Concert News

Dozens of Houston summer concert tickets go on sale for $30

Weird Al is one of dozens of artists with discount tickets.

Photo courtesy of Weird Al Yankovic

In what has become an annual summer tradition, concert promoter Live Nation is offering a discount ticket program for summer concert season, with $30 tickets for a variety of shows at venues across Texas.

Live Nation’s $30 Ticket to Summer is selling tickets for $30 to more than 1,000 shows at select amphitheaters across the U.S. and Canada throughout the season, including The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion at The Woodlands in Houston, Dos Equis Pavilion in Dallas, The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory in Irving, Germania Insurance Amphitheater, Moody Amphitheater at Waterloo Park, and Stubb's Waller Creek Amphitheater in Austin.

The initial on-sale begins May 21, and spans a wide range of genres — including pop, Latin, hip-hop, country, R&B, rock, metal, electronic, comedy, and more.

Tickets purchased through this offer include all fees upfront in the $30 cost. Any taxes will be added at checkout as applicable to each city, state, and venue. Tickets are available for select Live Nation shows, while inventory lasts.

How $30 Ticket to Summer works
Starting May 21, in the U.S. and Canada, fans can visit LiveNation.com/TickettoSummer to see the full list of participating events. Once they’ve selected a show, they should look for the ticket type labeled “$30 Ticket to Summer,” add the ticket(s) to their cart, and proceed to checkout.

How to find participating shows
Fans can filter their search on LiveNation.com/TickettoSummer by participating events, venues, or artists. While on the website, fans can also set the location to the closest city and the site will refresh to only include participating shows nearby.

How to buy tickets
The general onsale will begin Wednesday, May 21 at 10 am local time while supplies last at LiveNation.com/TickettoSummer. ($30 Ticket to Summer will be available with T-Mobile and Rakuten early access beginning Tuesday, May 20.)

Here are the cities, venues, and shows where the $30 action is happening.

Houston
The $30 Ticket to Summer offer is available for the following shows at The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion at The Woodlands:

Simple Minds
Styx with The Kevin Cronin Band and Don Felder
Summer of Loud
Outlaw Music Festival with Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan
Kesha
Rick Springfield
Kansas
Russ
Weird Al Yankovic
Big Time Rush
The Offspring
Kidz Bop Live
Leon Bridges
Charlie Wilson
Keith Urban
Alice Cooper and Judas Priest

Dallas
The $30 Ticket to Summer offer is available for the following shows at Dos Equis Pavilion:

Halsey
97.1 The Eagle’s BFD with Chevelle, Marilyn Manson
Dierks Bentley
Luke Bryan
Summer of Loud with Beartooth, I Prevail
Stick Figure
Outlaw Music Festival with Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan
Kesha
Parker McCollum
Jason Aldean
Juntos
Big Time Rush
The Offspring
Pantera
Nelly

Irving
The $30 Ticket to Summer offer is available for the following shows at The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory:

Hauser of 2Cellos
Alison Krauss & Union Station featuring Jerry Douglas
Simple Minds
Bini
Babymetal
Tash Sultana
The Driver Era
ALT 103.7 Presents Slightly Stoopid
Kansas
97.1 The Eagle Presents Volbeat
Billy Currington & Kip Moore
Xdinary Heroes
Collective Soul and +LIVE+
Lost 80's Live Ft. A Flock of Seagulls, Big Country
Toto with Christopher Cross & Men at Work
The Flaming Lips & Modest Mouse
KIDZ BOP Live
Simple Plan
Coheed and Cambria
Gavin Adcock
Myke Towers
Alabama Shakes
Eden Munoz
John Legend

Austin
The $30 Ticket to Summer offer is available for the following shows at Stubb's Waller Creek Amphitheater

Drive-By Truckers
Tennis
Thievery Corporation
The Hives
Die Spitz
Matt Maltese

The $30 Ticket to Summer offer is available for the following shows at Germania Insurance Amphitheater

