Weekend Event Planner

The Rolling Stones and Tim McGraw top 10 best weekend events in Dallas-Fort Worth

One show lords above all others this weekend in Dallas-Fort Worth, but the first weekend of June promises to be a memorable one whether you're into classic rock or not. Among the other worthy events are a fundraiser with an '80s headliner, two big country concerts and a festival custom-made for people looking to escape the heat.

Below are the best options for your precious free time Thursday through Sunday. Don't like what you see? Lucky for you, we have a much longer list of the city's best events.

Thursday, June 4

2015 Cool Thursdays Series: Bruce in the USA
Prior to Bruce Springsteen's appearance at 2014's March Madness Music Festival, it had been six years since he had played a concert in Dallas. You never know when you'll get a chance to see him live again, so the only way to get your fill of "Born in the USA," "Glory Days" and more right now is by seeing tribute band Bruce in the USA at the Dallas Arboretum.

10th Anniversary MetroBall featuring Belinda Carlisle
The annual MetroBall is a fundraiser designed to give money to a variety of organizations that deal with HIV/AIDS patients. To celebrate the event's 10th anniversary, organizers have brought in a blast from the past: '80s pop singer Belinda Carlisle, best known for songs like "We Got the Beat" with the Go-Go's and "Heaven is a Place on Earth." The event takes place at Station 4.

Friday, June 5

Shelby Lynne in concert
There have been two peaks in the career of Shelby Lynne: winning New Female Vocalist of the Year at the 1990 Academy of Country Music Awards, and then somehow also winning the Best New Artist Grammy 11 years later thanks to her most acclaimed album to date, I Am Shelby Lynne. Lynne has reinvented herself again, and she plays at Dallas City Performance Hall in support of her new folk album, I Can't Imagine.

WaterTower Theatre presents Manicures & Monuments
The penultimate production of WaterTower Theatre's 2014-2015 season is Manicures & Monuments, a play from local playwright Vicki Caroline Cheatwood about residents of an Oklahoma nursing home and the young manicurist-in-training, Janann, who comes to volunteer. It runs through June 28 at Addison Conference Centre.

Saturday, June 6

PantherFest 2015
The culture of Fort Worth is celebrated at PantherFest, a free outdoor festival that showcases local craft beer, musicians and restaurants. Also expect something you won't see anywhere else: people sliding down the longest Slip-n-Slide. If you weren't able to secure a ticket to "Slide the City," you can still station yourself on the sidelines and cheer on the participants. The event takes place on Main Street just north of downtown, near Coyote Drive-In.

VolunteerNow presents Voly in the Park
Many people want to volunteer their time, but they're often not sure where to start. Voly in the Park at Klyde Warren Park not only features activities and information for around 75 nonprofits, but it also connects volunteers with more than 1,000 other organizations via VolunteerNow. Expect games, performances and more.

Tim McGraw in concert with Billy Currington and Chase Bryant
There are few things more reliable than country singer Tim McGraw playing a concert at Gexa Energy Pavilion every year. Having put out a new album each of the past three years, including 2014's Sundown Heaven Town, he's certainly given his fans a lot of new songs with which to sing along. He is joined by opening acts Billy Currington and Chase Bryant.

The Rolling Stones in concert with Grace Potter
The legendary rock band kicks off the list of best summer concerts with this blowout at AT&T Stadium. If early reviews are any indication — this is the Stones' fourth stop on their Zip Code Tour — Mick, Keith and the boys still have what it takes to put on a great show. Plus, you get to see the UT Arlington a cappella choir accompany the legends on at least one song. Grace Potter serves as opening act.

Sunday, June 7

Butch Walker in concert with Jonathan Tyler and The Dove & The Wolf
Butch Walker is a 45-year-old rocker who's only just now starting to make it big after years of toiling in bands. Walker's last three solo albums, including 2015's Afraid of Ghosts, all hit No. 1 on Billboard's Heatseekers Albums chart. He's joined at Majestic Theatre by local singer Jonathan Tyler and The Dove & The Wolf.

