Venue News

Mark Cuban's new concert venue HiFi Dallas is ready to rumble

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The incomparable Gary Clark, Jr.

Photo by Daniel Cavazos

UPDATE 8-25-2021: This weekend's Gary Clark Jr. concerts have been moved to House of Blues, per the Live Nation website, and will no longer be the inaugural shows at HiFi Dallas. The Leon Bridges show scheduled for September 11 at HiFi has been moved to Southside Ballroom. According to a Facebook post from opener Abraham Alexander, the change is due to construction delays at HiFi.

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After a false start in 2020, The HiFi Dallas — the new upscale venue in the Design District from Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban — is ready to rumble.

According to a release, the venue will open on August 29, coming out of the gate with a three-night stand, from August 29-31, by Texas singer-guitarist Gary Clark Jr.

A schedule with more than 20 artists is already confirmed that includes established touring artists as well as local musicians on the rise, from Utah alt-pop act The Aces to L.A. DJ act Boombox Cartel to rapper Princess Nokia, doing her first headlining tour. Tickets are now available at TheHiFiDallas.com, and more shows and details will be announced.

The venue was originally set to debut in March 2020, and unveiled an opening lineup back in February. But then you-know-what came along and put everything on hold. (Info on refunds is here.)

Located at 1323 N. Stemmons Fwy., HiFi is in a former warehouse/furniture store, next door to the Mavericks training facility, sort of "across the freeway" from American Airlines Center (on the west side of I-35 rather than east).

It's a two-story building with 25,000 square feet and capacity of 1,000. It's managed by Venue Nation, a newly created affiliate of Live Nation that is a venue management company with more 200 owned-and-operated venues. Venue Nation strives to provide a one-of-a-kind experience that includes food & beverage partnerships, VIP/premium seats, special event services, and more.

Sherri Sosa, who was appointed president of Venue Nation in April, says in a statement that they're excited to open the club which she says will provide a new platform for artists and bring more live music to Dallas.

"There is no other venue in the area that provides fans an intimate experience at every show the way The HiFi in Dallas does," Sosa says.

Features include an immersive sound system, a concert hall with an open floor surrounded by sound-enhanced walls and floors, and luminescent lighting that changes throughout the evening.

The HiFi Dallas also has an outdoor patio and parking hosted on-site, including optional valet, and rideshare access.

The HiFi Dallas Grand Opening Concert Lineup is as follows:

Sunday, August 29-Tuesday August 31 – Gary Clark Jr.
Thursday, September 9 – Omah Lay
Wednesday, September 29 – Chet Faker with Thunder Jackson
Thursday, September 30 – Noga Erez
Saturday, October 2 – Princess Nokia
Friday, October 8 – Sub Urban & Bella Poarch
Friday, October 15 – Anderson East
Saturday, October 16 – Andy Mineo
Sunday, October 24 – Ruston Kelly with Margaret Glaspy
Saturday, November 6 – Madison Beer
Saturday, November 13 – Goose
Friday, November 19 – Cory and the Wongnotes featuring Antwan Stanley
Sunday, November 28 – CloZee with Of The Trees and Tripp St.
Friday, December 3 – Boombox Cartel
Saturday, December 18 – The Aces
Sunday, January 9, 2022 – Mother Mother
Monday, April 18, 2022 – Ashe

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Movie Review

Andrew Garfield leads peasant rebellion in medieval film The Uprising

Photo by Betina La Plante/Focus Features

Andrew Garfield in The Uprising.

Writer/director Paul Greengrass made his name with a cinéma vérité style of filmmaking that brought immediacy and depth to three Jason Bourne films, United 93, Captain Phillips, and more. In The Uprising, he uses those skills to tell the story of the so-called Peasants’ Revolt in 14th century England.

Greengrass wastes no time starting the main plot as Ploughman (Andrew Garfield) and his fellow villagers object to onerous taxes put on them by the country’s nobility, led by the young King Richard II (Woody Norman), to fund an ongoing war. Ploughman initiates a violent response over the tone-deaf — and unseemly — way the king’s guard go about their business, and the rebellion soon starts to spread across the countryside, with the citizens looking for a degree of autonomy.

The ever-expanding group makes their way toward London to try to make their case to the king himself. Meanwhile, the king’s top advisors, including Archbishop Sudbury (Stephen Dillane) and Treasurer Hales (Tom Hollander), try to usurp power from the inexperienced monarch even as the king’s mother (Katherine Waterston) tries to get him to be more assertive.

The history of the English monarchy is long and lurid, as Shakespeare detailed in multiple plays, including Richard II. Though the events in the film took place almost 650 years ago, it’s easy to see parallels between what the peasants were fighting for and modern-day politics. Greengrass’ storytelling intent is solid, and the righteous anger the citizens feel is initially relatable and palpable.

But the populism theme of the story soon gets bogged down in drudgery and minutiae that is difficult to understand, especially when the details are lost in the thick regional English accents. The leaders of the rebels — including John Ball (Jamie Bell), Wat Tyler (Cosmo Jarvis), and Alyce (Thomasin McKenzie) — are shown doing a lot of planning, but the strong feelings they have about their quest don’t come across well, leaving the audience as passive observers.

When there is action, Greengrass and his team employ a frenetic style that is not great for comprehension. While the gist of what is happening and what side is winning is legible, individual moments go by so quickly so as to be nearly meaningless. Save for Ploughman, any connection that has been made with various characters proves futile, as Greengrass doesn’t seem to have any time for emotion. Scenes that should feel thrilling or heartbreaking instead come off as empty.

Garfield is a two-time Oscar nominee who has done great work across multiple genres. He’s fine in this role, but whether it’s the story, the filmmaking, or something else, he’s not as captivating as usual. The same goes for other strong actors like Bell, McKenzie, Dillane, Hollander, and Waterston, who each seem to be giving their all to their performances but are somehow muted in the process.

Done right, The Uprising could have been a rip-roaring account of people standing up against their oppressors. What Greengrass has made, though, is a film that can’t translate its medieval story for a modern audience and concentrates too much on unexciting elements and too little on thrilling ones.

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The Uprising is now playing in theaters.

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