Styx with The Kevin Cronin Band and Don Felder
Summer of Loud
Stick Figure
Willie Nelson's 4th of July Picnic and Fireworks
Russ
+Live+ with Collective Soul
The Offspring
Pantera
Alice Cooper and Judas Priest

The $30 Ticket to Summer offer is available for the following shows at Moody Amphitheater at Waterloo Park:

Peach Pit & Briston Maroney
Blue October
Slightly Stoopid
Billy Currington
Pixies
Coheed and Cambria
Father John Misty
Lake Street Dive

More tickets will be added throughout the summer, for chances to score $30 tickets all season long.

concerts

Movie Review

How to Train Your Dragon remake puts a fresh twist on the original

Photo courtesy of Universal Pictures

Toothless and Mason Thames in How to Train Your Dragon.

Let’s get it out of the way right at the top: The new live-action How to Train Your Dragon, coming a mere 15 years after the original animated film, serves no real purpose other than to make more money for Universal Pictures and Dreamworks Pictures. However, unlike Disney’s approach toward remaking their animated movies, this attempt manages to succeed on its own merits instead of being a half-baked vessel for nostalgia.

As fans will remember, Hiccup (Mason Thames) lives in Berk, a town on a remote island populated by Vikings who constantly have to defend themselves against rampaging dragons. Hiccup’s dad, Stoick (Gerard Butler), is the community’s vaunted leader, with a legacy that seems impossible for Hiccup to measure up to, especially since he’s stuck in the armory alongside Gobber (Nick Frost).

But Hiccup has a knack for inventions, and his use of one new weapon during a dragon attack takes down a feared Night Fury. Finding the wounded dragon deep in the forest, Hiccup decides against killing it, leading to an unexpected bond between the two of them. Most of the film shows Hiccup trying to prove himself to his townspeople, including the fierce Astrid (Nico Parker), while also nursing the dragon he dubs Toothless back to health with the help of another one of his ingenious creations.

Written and directed by Dean DeBlois (who’s had the same roles on all four HTTYD films), the film is most notable for how engaging it is despite it retelling a story many already know and love. The biggest reason for this is a pivot away from telling a story mainly for kids toward one that feels like an extremely light version of Game of Thrones. Almost right away, there are real stakes for the people in the film, and the way DeBlois and his team stage the scenes, the danger can be felt by the audience.

This sense of “realness” comes through especially well in the scenes between Hiccup and Toothless. The design of Toothless is faithful to the original, but the CGI makes the dragon feel amazingly believable. And when they start flying, the film literally and metaphorically takes off. At multiple points, the camera seems to have trouble keeping them in frame, a smart move toward verisimilitude when the filmmakers clearly could have made it an overly smooth watching experience.

Even though it’s more serious than the original, the film still has plenty of fun to offer. Characters like Gobber (who replaces his two missing limbs with odd contraptions) and the ragtag group of teenagers who come to be in awe of Hiccup’s skills at taming dragons provide more than a few laughs. Hiccup isn’t quite as goofy as he was when voiced by Jay Baruchel, which turns out to be a good thing as his sense of purpose amps up the drama of the story.

Thames’ performance gets better and better as the film goes along, as Hiccup goes from town whipping boy toward hero. He really shines in the last act when he’s given a few scenes that show off his acting range. Parker is equally good, demonstrating the girl power needed for the role, but also the softness of a potential love interest. Butler, the only actor reprising their voice role, is a great presence who sells the outsized personality of Stoick.

Against the odds, this new version of How to Train Your Dragon is equal to the success of the first film, accomplishing the goal of making it feel like you’re watching the story for the first time. If live-action remakes are going to continue to come out, future filmmakers should study this film for how to respect both the history of the franchise and the audience paying good money to be entertained.

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How to Train Your Dragon opens in theaters on June 13.

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Movie Review

How to Train Your Dragon remake puts a fresh twist on the original