'80s concert news

Boy George and Culture Club bring good karma to Dallas with summer show

Any self-respecting '80s New Wave/New Romantic/pop fan would no doubt possess a mixtape — or at least a Spotify playlist — featuring Boy George and Culture Club, Berlin, and Howard Jones. Now, Dallas fans of all three can ditch the Maxell cassettes and experience the real thing, as all three acts head to town on a new tour.

Flamboyant '80s pop/fashion/culture icon Boy George and his act Culture Club will hit Dos Equis Pavilion on August 10 as part of "The Letting It Go Show," a 25-city summer U.S. tour featuring the three Big '80s acts. The tour also will hit Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion in The Woodlands on August 11 and Austin's Germania Insurance Amphitheater on August 12.

Tickets for the Live Nation-produced show will be available starting with a Citi presale beginning on Wednesday, April 19. Expect more presales throughout the week ahead of the general onsale, which starts at 10 am Friday, April 21 at livenation.com.

As for the show, fans can expect Culture Club's singalong faves such as "Karma Chameleon," "Church of the Poisoned Mind," and the reggae-inspired song that started it all, "Do You Really Want To Hurt Me.” Boasting seven straight Top 10 hits in the U.S. and UK, Culture Club became a pop powerhouse through the early and mid-'80s, before pausing and eventually disbanding.

A lightning rod for identity politics and a style maverick who often donned androgynous and even head-scratching looks, Boy George (née George Alan O'Dowd) made a grandiose return in 1992 with his haunting, ethereal cover of Dave Berry's "The Crying Game," which became the title song for the Oscar-nominated film of the same name. His resurgence led to his autobiography, Take It Like a Man, which was published in 1995. Devotees rejoiced when the Culture Club trio reunited in 1998, issuing the two-disc set VH1 Storytellers/Greatest Hits. (The current Culture Club lineup features George with bandmates Roy Hay and Mikey Craig.)

A favorite of '80s dance clubs long before they hit the mainstream, electronic dance/New Wave act Berlin shocked and rocked with its single "Sex (I'm A...)," which sparked bans and outrage with its (then) outrageous lyrics and lead singer Teri Nunn's sultry, breathy stylings. Chart toppers "No More Words" and the clubby "The Metro" followed, but the band struck solid gold with its lush ballad "Take My Breath Away," the unforgettable love scene track in Tom Cruise's Top Gun. Herself also an '80s icon, Nunn is seemingly ageless and was recently ranked No. 11 on VH1.com’s “100 Greatest Women in Rock.”

Photo courtesy of Culture Club

Boy George and Culture Club headline "The Letting It Go Show" tour.

With more than 10 million albums sold worldwide, Howard Jones has transitioned from '80s and '90s pop act to current relevance thanks to his poppy, hummable hits being used in screen hits like Stranger Things, Breaking Bad, The Watchmen, and more. Bursting on the scene as a hot new British act with "New Song," Jones (or HoJo as fans know him) followed with anthemic hits like "Everlasting Love," "What is Love," and "Life in One Day." Cherished for those smash singles and the slow singalong "No One is to Blame," he returned in the '90s with feel-good single "Lift Me Up."

Here is the full schedule of "The Letting It Go" tour dates:

Thu Jul 13 – West Palm Beach, FL – iTHINK Financial Amphitheatre

Sat Jul 15 – Tampa, FL – MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre

Sun Jul 16 – Jacksonville, FL – Daily's Place Amphitheatre

Tue Jul 18 – Atlanta, GA – Cadence Bank Amphitheatre at Chastain Park

Wed Jul 19 – Charlotte, NC – PNC Music Pavilion

Thu Jul 20 – Nashville, TN – Ascend Amphitheater

Sat Jul 22 – Bethel, NY – Bethel Woods Center for the Arts

Sun Jul 23 – Wantagh, NY – Northwell Health at Jones Beach Theater

Tue Jul 25 – Mansfield, MA – Xfinity Center

Wed Jul 26 – Holmdel, NJ – PNC Bank Arts Center

Fri Jul 28 – Bristow, VA – Jiffy Lube Live

Sat Jul 29 – Darien Center, NY – Darien Lake Amphitheater

Sun Jul 30 – Philadelphia, PA – TD Pavilion at the Mann

Tue Aug 01 – Toronto, ON – Budweiser Stage

Thu Aug 03 – Tinley Park, IL – Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre

