rodeohouston 2024

RodeoHouston reveals 2024 lineup starring Jonas Brothers, Blake Shelton, and a Bun B takeover

The Jonas Brothers return after a more than 10-year break.

Photo courtesy of Jonas Brothers

Houston, it’s finally here. We now know the entertainment lineup for this year’s Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo concert series, running February 27 – March 17 at NRG Stadium.

RodeoHouston 2024’s roster is history-making, as multiple rap acts take the stage for the first time ever in one season. Houston rap icon Bun B will return for a final installment of his two groundbreaking H-Town and Southern Takeover shows. But this year, rapper, Newstonian, and Rodeo Uncorked! Boss bidder 50 Cent will headline Black Heritage Day.

Other notable names include country and pop culture star Blake Shelton, who leads off on Opening Day, and the Jonas Brothers, who last played the rodeo more than 10 years ago. Country fans can look forward to the familiar faces Brad Paisley, Zac Brown, and Luke Bryan, who’ll mark his 10th rodeo show this year.

Of the 20 performers, half are rodeo newcomers, including 50 Cent and Nickelback. By the numbers, the 20 acts boast 56 Academy of Country Music awards, 47 Country Music Association awards, 17 American Music Awards, and 15 GRAMMY Awards.

As mentioned, singer and former The Voice host Blake Shelton serves as the headliner for Opening Day on Tuesday, February 27. Carly Pearce follows the next day for Armed Forces Appreciation Day on Wednesday, February 28. Country act For King + Country take the stage the next day on Thursday, February 29.

Then comes Black Heritage Day on Friday, March 1, with 50 Cent up in da club and, let’s hope, poppin’ some bottles. Already a player on the rodeo scene, 50 Cent made headlines last year when his own Champagne, Le Chemin du Roi Brut, was named Grand Champion Best of Show at the Rodeo Uncorked! competition. Bidders threw $325,000 at his Champagne, a rodeo record.

HARDY, who’s making waves as a versatile country and rock songwriter and performer, follows 50 on Saturday, March 2. Ivan Cornejo performs on Sunday, March 3, followed by country music prince Hank Williams, Jr., who’ll headline First Responders Day on Monday, March 4.

Folk-country artist Oliver Anthony and his beautifully bushy beard take the stage on Tuesday, March 5; rapper Jelly Roll drops rhymes on Wednesday, March 6. Luke Bryan, making his 10th rodeo appearance, headlines Volunteer Appreciation Day on Thursday, March 7. EDM fans can catch the Jamaican-vibed trio Major Lazer the next day on Friday, March 8.

Saturday, March 9 sees Lainey Wilson on stage, with favorite Los Tigres del Norte roaring on Go Tejano Day, Sunday, March 10. Southern rockers (and the pride of Palestine, Texas) Whiskey Myers hit the stage on Monday, March 11.

In his hotly anticipated, potentially final headlining rodeo show, hip-hop monarch and burger king Bun B will perform on Tuesday, March 12, in what we can only hope will follow the star-studded “Takeover” theme and round out a historic trilogy for Houston’s Trill OG.

“I wanted people to see that rap and the rodeo could coexist in the room with no one feeling awkward," Bun B tells CultureMap. “I wanted rap to be in the rodeo on a night that didn't say, 'okay cowboys, stay home.' The rodeo has fought very hard to be inclusive. So we fought very hard to be inclusive as well. We did not want to block people out. That was never the case. What we wanted to show actually was that rap music is probably the most inclusive music culture. And I think we've done a pretty good job of that so far and I think this year will prove it even more, to a point where we'll look back one day and we won't even remember precisely when there wasn't rap at the rodeo. That's my dream.”

“We've proven that rap music can be a part of the rodeo no matter what night you put it on,” he continues, “no matter who you present it to rap has room at the rodeo. The rodeo has made room for us and we're doing right by them.”

In quite the pivot, the following day sees rockers Nickelback make their rodeo debut on Wednesday, March 13. Fans of the Zac Brown Band can catch them the next day on Thursday, March 14.

Expect a legion of female fans to pack NRG on Thursday, March 15 as the Jonas Brothers charm the crowd; the always-charming, rodeo fave Brad Paisley follows on Friday, March 16.

Eric Church, country star singer-songwriter, and entrepreneur, will close out the rodeo on Saturday, March 17.

Get tickets for this year’s shows online on Thursday, January 18 in two waves: 10 am and 2 pm. Wave 1 covers February 27 – March 7 performances; Wave 2 tickets are for March 8 – 17 shows. Online waiting rooms will open at 9:30 am for Wave 1 and 1:30 pm for Wave 2. Waiting room customers will be randomly selected to enter the store and purchase tickets for the 10 am and 2 pm waves.

Movie Review

Cheesiness undermines Whalefall's intense survival story

Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios

Austin Abrams in Whalefall.

Austin Abrams has been a professional actor for 15 years, but the 30-year-old seems to just now be getting his due. After years of mostly supporting roles in films like Paper Towns, Brad’s Status, and Weapons, he has been charged with leading two films in 2026 where he’s largely acting by himself: First Resident Evil and now Whalefall.

Abrams plays Jay Gardiner, who has returned home to California a year after the death of his hard-ass father, Mitt (Josh Brolin). The two had a tempestuous relationship, and while his mom (Elisabeth Shue) and sisters (Jane Levy and Emily Rudd) reminisce fondly about him, Jay finds it difficult to come up with good memories. The two did share a connection with the ocean, and Jay decides to honor him by going scuba diving.

Ignoring warnings of whale activity in the area, Jay makes his way out into a notoriously dangerous part of the ocean near their home. Soon after he starts swimming, he encounters a sperm whale chasing after a giant squid. Jay inadvertently gets sucked into the enormous creature’s mouth and, ultimately, inside its body. Faced with a seemingly inescapable situation, Jay’s only hope lies in the lessons his father taught him.

Directed by Brian Duffield and adapted by Duffield and Daniel Kraus from Kraus’ book of the same name, the film is at its best when it depicts Jay struggling to survive within the whale. The claustrophobic nature of the setting and the various obstacles (multiple contracting chambers, the squid, and more) he faces make every scene inside the whale feel as intense and cover-your-eyes scary as any great horror movie.

Naturally, the entire movie can’t be about his survival efforts, and so the filmmakers toggle back and forth between Jay’s ordeal in the whale to memories of times with his father. Not so coincidentally, these remembrances come with subtle or overt wisdom from Mitt that would serve Jay well in his current situation. More often than not, these flashback scenes are so on-the-nose that they come off as cheesy instead of inspirational.

It’s also difficult to derive any big emotions from the story other than revulsion at the way Jay’s body is brutalized while he’s inside the whale. None of the characters in the film receive a notable introduction to the audience before big events start happening. It’s next-to-impossible to be invested in their stories when their personalities are being revealed in bits and pieces throughout the movie.

Abrams does well enough in bringing out the terror Jay feels in the whale and the sullenness/anger he has toward his father in other scenes. But whether it’s because his lines in the whale are hard to understand (he’s often talking around a scuba mouthpiece) or the disconnect the character has with father, there’s just something missing in his performance. Brolin’s performance is one-note, and Shue, Levy, Rudd, and John Ortiz don’t appear enough to make a big impact.

With Kraus onboard as the co-writer of the film, it may be the case that Duffield was not given leeway to change the story of Whalefall too much. What might have worked in the book doesn’t seem to translate equally to the film, and while Jay’s nightmare in the whale is effective, the rest of his story doesn’t come across as successfully.

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Whalefall is now playing in theaters.

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