Concert News

Rock gods Mötley Crüe roll into Houston on nostalgic 2026 tour

Mötley Crüe will play The Woodlands on September 11, 2026.

Photo by Ross Halfin

Iconic rock band Mötley Crüe will celebrate a couple of key anniversaries on their upcoming 2026 tour, The Return of the Carnival of Sins, which will include a stop at The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion in The Woodlands on Friday, September 11.

The two milestones being remembered are the 20th anniversary of their 2005-2006 Carnival of Sins tour, which marked the reunion of the band's original four members, and the 45th anniversary of the band itself, which was formed in 1981.

It's also the 12th anniversary of Mötley Crüe's "retirement" from touring, but that retirement was shelved in 2022 when they started the first of two tours with Def Leppard.

Calling the tour The Return of the Carnival of Sins isn't just trying to make fans nostalgic; it's Mötley Crüe saying that they're going to try to emulate the elaborate staging and a sense of chaos that came with the original tour.

The tour will stop in 33 cities across North America, starting on July 17 in Burgettstown, Pennsylvania. In addition to Houston, they will play Dallas on September 10.

They'll be joined by special guests Tesla and Extreme on all dates.

The heavy metal band was at their peak in the 1980s and '90s, when they had a string of top 10 albums and hits like "Smokin' in the Boys Room," "Dr. Feelgood," and "Without You."

They've released nine albums in their career, most recently Saints of Los Angeles in 2008.

In conjunction with the tour announcement, the band is releasing the Theatre Of Pain 40th Anniversary Deluxe box set, featuring a newly remastered version of the 1985 album on color vinyl, a never-before-released 1985 Long Beach live concert, and more.

The general on-sale for the tour begins on Friday, November 21 at 9 AM at motley.com.

THE RETURN OF THE CARNIVAL OF SINS - 2026 TOUR DATES

Fri, Jul 17, 2026 — Burgettstown, PA — The Pavilion at Star Lake
Sat, Jul 18, 2026 — Buffalo, NY — Darien Lake Amphitheater
Mon, Jul 20, 2026 — Clarkson, MI — Pine Knob Music Theatre
Wed, Jul 22, 2026 — Toronto, ON — RBC Amphitheatre
Fri, Jul 24, 2026 — Gilford, NH — BankNH Pavilion
Sat, Jul 25, 2026 — Bangor, ME — Maine Savings Amphitheater
Mon, Jul 27, 2026 — Camden, NJ — Freedom Mortgage Pavilion
Wed, Jul 29, 2026 — Saratoga Springs, NY — Saratoga Performing Arts Center
Fri, Jul 31, 2026 — Holmdel, NJ — PNC Bank Arts Center
Sat, Aug 1, 2026 — Mansfield, MA — Xfinity Center
Mon, Aug 3, 2026 — Bristow, VA — Jiffy Lube Live
Wed, Aug 12, 2026 — Alpharetta, GA — Ameris Bank Amphitheatre
Fri, Aug 14, 2026 — West Palm Beach, FL — iTHINK Financial Amphitheatre
Sat, Aug 15, 2026 — Tampa, FL — MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre
Mon, Aug 17, 2026 — Charlotte, NC — PNC Music Pavilion
Wed, Aug 19, 2026 — St. Louis, MO — Hollywood Casino Amphitheater
Fri, Aug 21, 2026 — Shakopee, MN — Mystic Lake Amphitheater
Sat, Aug 22, 2026 — Tinley Park, IL — Credit Union 1 Amphitheatre
Mon, Aug 24, 2026 — Cuyahoga Falls, OH — Blossom Music Center
Tue, Aug 25, 2026 — Cincinnati, OH — Riverbend Music Center
Thu, Aug 27, 2026 — Grand Rapids, MI — Acrisure Amphitheater
Fri, Aug 28, 2026 — Noblesville, IN — Ruoff Music Center
Tue, Sep 8, 2026 — Kansas City, MO — Morton Amphitheater
Thu, Sep 10, 2026 — Dallas, TX — Dos Equis Pavilion
Fri, Sep 11, 2026 — The Woodlands, TX — The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
Sun, Sep 13, 2026 — Albuquerque, NM — Isleta Amphitheater
Wed, Sep 16, 2026 — Phoenix, AZ — Talking Stick Resort Amphitheatre
Fri, Sep 18, 2026 — Chula Vista, CA — North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre
Sat, Sep 19, 2026 — Long Beach, CA — Long Beach Amphitheater
Mon, Sep 21, 2026 — Salt Lake City, UT — Utah First Credit Union Amphitheatre
Wed, Sep 23, 2026 — Wheatland, CA — Toyota Amphitheatre
Thu, Sep 24, 2026 — Mountain View, CA — Shoreline Amphitheater
Sat, Sep 26, 2026 — Ridgefield, WA – Cascades Amphitheater