Fri Aug 04 – Clarkston, MI – Pine Knob Music Theatre

Sat Aug 05 – Cincinnati, OH – Riverbend Music Center

Tue Aug 08 – Kansas City, MO – Starlight Theatre

Thu Aug 10 – Dallas, TX – Dos Equis Pavilion

Fri Aug 11 – The Woodlands, TX – Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion

Sat Aug 12 – Austin, TX – Germania Insurance Amphitheater

Mon Aug 14 – Rogers, AR – Walmart AMP

Fri Aug 18 – Phoenix, AZ – Talking Stick Resort Amphitheatre

Sat Aug 19 – San Diego, CA – North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre

Sun Aug 20 – Concord, CA – Concord Pavilion

concerts

Movie Review

The Magic Faraway Tree is a whimsical family lark that fails to take root

Photo courtesy of Vertical Entertainment

Andrew Garfield, Delilah Bennett-Cardy, Claire Foy, Phoenix Laroche, and Billie Gadson in The Magic Faraway Tree.

With kids and families always on the hunt for entertainment, it’s typically a safe bet for a movie studio to offer up something new, even if it is a film based on an old property. The Magic Faraway Tree, based on a series of books that started in the 1930s, is a very old property, one that its filmmakers have tried to liven up with a few stars, a lot of whimsy, and a boatload of CGI.

The Thompson family, led by stay-at-home dad Tim (Andrew Garfield) and breadwinner mom Polly (Claire Foy), are forced to move to a rundown country home when Polly gets laid off. The kids - Joe (Phoenix Laroche), Fran (Billie Gadson), and Beth (Delilah Bennett-Cardy) - are used to the perks of city life like wifi and electricity, and each of them rebels in their own way to their new lot in life.

Fran, enticed by a fairy named Silky (Nicola Coughlan), is the first to venture out of the house, making her way to a magic tree that transports her to a world full of strange characters like Moonface (Nonso Anozie), Saucepan Man (Dustin Demri-Burns), Dame Washalot (Jessica Gunning), and more. Her adventures there not only broaden the world she thought she knew, but may be the key to helping her ailing family.

Directed by Ben Gregor and written by Simon Farnaby (Paddington 2, Wonka), the film is a pleasant enough lark, but it fails to fully capture the imagination. The five-member family has a lot going on, from an initially-mute Fran to a domestic situation that raises more questions than it answers. The film tries to incorporate an anti-technology message through Tim’s hatred of a smart refrigerator (voiced by Judi Dench!) and the kids' addictions to devices, but it’s quickly shed in favor of other options.

Once Fran makes it to the Magic Faraway Tree, there’s a nice shift in the storytelling, but it’s unclear what the ultimate goal is. It’s a good idea to have Fran, the youngest of the children, convince her older, more cynical siblings about the virtues of the magic world, but the conflict in the real world doesn’t seem to rise to the level needed for the escape the tree provides.

There also seems to be a missing link in the storytelling for viewers to understand the importance of the fantastical characters. The visuals of seeing Moonface and his crescent moon-shaped hair, a man with a suit full of banging pots, and more are fun for a while, but not enough to carry the whole film. A last-minute revelation feels like it was something that should have been disclosed much earlier to help strengthen the emotions of the story.

A two-time Oscar nominee, Garfield is making his first foray into family movies (if you don’t count playing Spider-Man), and while he does a good job, he doesn’t make the best fit for the semi-goofy role. The same goes for the Emmy-winning Foy, who isn’t given much of anything to do. The movie puts the story on the shoulders of the three child actors, and while each of them acquit themselves well, none of them are so outstanding as to be noteworthy.

With nearly 90-year-old source material, The Magic Faraway Tree needed to be something truly special to stand out in the 21st century movie world. Unfortunately, it features a mostly forgettable story that features some fun visuals, a couple of cute kids, and not much else.

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The Magic Faraway Tree is now playing in theaters.

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