Weekend Event Planner

These are the 13 best things to do in Dallas this weekend

Music and theater will share top billing for the slate of events in and around Dallas this weekend. There will be no fewer than seven concerts in a variety of genres, all of of them with well-known singers or bands headlining. There will also be five theater productions, including a festival dedicated to showcasing smaller groups. The odd event out on this list is an epic battle in a huge venue featuring foam dart guns.

Below are the best ways to spend your free time this weekend. Want more options? Lucky for you, we have a much longer list of the city's best events.

Thursday, August 1

Third Eye Blind in concert
Alt-rock band Third Eye Bland has been living a semi-charmed kind of life in the music business since their debut release in 1997. They scored a number of hits off of their first two albums, but they haven't had a song in the Hot 100 since 2000. They've continued to release new music, with their most recent album being Our Bande Apart in 2021. They'll play at Dos Equis Pavilion as part of the fourth edition of the "Summer Gods Tour." They'll be joined by special guests Yellowcard and A R I Z O N A.

Festival of Independent Theatres
After a 23-year run at the Bath House Cultural Center and a five-year pandemic-related hiatus, the Festival of Independent Theatres returns in a brand-new location, Theatre Three and its downstair space, Theatre Too. The three-week festival, running through August 24, will feature 10 productions, including Gods & Heroes by Paul Williams, Where the F is Joseph Mara? by Mac Welch & Emily Bernet, and An Evening with Penis presented by Pegasus Theatre.

North Texas Performing Arts Repertory Theatre presents Jesus Christ Superstar
The first musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, Jesus Christ Superstar is a rock opera set against the backdrop of a universally known series of events seen, unusually, through the eyes of Judas Iscariot. Based on the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the musical follows the last week of Jesus Christ’s life and the personal relationships and struggles between Jesus, Judas, Mary Magdalene, and His disciples and followers. The production runs through Sunday at North Texas Performing Arts in Plano.

Junior Players presents Much Ado About Nothing
In Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, power defies legacy. Throughout the show, audiences will see greed, jealousy, and deception make a valiant effort to foil the love of young courtship. The comedic play unfolds as Leonato, leader of Spain, awaits the arrival of Don Pedro of Aragon and his victorious army of Portuguese soldados (soldiers). The production runs through Sunday at Samuell-Grand Amphitheater.

Rover Dramawerks presents Wrong Turn at Lungfish
Peter is a blind and bitter former college professor, and Anita is a saucy, streetwise young woman who volunteers to read to him in the hospital. The clash of intellect and wit takes the two from animosity and fear to friendship and understanding. Both come with questions, hers dealing with her station in life and her handsome yet abusive boyfriend Dominic, and his about past life choices. As their relationship develops, both end up with hopeful answers. The production runs through August 17 at Cox Playhouse in Plano.

Friday, August 2

Blues Traveler & Big Head Todd and the Monsters in concert
Blues Traveler and Big Head Todd and the Monsters come to town to co-headline the “Blue Monsters Tour.” While both rock bands have continued to release new music - Blues Traveler is touring in support of their 2023 album, Traveler’s Soul, and Big Head Todd and the Monsters is touring in support of their new album, Thunderbird - their biggest successes came in the 1990s. They'll play at The Pavilion At Toyota Music Factory.

Niall Horan in concert
The solo careers of former One Direction members have been varied in their success, but Niall Horan hasn't suffered in the slightest. His first solo album, Flicker, went to No. 1 upon its release in 2017, and his next two albums have performed almost equally as well, with his latest - 2023's The Show - coming in at No. 2 on the Billboard 200. He'll perform at Dos Equis Pavilion, joined by Del Water Gap.

Donny Osmond in concert
Now over 50 years into his singing career, Donny Osmond will bring his award-winning Las Vegas show to Dallas, a 90-minute spectacle in which he performs his hits, shares stories of his greatest show-stopping memories, and introduces brand new music in a fresh and completely reimagined song and dance celebration. Osmond has released 18 albums in his career, most recently Start Again in 2021. He'll perform at the Music Hall at Fair Park.

Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives in concert
Country Music Hall of Famer Marty Stuart got his start in bluegrass legend Lester Flatts’ band, and on the road and in the studio with legend Johnny Cash. Over 40 years as a solo artist, he has released more than 20 major label albums, most recently Altitude in 2023. He and his band, His Fabulous Superlatives, will play at Majestic Theatre.

Dale Watson & His Lone Stars in concert
Dale Watson is a singer who champions "Ameripolitan" as a new genre of original music, one that he says is "authentic country music." Since releasing his debut album at the relatively old age of 33, he has been a workhorse, releasing new music in one form or another almost every year for close to 25 years. He'll play with his band, His Lone Stars, at Longhorn Ballroom.

