catch these stars

Power-posing Greta Van Fleet gets ready to rock Houston on highly anticipated new world tour

Rockers Greta Van Fleet will play Toyota Center on July 28.

Photo courtesy of Greta Van Fleet

Classic rock-influenced band Greta Van Fleet confused and inspired many when they debuted in 2012. Fusing Led Zeppelin, Bob Dylan, and even The Doors, the young act from Michigan dripped with a bombastic, bluesy, stadium rock vibe that didn't exactly jibe with pop acts their age.

Now, the band consisting of brothers Jake, Josh, and Sam Kiszka plus Daniel Wagner boast a legion of diehard fans, a Grammy Award, and are set to launch a highly anticipated third studio album, Starcatcher, slated to drop July 21. Fans can catch the quartet when they head hit Toyota Center on July 28 — just days after the Starcatcher release date — on the appropriately titled Starcatcher World Tour.

Houston fans who can't get enough Greta can also catch them at Fort Worth's Dickies Arena on July 27 — the only other Texas tour stop. The tour kicks off in Nashville on July 24 and will dot the globe before finally ending in Portugal in December. GVF (as they're known) will tour with Icelandic stud rockers Kaleo, plus Surf Curse, Mt. Joy, and Black Honey in support.

Tickets will be available for the Electric Tomb Presale beginning at 10 am Wednesday, April 19. in the U.S. and Europe. Expect more presale opportunities ahead of the general onsale starting at 10 am Friday, April 21. Score tickets and more Starcatcher World Tour information here.

Legendary among fans for their frenetic live shows, Greta Van Fleet has sold more than 1 million concert tickets worldwide and come with a host of accolades for their 2021 sophomore album, The Battle at Garden’s Gate. Debuting as Billboard's No. 1 Rock Album, The Battle at Garden’s Gate was also named Billboard's No. 1 Hard Rock Album, Vinyl Album, and ranked No. 2 in theTop Album Sales category. The band landed their first Grammy Award for their 2017 EP, From The Fires.

Known for brash, rock 'n' rollin', give-zero-effs showmanship, the band isn't without controversy. Lead singer Josh Kiszka sparked a hashtag campaign (#SpeakUpGVF) for what many considered was his cultural appropriation of Indigenous culture — namely his on-stage costuming. Kiszka took to Instagram to acknowledge the controversy.

No telling if the band will prompt new hashtag campaigns: perhaps regarding which politician they'd like to drop acid with?

Here are the current Starcatcher World Tour dates:

July 24—Nashville, TN—Bridgestone Arena*

July 27—Fort Worth, TX—Dickies Arena*

July 28—Houston —Toyota Center*

July 31—Denver, CO—Ball Arena*

August 2—Salt Lake City, UT—Vivint Arena*

August 4—Seattle, WA—Climate Pledge Arena*

August 5—Portland, OR—Veterans Memorial Coliseum*

August 8—Oakland, CA—Oakland Arena*

August 10—Los Angeles, CA—The Kia Forum*

August 12—Las Vegas, NV—T-Mobile Arena*

September 3—St. Paul, MN—Xcel Energy Center†

September 6—Chicago, IL—Allstate Arena†

September 8—Detroit, MI—Little Caesars Arena†

September 11—Washington DC—Capital One Arena†

September 12—New York, NY—Madison Square Garden†

September 15—Boston, MA—TD Garden†

September 16-17—Asbury Park, NJ—Sea Hear Now Festival 2023

September 19—Philadelphia, PA—Wells Fargo Center†

September 22—Indianapolis, IN—Gainbridge Fieldhouse†

September 23—Cleveland, OH—Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse†