concerts music

Movie Review

Spielberg-inspired movie The End of Oak Street is a dino-snore

Photo by Daniel McFadden

Ewan McGregor and Anne Hathaway in The End of Oak Street.

Steven Spielberg is the iconic director of the last 50 years, so it’s no surprise that many other filmmakers have borrowed from his classic films. But most of the time those come in the form of references or homages, not straight up theft, which is what it feels like watching The End of Oak Street play out in front of your eyes.

Set in the early 1980s in an idyllic suburban neighborhood of an unnamed city, Denise (Anne Hathaway) and Greg (Ewan McGregor) are parents to two teenagers, Audrey (Maisy Stella) and Brian (Christian Convery). They’re also possibly heading toward divorce, as Audrey is secretly writing a novel with a thinly-veiled plot about their life, and Brian is cagey about having to earn extra money with a pizza delivery job.

That all gets put on the backburner when a mysterious event takes their entire neighborhood back to the time of dinosaurs. Armed with little more than a shotgun and sledgehammer, Audrey and Brian do their best to keep the family safe in their house. But the longer the ordeal goes on, circumstances force them out onto the streets and into the increasing danger that’s all around them.

Written and directed by David Robert Mitchell, the film tries immensely hard to be like the Spielberg movies its filmmaker clearly adores, but fails at almost every turn. It never earns the broken family in ‘80s suburbia vibes that were prevalent in E.T., going all in right away in the opening scene with a neighborhood block party that feels forced. Other elements like a bully who has it out for Brian, the family dog that disappears, and an angry neighbor come across as the tropes they are and not as organic parts of the plot.

When it finally gets to its dinosaur sequences, they pale in comparison to those found in Jurassic Park. The strange manner in which the dinosaurs appear is a big part of that, but the action involving them forgoes ominous moments that could build tension for those that play up gore in an unexpected way for a PG-13 movie. Many of the attacks have so little emotional meaning that they come off as comical, which is entertaining but in a hollow way.

As if those weren’t enough, Mitchell — perhaps at the behest of producer J.J. Abrams (who made his own Spielbergian film, Super 8) — tries to honor Spielberg in other ways. Just like in Jaws, he employs the use of a split diopter lens, which keeps characters in both the foreground and background in focus. But instead of using it judiciously, it’s brought out in three separate scenes, including a laughable one with the four family members where it turns into overkill.

Hathaway, coming off of a role in The Odyssey that could earn her an Oscar nomination, is the best part of this film. But even her evident skills are dragged down by the ridiculousness of the story, which requires hysterics that even she can’t sell. McGregor can normally be counted on for a good performance, but he gives several line readings with strange cadences that make his already-underwritten character come off worse. Stella and Convery are okay, but their roles are unmemorable overall.

Mitchell and his team can never settle on exactly what type of film they were trying to make, and so even though The End of Oak Street has a few moments that work, they’re surrounded by many others that don’t. In trying to emulate Spielberg — there’s even a blatant Back to the Future (produced by Spielberg) rip-off towards the end — all Mitchell has done is show how difficult it is to be the master.

---

The End of Oak Street opens in theaters on August 14.