{"id":340697,"date":"2025-10-29T11:59:23","date_gmt":"2025-10-29T11:59:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/340697\/"},"modified":"2025-10-29T11:59:23","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T11:59:23","slug":"houston-concert-watch-10-29-devo-b-52s-and-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/340697\/","title":{"rendered":"Houston Concert Watch 10\/29: Devo, B-52s and More"},"content":{"rendered":"

Back in the \u201870s, Las Vegas was about as unhip as things could get.\u00a0 Well, that is, unless you went all Hunter Thompson, driving into town with a head full of acid in a Cadillac land yacht with the idea of causing as much confusion and destruction as possible.<\/p>\n

By the early part of Richard Nixon\u2019s second term, the glory days of the Rat Pack were long gone, and Las Vegas had lost any sense of \u201cring-a-ding-ding.\u201d\u00a0 No, fifty some-odd years ago, Las Vegas was a place that catered to bourgeois conventioneers and tourists.\u00a0 Folks who were thrilled to see acts like Wayne \u201cMr. Las Vegas\u201d Newton, Liberace, Neil Diamond, Tony Orlando and Dawn, Donny and Marie Osmond, Barry Manilow and Paul Anka.\u00a0 Not to mention Sigfried and Roy, in their salad days before the latter became an hors d\u2019oeuvre.<\/p>\n

But these days, we seem to be experiencing a similar paradigm, i.e. Las Vegas being populated by relatively well-heeled sixty-ish and seventy-ish vacationers who are willing to shell out big bucks to see the big bands of yesteryear.\u00a0 Recently announced acts booked for Vegas residencies in 2026 include the Eagles, Styx, Santana, Def Leppard, Foreigner and Chicago.<\/p>\n

It was bound to happen, but somehow it seems sad to see the wild-ass hell raisers of our (well, at least my) youth playing in such safe and conventional venues.\u00a0 I am reminded of Joan Cusack\u2019s line from the film Grosse Pointe Blank.\u00a0 When asked what it was like attending her high school reunion, she answered, \u201cIt was just as if everyone had swelled.\u201d\u00a0 Indeed.<\/p>\n

Ticket Alert<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"YouTube<\/p>\n

A passel of shows at Toyota Center has just been announced.\u00a0 On Saturday, April 4, it\u2019s \u201880s hitmakers New Edition<\/a> headlining a bill that includes Boys II Men and Toni Braxton.\u00a0 Meet and greet \/ photo opportunity packages are on sale now along with various presales, and the general sale is set for Friday.\u00a0 Demi Lovato\u2019s<\/a> \u201cIt\u2019s Not That Deep\u201d tour \u2013 her first in three years \u2013 rolls into Houston on Monday, May 25.\u00a0 Curiously, no presales are listed, but you can get to clicking Friday morning at 10 a.m.<\/p>\n

Florence + The Machine<\/a> (Really?\u00a0 We can\u2019t just say \u201cand\u201d?) is booked at Toyota Center on Tuesday, May 5, as part of the band\u2019s \u201cEverybody Scream\u201d tour in support of the album of the same name, which drops on Friday.\u00a0 Tickets go on sale next Wednesday, November 5.\u00a0 The \u201cR&B Lovers<\/a>\u201d tour, which boasts a lineup including Keith Sweat, Joe, Dru Hill and Ginuwine, will be at Toyota Center on Saturday, June 6, and tickets are on sale this Friday.<\/p>\n

As for other venues in town, the White Oak Music Hall<\/a> will host Echo and the Bunnymen on Wednesday, May 27.\u00a0 The lads from Liverpool have gone through a bunch of band members since the group\u2019s formation in 1978, and these days it\u2019s only original members Will Sergeant and Ian McCulloch leading the charge, backed by various touring musicians.\u00a0 Tickets for the Houston installment of the \u201cMore Songs to Learn and Sing\u201d tour are on sale as we speak.<\/p>\n

Concerts This Week<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"YouTube<\/p>\n

In recent years, appearance on a talent-based reality show has become a pathway to stardom.\u00a0 In the case of Canadian performer Tate McRae<\/a>, it was \u201cSo You Think You Can Dance\u201d (produced by the same folks as \u201cAmerican Idol\u201d) that pushed her into the popular consciousness in 2016.\u00a0 McRae embarked on a singing career soon after, releasing a number of singles and a couple of EP\u2019s, followed by three albums.\u00a0 Her most recent effort, So Close to What, reached No. 1 in the U.S. and in several other countries around the world.\u00a0 You can see what all the fuss is about on Saturday at Toyota Center<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"YouTube<\/p>\n

Lainey Wilson canceled her scheduled appearance at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion<\/a> last month, citing the recommendation of her vocal coach.\u00a0 Evidently, all is now well with the country chanteuse\u2019s vocal cords, and the postponed show will commence on Saturday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"YouTube<\/p>\n

Fans of a certain age and a certain bent will be excited to know that the B-52s (no apostrophe, dammit!) \u00a0and Devo will co-headline a show on Sunday at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion<\/a>.\u00a0 The billing makes perfect sense, in that both bands emerged and about the same time (around 1980) with material that was nothing like anything else on the radio.\u00a0 Lene Lovich, who was also freaking people out around then, will open.<\/p>\n

\"YouTube<\/p>\n

It would seem that Leon Thomas\u2019 \u201cMutts Don\u2019t Heel\u201d tour is selling well, since the R&B artist\u2019s gig scheduled for Tuesday at the House of Blues has been moved to the Bayou Music Center<\/a>.\u00a0 All tickets for the House of Blues show will be honored at the new venue.\u00a0 \u2018Cause Knowledge is Power: Thomas began his performing career on Broadway, appearing in \u201cThe Lion King\u201d and \u201cThe Color Purple.\u201d<\/p>\n

This article appears in Jan 1 \u2013 Dec 31, 2025<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Back in the \u201870s, Las Vegas was about as unhip as things could get.\u00a0 Well, that is, unless…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":340698,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5130],"tags":[167811,167812,960,5497,167813,120262,73998,167814,9150,167815,167816,167817,12730,4345,167818,167819,115624,167820,167821,975,163743,167822,84614,167823,167824,119885,167825,358,167826,3187,167827],"class_list":{"0":"post-340697","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-b-52s","9":"tag-barry-manilow","10":"tag-chicago","11":"tag-concerts","12":"tag-def-leppard","13":"tag-demi-lovato","14":"tag-devo","15":"tag-donnie-and-marie-osmond","16":"tag-eagles","17":"tag-echo-and-the-bunnymen","18":"tag-florence-the-machine","19":"tag-foreigner","20":"tag-homepage","21":"tag-houston","22":"tag-hunter-thompson","23":"tag-keith-sweat","24":"tag-lainey-wilson","25":"tag-leon-thomas","26":"tag-liberace","27":"tag-music","28":"tag-neil-diamond","29":"tag-new-edition","30":"tag-paul-anka","31":"tag-santana","32":"tag-siegfried-and-roy","33":"tag-styx","34":"tag-tate-mccrae","35":"tag-texas","36":"tag-tony-orlando-and-dawn","37":"tag-tx","38":"tag-wayne-newton"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115457344671878971","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=340697"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340697\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/340698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=340697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=340697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=340697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}