Art Centre Theatre presents Bat Boy: The Musical
Based on a story in The Weekly World News, Bat Boy: The Musical is a comedy/horror show about a half boy/half bat creature adopted by a small town veterinarian. When Bat Boy and the vet's daughter run away together, their happiness is shattered when her mom arrives and reveals the secret shocking story of Bat Boy’s unholy origin. The production runs through August 18 at Art Centre Theatre in Plano.

Saturday, August 3

Jared's Epic Blaster Battle
Jared's Epic Blaster Battle returns to Dallas for the ninth year, featuring dozens of inflatable bunkers, a live DJ, special guests, and special battles. The event, a four-hour series of more than 15 themed foam-flinging battles, also includes access to more than 50,000 free foam darts to take home, a chance to meet some Toy Blaster YouTube Celebrities and content creators, and more. The event takes place at AT&T Stadium in Arlington.

Photo courtesy of Third Eye Blind

Third Eye Blind will play at Dos Equis Pavilion on August 1.

Iron & Wine in concert
Iron & Wine is not a music group but instead a lone singer - aka Samuel Beam - whose brand of folk music has been earning him acclaim for over 20 years. His debut album, 2002's The Creek Drank the Cradle, didn't make an impact on the charts, but it did lead to him recording a version of The Postal Service's "Such Great Heights," which landed on the Garden State soundtrack. He's had a steady-if-unspectacular career since, releasing 10 albums, including the new Light Verse. He'll play at Majestic Theatre.

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Movie Review

Film sequel Avatar: Fire and Ash is a technical and visual feast

Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios

Oona Chaplin in Avatar: Fire and Ash.

For a series whose first two films made over $5 billion combined worldwide, Avatar has a curious lack of widespread cultural impact. The films seem to exist in a sort of vacuum, popping up for their run in theaters and then almost as quickly disappearing from the larger movie landscape. The third of five planned movies, Avatar: Fire and Ash, is finally being released three years after its predecessor, Avatar: The Way of Water.

The new film finds the main duo, human-turned-Na’vi Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and his native Na’vi wife, Neytiri (Zoë Saldaña), still living with the water-loving Metkayina clan led by Ronal (Kate Winslet) and Tonowari (Cliff Curtis). While Jake and Neytiri still play a big part, the focus shifts significantly to their two surviving children, Lo’ak (Britain Dalton) and Tuk (Trinity Jo-Li Bliss), as well as two they’ve essentially adopted, Kiri (Sigourney Weaver) and Spider (Jack Champion).

Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang), who lives on in a fabricated Na’vi body, is still looking for revenge on Jake, and he finds help in the form of the Mangkwan Clan (aka the Ash People), led by Varang (Oona Chaplin). Quaritch’s access to human weapons and the Mangkwan’s desire for more power on the moon known as Pandora make them a nice match, and they team up to try to dominate the other tribes.

Aside from the story, the main point of making the films for writer/director James Cameron is showing off his considerable technical filmmaking prowess, and that is on full display right from the start. The characters zoom around both the air and sea on various creatures with which they’ve bonded, providing Cameron and his team with plenty of opportunities to put the audience right there with them. Cameron’s preferred viewing method of 3D makes the experience even more immersive, even if the high frame rate he uses makes some scenes look too realistic for their own good.

The story, as it has been in the first two films, is a mixed bag. Cameron and co-writers Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver start off well, having Jake, Neytiri, and their kids continue mourning the death of Neteyam (Jamie Flatters) in the previous film. The struggle for power provides an interesting setup, but Cameron and his team seem to drag out the conflict for much too long. This is the longest Avatar film yet, and you really start to feel it in the back half as the filmmakers add on a bunch of unnecessary elements.

Worse than the elongated story, though, is the hackneyed dialogue that Cameron, Jaffa, and Silver have come up with. Almost every main character is forced to spout lines that diminish the importance of the events around them. The writers seemingly couldn’t resist trying to throw in jokes despite them clashing with the tone of the scenes in which they’re said. Combined with the somewhat goofy nature of the Na’vi themselves (not to mention talking whales), the eye-rolling words detract from any excitement or emotion the story builds up.

A pre-movie behind-the-scenes short film shows how the actors act out every scene in performance capture suits, lending an authenticity to their performances. Still, some performers are better than others, with Saldaña, Worthington, and Lang standing out. It’s more than a little weird having Weaver play a 14-year-old girl, but it works relatively well. Those who actually get to show their real faces are collectively fine, but none of them elevate the film overall.

There are undoubtedly some Avatar superfans for which Fire and Ash will move the larger story forward in significant ways. For anyone else, though, the film is a demonstration of both the good and bad sides of Cameron. As he’s proven for 40 years, his visuals are (almost) beyond reproach, but the lack of a story that sticks with you long after you’ve left the theater keeps the film from being truly memorable.

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Avatar: Fire and Ash opens in theaters on December 19.

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