Concert News

Goo Goo Dolls slide into Houston on 2025 tour with Dashboard Confessional

Goo Goo Dolls will play at Smart Financial Centre on July 17.

Photo courtesy of Goo Goo Dolls

The rock band Goo Goo Dolls will hit the road in 2025 with their Summer Anthem Tour, a 41-date trek that will include a stop at Smart Financial Centre in Sugar Land on Thursday, July 16.

The Houston-area date and one in Fort Worth on July 16 will be the second and third concerts on the tour after it kicks off in Phoenix, Arizona on July 13. The massive North American tour will continue through September 12.

The band, led by John Rzeznik and Robby Takac, will perform a career-encompassing set that will celebrate the 30th anniversary of their breakthrough 1995 album, A Boy Named Goo, and feature multiple songs from their 2022 album, Chaos in Bloom.

They'll be joined on all dates by special guest Dashboard Confessional.

Although generally considered a '90s band, Goo Goo Dolls actually released their first album in 1987. They waited eight years and five albums before their first major hit, "Name," which led the way toward songs like "Iris" and "Slide" becoming '90s anthems.

The band has released 14 studio albums in their career, and according to statement by Rzeznik, they are putting together a 15th release that may also be showcased during the tour.

A local pre-sale will be on Thursday, November 21 from 10 am to 10 pm before the public on-sale starts on Friday, November 22 at 10 am. Tickets can be purchased at googoodolls.com/tour.

Goo Goo Dolls will be partnering with Joe Torre Safe At Home for the tour, a nonprofit founded in 2002 by Ali and Joe Torre to provide healing and education services to youth who have been traumatized by exposure to violence including domestic violence, child abuse, teen dating abuse and sexual assault to help break the cycle of violence.

GOO GOO DOLLS LIVE

Saturday, July 13, 2025 - Phoenix, AZ - Arizona Financial Theatre
Wednesday, July 16, 2025 - Fort Worth, TX - Dickies Arena
Thursday, July 17, 2025 - Sugar Land, TX - Smart Financial Centre
Saturday, July 19, 2025 - Rogers, AR - Walmart AMP
Sunday, July 20, 2025 - Nashville, TN - Ascend Amphitheater
Tuesday, July 22, 2025 - Atlanta, GA - Cadence Bank Amphitheatre at Chastain Park
Wednesday, July 23, 2025 - St Augustine, FL - St. Augustine Amphitheatre
Friday, July 25, 2025 - Charlotte, NC - Skyla Credit Union Amphitheatre
Saturday, July 26, 2025 - Raleigh, NC - Red Hat Amphitheater
Sunday, July 27, 2025 - Vienna, VA - Wolf Trap - Filene Center
Tuesday, July 29, 2025 - Boston, MA - LeaderBank Pavilion
Wednesday, July 30, 2025 - Saratoga Springs, NY - Broadview Stage at SPAC
Friday, August 1, 2025 - Holmdel, NJ - PNC Bank Arts Center
Saturday, August 2, 2025 - Wantagh, NY - Northwell at Jones Beach Theater
Sunday, August 3, 2025 - Philadelphia, PA - The Mann Center
Tuesday, August 5, 2025 - Bangor, ME - Maine Savings Amphitheater
Wednesday, August 6, 2025 - Gilford, NH - BankNH Pavilion
Friday, August 8, 2025 - Bridgeport, CT - Hartford HealthCare Amphitheater
Saturday, August 9, 2025 - Buffalo, NY - KeyBank Center
Saturday, August 10, 2025 - Toronto, ON - Budweiser Stage
Tuesday, August 12, 2025 - Cuyahoga Falls, OH - Blossom Music Center
Wednesday, August 13, 2025 - Chicago, IL - Huntington Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island
Friday, August 15, 2025 - Indianapolis, IN - Everwise Amphitheater at White River State Park
Saturday, August 16, 2025 - Sterling Heights, MI - Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre
Monday, August 18, 2025 - Waite Park, MN - The Ledge Amphitheater
Tuesday, August 19, 2025 - La Vista, NE - The Astro
Thursday, August 21, 2025 - St. Louis, MO - Saint Louis Music Park
Friday, August 22, 2025 - Kansas City, MO - Starlight Theatre
Sunday, August 24, 2025 - Morrison, CO - Red Rocks Amphitheatre
Tuesday, August 26, 2025 - West Valley City, UT - Utah First Credit Union Amphitheatre
Thursday, August 28, 2025 - Airway Heights, WA - Northern Quest Resort & Casino
Friday, August 29, 2025 - Bend, OR - Hayden Homes Amphitheater
Sunday, August 31, 2025 - Seattle, WA - Venue TBD
Monday, September 1, 2025 - Seattle, WA - Venue TBD
Thursday, September 4, 2025 - Berkeley, CA - Greek Theatre
Saturday, September 6, 2025 - Santa Barbara, CA - Santa Barbara Bowl
Sunday, September 7, 2025 - Los Angeles, CA - Greek Theatre
Tuesday, September 9, 2025 - Albuquerque, NM - Isleta Amphitheater
Thursday, September 11, 2025 - Oklahoma City, OK - The Zoo Amphitheatre
Friday, September 12, 2025 - Camdenton, MO - Ozark Amphitheater

