Fri Jun 05 – Toronto, ON @ Scotiabank Arena*^+
Sun Jun 07 – Montreal, QC @ Bell Centre*^+
Tue Jun 09 – Columbus, OH @ Nationwide Arena*^+
Thu Jun 11 – Chicago, IL @ United Center*^+
Sat Jun 13 – Dallas, TX @ American Airlines Center*^+
Sun Jun 14 – San Antonio, TX @ Frost Bank Center*^+
Wed Jun 17 – Kansas City, MO @ T-Mobile Center*^+
Fri Jun 19 – Milwaukee, WI @ Milwaukee Summerfest*^+#
Sat Jun 20 – Minneapolis, MN @ Target Center*^+
Wed Jun 24 – Seattle, WA @ Climate Pledge Arena*^+
Thu Jun 25 – Vancouver, BC @ Rogers Arena*^+
Sat Jun 27 – Oakland, CA @ Oakland Arena*^+
Mon Jun 29 – Los Angeles, CA @ Crypto.com Arena*^+
Tue Jun 30 – San Diego, CA @ Pechanga Arena San Diego*^+
Wed Jul 01 – Phoenix, AZ @ Mortgage Matchup Center*^+
Fri Jul 03 – Las Vegas, NV @ MGM Grand Garden Arena*^+
Sun Jul 05 – Denver, CO @ Ball Arena*^+

*with SahBabii
^with SoFaygo
+with CHASE B
# Festival Headline

Rising up

Houston chef slices into Gordon Ramsay-led cooking competition show

A Trinidad González/Facebook

Chef Trinidad "Machete" González is competing on Next Level Chef.

A Houston chef is showcasing his skills on Season 5 of Next Level Chef. Trinidad Gonzalez, better known locally as Chef Machete is one of the professional chefs who will compete in cooking challenges for the opportunity to win $250,000 and professional mentorship from celebrity chef judges Gordon Ramsay, Nyesha Arrington, and Richard Blais.

This Fox show has a unique conceit. Chef teams work together in three kitchen stacked on top of each other, like a strange multi-story culinary incubator where the top floor's kitchen is pristine, with state-of-the-art equipment, the bottom floor's kitchen is decrepit, and the middle floor is an average commercial kitchen. Other twists bring added challenges.

Locally known for his Bay Area taqueria Gordo Niños, Machete is a self-taught chef who serves fusion style tacos and burritos. Available with fillings such as chicken, pastor, and beef, the chef's "secret menu" of over-the-top items such as deep-fried burritos or the "Surf N Turf Killa-Dilla," a quesadilla stuffed with shrimp, carne asada, french fries, guacamole, two kinds of cheese, and Mexican ketchup — add the chef's signature "Lean Sauce" for another $1. He's also a multi-time winner of taco competition that's part of the University of St. Thomas's popular Two Saints and a Taco fundraiser.

Machete survived the first episode, which aired on January 29, making him eligible to be drafted onto a team led by one of the judges. A new episode, which debuts this Thursday, February 5, will feature two Texas-based "social media" chefs, Tim Laielli and Christian Alquiza.

Laielli, who is based in Dripping Springs, has 1.4 million followers on Instagram and 910,000 subscribers on YouTube. He doesn't have an obvious signature style that viewers can expect him to lean on in the competition. If anything, his strength may be his willingness to try new recipes, often using his daughters' requests and cuisines around the world as a springboard (whether complying or completely ignoring them) into dishes like Thai curry, homemade McGriddles, and a lot of steaks.

Over in Austin proper, Alquiza posts videos under the punny account name @illsqueezeya. He's also worked for the channel First We Feast, where he hosts Hot Kitchen, a snappy instructional show focusing on indulgent, dramatic foods like super-hot chicken and a 10,000-calorie cheat meal.

Alquiza's personal videos follow more of the standard food show format, with the chef speaking to the camera and offering step-by-step instructions to follow along with. Even though his image is mostly wrapped up with First We Feast, Next Level Chef considers him a social media chef.

The two Austin chefs have even collaborated before. Things seem to have gone well on the show, since all three Texas chefs posed for a picture at Beyond The Lines Tattoo in Austin, with a text overlay revealing that the chefs got inked up together.

Next Level Chef season 5 contestants at Beyond the Line Tattoo Looks like the chefs had a good time.Beyond the Lines Tattoo/Instagram

Viewers can watch Next Level Chef every Thursday on Fox or streaming the next day on Hulu.

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Eric Sandler contributed to this article.

$Trinidad Gonz\u00e1lez Next Level Chef$

A Trinidad González/Facebook

Chef Trinidad "Machete" González is competing on Next Level Chef.

chefs celebrities cooking shows tv shows competition reality-tv