The Crooner and The Cowboy

Leon Bridges and Charley Crockett celebrate Texas at Houston tour stop

Leon Bridges and Charley Crockett are going on a Texas-themed tour together.

Photo courtesy of Leon Bridges and Charley Crockett

Two Texas musicians in different genres with a lot of Lone Star pride are hitting the road together. Leon Bridges and Charley Crockett are stopping at The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion in The Woodlands on Sunday, September 21.

Bridges was raised and got his career started in Fort Worth, and Crockett is from the Rio Grande Valley and now lives in Austin. However, the The Crooner & The Cowboy Tour only stops in two Texas cities: the date in The Woodlands followed by Austin on September 23.

It all kicks off at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles on June 5, with more than a two month break before the second date in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. There are 21 dates in all.

Both Texas shows will feature Dave Alvin and Jimmie Dale Gilmore as openers. The two first teamed up for their 2018 album Downey to Lubbock, which references their hometowns in California and Texas. Gilmore now lives in Austin.

A press release shares that the tour will celebrate Bridges and Crockett's "shared roots, longtime friendship, and the rich musical heritage of Texas." It'll be an interesting night for fans with broad tastes, as Bridges brings R&B and Crockett brings country. However, both are known for their organic takes on old-fashioned styles, and both emphasize their pasts as buskers in Texas.

Crockett just released his new album, Lonesome Drifter, on March 14, 2025. Pitchfork rated it 7.2, describing it as "flush with doubt and humanity." He made his debut at RodeoHouston earlier this week.

Bridges is coming off the release of his fourth studio album, Leon, which he released during the Austin City Limits Music Festival on October 4, 2024.

Presales start Tuesday, March 25, at 10 am via Seated; public sales start Friday, March 28, at 10 am.

Every ticket sold will contribute $1 to Bridges' charity with football coach Gary Patterson, The Big Good. The nonprofit helps amplify the causes of four North Texas partners, including a food bank, a students' organization, and more.

Dates for The Crooner & The Cowboy Tour

6/05/2025 Hollywood Bowl // Los Angeles, CA (Show already on sale)
8/26/2025 BMO Pavilion // Milwaukee, WI !
8/27/2025 Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre at Freedom Hill // Sterling Heights, MI !
8/28/2025 Budweiser Stage // Toronto, ON !
8/30/2025 Broadview Stage at SPAC // Saratoga Springs, NY !
8/31/2025 Thompson's Point // Portland, ME !
9/01/2025 Thompson's Point // Portland, ME !
9/04/2025 Forest Hills Stadium // Forest Hills, NY @#
9/05/2025 The Mann Center // Philadelphia, PA @
9/06/2025 Allianz Amphitheater at Riverfront // Richmond, VA @
9/07/2025 Merriweather Post Pavilion // Columbia, MD @
9/09/2025 Blossom Music Center // Cuyahoga Falls, OH @
9/10/2025 The ICON Festival Stage at Smale Park // Cincinnati, OH @
9/12/2025 Red Hat Amphitheater // Raleigh, NC @
9/13/2025 Credit One Stadium // Charleston, SC @
9/14/2025 St. Augustine Amphitheatre // St Augustine, FL @
9/15/2025 The BayCare Sound // Clearwater, FL @
9/17/2025 Coca-Cola Amphitheater // Birmingham, AL %
9/19/2025 Walmart AMP // Rogers, AR %
9/21/2025 The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion // The Woodlands, TX %
9/23/2025 Moody Center // Austin, TX %

! – Noeline Hoffman opening

@ – Reyna Tropical opening

# – Honky Tonkin’ In Queens opening

% – Dave Alvin & Jimmie Dale Gilmore opening

concerts live music

Movie Review

Billie Eilish takes fans behind the scenes in immersive 3D tour film

Photo by Henry Hwu/courtesy of Paramount Pictures

Billie Eilish in Billie Eilish: Hit Me Hard and Soft - The Tour Live in 3D.

In 2021, at the tender age of 19, singer Billie Eilish was already the subject of a documentary, The World’s a Little Blurry. At that point, she had only released one album, so the film threatened to feel too early for such treatment. The ensuing five years have only made her a bigger star, though, so in many ways that movie now feels prescient for the person on display in the new concert documentary with the unwieldy title of Billie Eilish: Hit Me Hard and Soft - The Tour Live in 3D.

Directed by Eilish and blockbuster filmmaker James Cameron, the film takes viewers inside Eilish’s 2024-2025 tour in support of her latest album, 2023’s Hit Me Hard and Soft. Filmed mostly at her series of shows in Manchester, England, the movie is a showcase for Eilish’s music, but it also serves as a smaller exploration of the type of person she is, as well as the impact she has had on her legion of fans.

The draw of the film is the use of Cameron’s beloved 3D technology, which he has employed in each of the three Avatar films. Unlike in those films, where the 3D has the odd effect of making the visuals too realistic for their own good, the technique brings an intimacy to the large-scale show that underscores the unique bond the singer has with her supporters.

Eilish and Cameron go back and forth between performances at the concert to behind-the-scenes sequences, detailing the enormous effort it takes to put on a show like that and how Eilish spends her time getting ready for it. As in The World’s a Little Blurry, this film continues to portray the singer as down-to-Earth, someone who yearns to maintain the connection to her fans that she’s had since she released her first single, “Ocean Eyes,” 10 years ago.

And as the many emotional songs in Eilish’s concert playlist prove, the feeling from the crowd is mutual. While Eilish has multiple bangers like “Bad Guy,” “Therefore I Am,” and the Charli XCX collaboration “Guess,” it’s the sad songs like “Everything I Wanted,” “Happier Than Ever,” and the Oscar-winning Barbie anthem, “What Was I Made For?” that hit the hardest. The depth of feeling emanating from her many sobbing fans singing along to crushing songs cannot be understated.

For audiences of the film, though, it’s the breadth of camera angles and shot choices that make it truly dynamic. There are cameras everywhere, including in the crowd, inside a cube at the center of the stage that rises and descends, following Eilish as she traipses every inch of the long, rectangular stage, and even a small one Eilish uses to bring an extra personal touch to the in-arena screen. Combined, they capture the complete energy of the concert, something that is not always the case in a film of this type.

Eilish has almost as many movies — two — as she does albums — three — which borders on overkill for a singer of her age. But both her music and the movies show her to be a person who knows the responsibility of being a celebrity, someone who understands that her fans are the reason she’s famous at all. Her career may go up or down from here, but it’s clear she’s already made a huge impact on those who love her most.

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Billie Eilish: Hit Me Hard and Soft - The Tour Live in 3D opens in theaters on May 8.

movies film