Eagles have added one more date at American Airlines Center in Dallas to their Hotel California 2021 tour.
Photo by George Holz
The legendary rock band Eagles can't seem to get enough of Dallas, as they've added a second date to their delayed-and-rescheduled Hotel California2021 tour. They'll now be playing at the American Airlines Center on September 20 and 21, 2021.
In case you'd lost track: the band played two dates from this tour in Dallas on February 29 and March 1, 2020, and were scheduled to do a third on March 17, 2020 before getting postponed due to the pandemic. That date was rescheduled for September 21, and it will now be joined by this fourth concert the night before.
The band, made up of Don Henley, Joe Walsh, Timothy B. Schmit, Deacon Frey, and Vince Gill, is visiting 11 cities total on the tour, but Dallas is the only Texas stop for them on this leg.
Just as before, each night’s concert will feature them playing their iconic album Hotel California in its entirety, accompanied by an orchestra and choir. After an intermission, they'll return with an entire additional set of the band’s other greatest hits.
Hotel California, which came out in 1976, is the third best-selling U.S. album in history, certified 26-times Platinum by the RIAA. Several of the songs from the album have never been performed since the original “Hotel California” tour.
Tickets for the new date will go on sale to the general public on Friday, July 16, at 10 am via Ticketmaster.com. American Express Card Members can purchase tickets before the general public beginning Monday, July 12, at 10 am through Thursday, July 15, at 10 pm.
Michaela Coel and Ian McKellen in The Christophers.
Director Steven Soderbergh is one of those filmmakers who — aside from the Ocean’s series — never seems to make the same kind of movie twice. He is somehow able to adapt his abilities to all sorts of different stories, making each of them as compelling as any other. His latest masterclass is in the London-set film, The Christophers.
Lori Butler (Michaela Coel), who restores art for a living, is approached by brother and sister Sallie and Barnaby Sklar (Jessica Gunning and James Corden) with a scheme. They want her to become the new assistant for their aging father, Julian (Ian McKellen), a famous artist known for a series called “The Christophers,” in order to gain access to unfinished paintings from the series and complete them herself.
Lori accepts the deal despite having some uneasy feelings about Julian, with whom she had a bad interaction years ago. Julian is just as wary, both because he knows of his children’s interest in the unfinished works, and because he would prefer to be left in peace. Although the trepidation on both sides continues for the bulk of the story, a grudging respect arises between two artists who know skill when they see it.
Directed by Soderbergh and written by Ed Solomon, who last collaborated on No Sudden Move, the film is astonishing in its ability to be compelling with such a small story. Much of the film is spent inside Julian’s multi-story home as Julian and Lori have low-level confrontations about a variety of things, including the meaning of his art, her abilities, the fate of the remaining “Christophers,” and more. Each conversation brings out more detail about their worldviews and their thoughts about their lot in life.
Much of the success of the film lies in the performances of McKellen and Coel. The 86-year-old McKellen has not lost his ability to astonish with the spoken word, and the monologues he delivers are engrossing even when they’re about mundane things. Coel, best known for the 2020 HBO show I May Destroy You, is a great foil for McKellen, never backing down from his challenges and giving her own unique takes on her lines.
While the film can be enjoyable for non-art lovers, those who appreciate the vagaries of the art world will have a lot to chew on. Soderbergh and Solomon debate a lot of aspects of art, including whether it’s possible to separate the art from the person making it, why some art is valued more than others, the ethics of forgery, and more. Because the film is about a fictional artist, it gives the filmmakers a bit more freedom in their criticisms.
Aside from McKellen and Coel, Gunning (Baby Reindeer) and Corden are the only other two people who get significant screen time in the film. Both of them are, let’s say, acquired tastes, and each gives an elevated performance that matches the energy of their respective characters. Tilly Botsford makes a nice impression in a small role as Julian’s masseuse.
Soderbergh’s last three films — Presence, Black Bag, and now The Christophers — have nothing in common other than the expert filmmaker helming all of them. When you can make a ghost story, a spy film, and a small film about artists equally interesting, you know you’re doing something right.
