Concert News

Singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles brings Good Grief tour to Houston

Sara Bareilles is touring in support of Good Grief, her first new album in seven years.

Photo courtesy of Sara Bareilles

Singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles is hitting the stage on her new Good Grief Tour, which promotes not just her new album but also a new documentary, Sara Bareilles: Good Grief. The tour stops at the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Houston on October 7

Bareilles will start the relatively short tour in Boston, Massachusetts, on September 9 and close it out in Seattle, Washington, on October 19. In addition to Houston, she'll stop in Austin at the Bass Concert Hall in Austin on October 6.

The Good Grief Tour announcement is highly coordinated, setting a preorder date of August 28 for Bareilles' seventh album, Good Grief, and debuting the album's first single, "Home." The documentary will also make its world premiere at the Tribeca Festival on Thursday, June 4. Viewers will get to see the process that brought the album to life as Bareilles returned to the studio for the first time in seven years, since recording the Grammy-winning album Amidst the Chaos.

Good Grief, which Bareilles produced herself, features work by Charley Drayton, Butterfly Boucher, Misty Boyce, Solomon Dorsey and Rob Moose in the band, and includes collaborations with Brandi Carlile, Andrea Gibson, Ingrid Michaelson, Joe Tippett and Megan Falley. "Hope" was inspired by an interview between Stephen Colbert and Anderson Cooper, making this an especially communal effort.

“This whole collection of songs felt like transmissions rather than a deliberate attempt to make sense of the world,” said Bareilles in a press release. “My deepest hope is that Good Grief provides some kind of comfort or catharsis.”

Tickets sales will open with artist, Verizon, and CITI pre-sales on Monday, June 8. General sales start Wednesday, June 10, at 10 am. One dollar from each ticket will go to mental health organization the Jed Foundation via Plus One and Live Nation. All net proceeds from VIP upgrades will go to NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness).

Sara Bareilles — Good Grief Tour dates

September 9—Boston, MA—MGM Music Hall at Fenway
September 12—Washington, D.C.—The Anthem
September 15—Toronto, ON—Massey Hall
September 18—New York, NY—Radio City Music Hall
September 21—Philadelphia, PA—The Met Philadelphia presented by Highmark
September 24—Atlanta, GA—Fox Theatre
September 25—Cincinnati, OH—Taft Theatre
September 27—Chicago, IL—The Chicago Theatre
September 30—Minneapolis, MN—Orpheum Theatre
October 2—St. Louis, MO—Stifel Theatre
October 4—Denver, CO—Bellco Theatre
October 6—Austin, TX—Bass Concert Hall
October 7—Houston, TX—The Hobby Center for the Performing Arts
October 12—Los Angeles, CA—Dolby Theatre
October 13—Los Angeles, CA—Dolby Theatre
October 16—San Francisco, CA—Bill Graham Civic Auditorium
October 19—Seattle, WA—The Paramount Theatre

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One More for the Road

ZZ Top honors late drummer Frank Beard with Austin tribute concert

ZZ Top/Facebook

ZZ Top will celebrate their late drummer, Frank Beard (middle, after a show in Canada), at one of his favorite venues.

Texas rock trio ZZ Top will play a tribute to their late drummer, Frank Beard, at their scheduled Austin tour stops at ACL Live at the Moody Theater on August 22 and 23. Beard died Monday, August 17, at 77.

The band announced Beard's death in a social media statement.

Lead vocalist and songwriter Billy Gibbons wrote, "Today, Elwood and I lost a great friend and collaborator, and the world lost one of the most naturally innovative drummers and a great and true son of Texas. His signature backbeat was key to keeping ZZ on top."

ZZ Top canceled performances in Salt Lake City and Colorado Springs following Beard's death. The Austin shows will be the band's first onstage again, offering a fitting time to celebrate the Texas great. A statement on the band's website calls the Austin City Limits stage "one of Frank’s favorite venues and in a city that had been something of a second home for him."

Beard was born near Tyler in Frankston, Texas, in 1949. He was raised in Irving, outside Dallas, and the band formed in Houston in 1969. The Austin Chronicle reported in 2013 that Beard was then splitting time between a house on Lake Travis, in Austin, and Houston. He died on his ranch in the Houston suburb of Richmond.

ZZ Top was known for its large performances and elaborate setup, none more so than the Worldwide Texas Tour, which included a Texas-shaped stage and a collection of live Texas animals.

In 1974, the band left its mark on Austin — for better or worse — at "ZZ Top’s First Annual Texas Sized Rompin’ Stompin’ Barndance & Bar B.Q." at the University of Texas. It was the first, but also the last, since around 80,000 of the band's "friends" trashed the venue, earned the disapproval of the famous Coach Royal, and were ostensibly responsible for the venue not hosting another rock show until 1995. ZZ Top's two encores had 20 years to ring out after the legendary, if infamous show.

ZZ Top will make their upcoming Austin appearances as part of The Big One! Tour on Saturday, August 22, at 8 pm and Sunday, August 23, at 7:30 pm. Tickets are still available for both shows at acllive.com.

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