Concerts in the Garden: 1812 Overture and Symphonic Sparklers
The Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra's summer tradition of holding concerts at Fort Worth Botanic Garden returns this weekend with a trio of shows, culminating with this one that includes Tchaikovsky’s popular 1812 Overture set to fireworks. You can also choose to see Pink Martini on Friday night or Classical Mystery Tour on Saturday night.

Tim McGraw makes his annual visit to Gexa Energy Pavilion on June 6.

Photo by Michelle Watson/CatchLightGroup.com

Tim McGraw makes his annual visit to Gexa Energy Pavilion on June 6.

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Movie Review

Zootopia 2 Disney is an OK sequel that keeps the fun of the original

Photo courtesy of Walt Disney Animation Studios

Nick (Jason Bateman) and Judy (Ginnifer Goodwin) in Zootopia 2.

When Zootopia came out in 2016, Walt Disney Animation Studios was in the midst of a great run of original films, including Wreck-It Ralph, Frozen, Big Hero 6, and finally Moana. Their output since then has not been as good, including three mediocre sequels, three so-so originals, and only one truly great film, Encanto.

All of which is to say that the odds for Zootopia 2 breaking that trend were low even before they started working on it. The odd couple pair of rabbit Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) and fox Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman) are now officially detectives in the Zootopia Police Department, but they still have a penchant for not following the orders of Chief Bogo (Idris Elba). Such mischievous behavior doesn’t sit well with the other detective teams, which include pairs of zebras, hippos, hogs, and goats.

Still, their slightly insubordinate ways put them on the path toward discovering the infiltration of Gary De’Snake (Ke Huy Quan), the first reptile to be seen in Zootopia in a long time. He’s trying to steal a book that would prove that his relative was the rightful inventor of a weather technology that gives all animals in Zootopia an ideal climate. But the high-powered Lynxley family, including father Milton (David Straithairn) and son Pawbert (Andy Samberg), lay claim to the idea and won’t give it up easily.

Written and directed by Jared Bush, and co-directed by Byron Howard, the film retains the fun of the first film if not the consistently interesting story. Though Judy and Nick get along much better than they did previously, they still don’t see eye-to-eye on everything. It’s Judy who takes more risks this time around, with Nick’s rule-breaking ways seeming to have rubbed off on her, a nice twist that leads to some ironic situations.

The filmmakers struggle to make the story as easily coherent this time around, with the new characters a decidedly mixed bunch. The Lynxleys are supposed to be the bad guys of the film, but they’re not featured enough to drum up any enmity for them. The detective duos are fun comic relief, especially the two who refer to themselves as the Ze-bros, but none of them factor very much in the actual story.

Instead, the filmmakers fall back on things like cameos from small characters from the first film and a flurry of groan-worthy animal puns. While it’s fun to see the sloth Flash (Raymond S. Persi), sheep Bellwether (Jenny Slate), and Gazelle (Shakira), their appearances are too brief to carry the movie overall. The visuals are as fantastic as expected of Disney films, especially the myriad fur/hides/scales of the different creatures, but the film is not designed to necessarily wow in that respect.

Both Goodwin and Bateman prove again that they were cast perfectly for their respective roles, as Goodwin fully embodies Judy’s relentless enthusiasm and Bateman brings the wry tone to his street smart character. If you know them, it’s fun to have people like Samberg, Straithairn, Quinta Brunson, and Patrick Warburton in supporting roles, but no one but Warburton and his distinctive voice elevates the film.

Like most of Disney’s recent sequels, Zootopia 2 is a pleasant enough movie that lets fans revisit some favorite characters. But when a bar is set high with the first film as it was with Zootopia, it takes more outside-of-the-box thinking to have the second one measure up in any significant way.

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Zootopia 2 opens in theaters on November 26.

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