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Movie Review

Star TV producer James L. Brooks stumbles with meandering movie Ella McCay

Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios

Emma Mackey in Ella McCay.

The impact that writer/director/producer James L. Brooks has made on Hollywood cannot be understated. The 85-year-old created The Mary Tyler Moore Show, personally won three Oscars for Terms of Endearment, and was one of the driving forces behind The Simpsons, among many other credits. Now, 15 years after his last movie, he’s back in the directing chair with Ella McCay.

The similarly-named Emma Mackey plays Ella, a 34-year-old lieutenant governor of an unnamed state in 2008 who’s on the verge of becoming governor when Governor Bill (Albert Brooks) gets picked to be a member of the president’s Cabinet. What should be a happy time is sullied by her needy husband, Ryan (Jack Lowden), her agoraphobic brother, Casey (Spike Fearn), and her perpetually-cheating father, Eddie (Woody Harrelson).

Despite the trio of men competing to bring her down, Ella remains an unapologetic optimist, an attitude bolstered by her aunt Helen (Jamie Lee Curtis), her assistant Estelle (Julie Kavner), and her police escort, Trooper Nash (Kumail Nanjiani). The film follows her over a few days as she navigates the perils of governing, the distractions her family brings, and the expectations being thrust upon her by many different people.

Brooks, who wrote and directed the film, is all over the place with his storytelling. What at first seems to be a straightforward story about Ella and her various issues soon starts meandering into areas that, while related to Ella, don’t make the film better. Prime among them are her brother and father, who are given a relatively small amount of screentime in comparison to the importance they have in her life. This is compounded by a confounding subplot in which Casey tries to win back his girlfriend, Susan (Ayo Edebiri).

Then there’s the whole political side of the story, which never finds its focus and is stuck in the past. Though it’s never stated explicitly, Ella and Governor Bill appear to be Democrats, especially given a signature program Ella pushes to help mothers in need. But if Brooks was trying to provide an antidote to the current real world politics, he doesn’t succeed, as Ella’s full goals are never clear. He also inexplicably shows her boring her fellow lawmakers to tears, a strange trait to give the person for whom the audience is supposed to be rooting.

What saves the movie from being an all-out train wreck is the performances of Mackey and Curtis. Mackey, best known for the Netflix show Sex Education, has an assured confidence to her that keeps the character interesting and likable even when the story goes downhill. Curtis, who has tended to go over-the-top with her roles in recent years, tones it down, offering a warm place of comfort for Ella to turn to when she needs it. The two complement each other very well and are the best parts of the movie by far.

Brooks puts much more effort into his female actors, including Kavner, who, even though she serves as an unnecessary narrator, gets most of the best laugh lines in the film. Harrelson is capable of playing a great cad, but his character here isn’t fleshed out enough. Fearn is super annoying in his role, and Lowden isn’t much better, although that could be mostly due to what his character is called to do. Were it not for the always-great Brooks and Nanjiani, the movie might be devoid of good male performances.

Brooks has made many great TV shows and movies in his 60+ year career, but Ella McCay is a far cry from his best. The only positive that comes out of it is the boosting of Mackey, who proves herself capable of not only leading a film, but also elevating one that would otherwise be a slog to get through.

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Ella McCay opens in theaters on December 12.

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Movie Review

Star TV producer James L. Brooks stumbles with meandering movie Ella McCay