November 6—Hamburg, Germany—Sporthalle^

November 8—Amsterdam, Netherlands—Ziggo Dome^

November 9—Paris, France—Accor Arena^

November 12—Brussels, Belgium—Forest National^

November 14—London, UK—OVO Arena Wembley^

November 16—Dublin, Ireland—3Arena^

November 19—Manchester, UK—AO Arena^

November 20—Glasgow, UK—OVO Hydro^

November 26—Copenhagen, Denmark—Forum+

November 28—Munich, Germany—Zenith+

November 30—Bologna, Italy—Unipol Arena+

December 3—Barcelona, Spain—Sant Jordi Club+

December 4—Madrid, Spain—WiZink Center+

December 6—Lisbon, Portugal—Campo Pequeno+

Tour key:

*with Kaleo

†with Surf Curse

^with Mt. Joy

+with Black Honey

Movie Review

Fun final act isn't enough to make Clayface DC's next great movie

Tom Rhys Harries and Naomi Ackie in Clayface

Photo by Parisa Taghizadeh

Tom Rhys Harries and Naomi Ackie are patient and doctor in Clayface.

The history of DC Comics in movies has been hit-and-miss, especially when it comes to anything not directly involving Batman or Superman. Over the years, films have been headlined by heroes like Catwoman, Green Lantern, Aquaman, Shazam, the Flash, and more, and while some succeeded, none left a lasting mark on moviegoers’ imaginations.

Much like they did with Joker, the powers-that-be behind DC Studios productions are trying to entice viewers with a no-holds-barred story in Clayface. Matt Hagen (Tom Rhys Harries) is an A-list movie actor with both critical and commercial appeal. Unfortunately, a night of celebration for his recent Oscar nomination leads to him sleeping with Theresa (Ruby Sear), the girlfriend of Markos Szabo (David Dencik), a prominent mobster in Gotham City. Markos then enacts revenge by taking a razor to Matt’s face.

Desperate to find a way to look like his old self again, Matt seeks out Dr. Caitlyn Corr (Naomi Ackie), who’s conducting cutting-edge nanotechnology research that can heal any kind of damage. While the solution works on Matt, it also has the side effect of his body doing unintended things, even morphing into those with whom he comes into contact. After initially struggling with his new body, Matt decides to use his powers to enact revenge on those who’ve done him wrong.

Directed by James Watkins (Speak No Evil) and written by Mike Flanagan (The Life of Chuck) and Hossein Amini, the film is only intermittently entertaining as it tries to sell its ridiculous premise. Right from the start, it seems like the filmmakers have been given a limited budget, as everything from the sets to the CGI to the stilted dialogue feels cheap. For a film coming from a major studio, the whole thing comes off as schlocky and undercooked.

Watkins and his team try to make up for that shoddiness by delivering R-rated thrills like nudity and body horror, but those elements can only distract for so long. Much of the film is spent dealing with Matt’s trauma, and the downbeat nature of his body issues combined with very little action makes the movie not very fun to watch. The film also tries to make hay with more than a doctor-patient bond between Caitlyn — who has a boyfriend on the police force — and Matt, but like the most of the film, it never connects.

It’s not until the final third of the movie that the filmmakers land on the tone they should have been using the whole time. Matt’s ability to transform himself, while illogical and confounding, provides multiple over-the-top, funny moments and some legitimately creative kills. Instead of taking forever to set up Matt/Clayface’s origin story, Watkins and his team should have just cut to the chase and let him loose to see what the character could truly do.

This is the first big role for Welsh actor Harries, and while he’s not exactly magnetic, he proves himself worthy of the lead role. Ackie is also fine, but after several years of trying to advance up the Hollywood ladder, she may be running out of time to show she’s a star. The supporting cast has a couple of familiar faces, but it’s mostly lesser-known actors who do nothing to indicate they deserve bigger showcases.

It’s difficult to imagine any non-DC Comics fans having a strong attachment to the character of Clayface, and the film fails to make the case that he should be a continuing character. The poor quality of almost everything that appears on screen is indicative of the kind of effort and money that was put into the film, and sometimes you really do get what you pay for.

---

Clayface opens in theaters on October 23.

movies film clayface