Concert News

'Queen of Hip-Hop Soul' Mary J. Blige brings tour to Austin

Mary J. Blige will come to Austin as part of “The For My Fans Tour.”

Photo by Will Sterling

Mary J. Blige, aka the “Queen of Hip-Hop Soul,” will hit the road in 2025 with the For My Fans Tour, a 27-city trek that will include a stop at Austin's Moody Center on Monday, February 17.

Starting on January 30 in Greensboro, North Carolina, the tour will take place over the course of 2 1/2 months before finishing in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on April 17. The tour was announced in September of 2024, and Austin is one of several added dates as of December 9.

In addition to Austin, Blige will perform in two other Texas cities: Houston on February 18 and Fort Worth on February 21. She'll be joined by special guests Ne-Yo and Mario at most concerts, including the Austin show.

The tour is in support of her new album, Gratitude, which will be released on November 15. Both the tour and the album are, according to a release, "a celebration of the love and gratitude that Mary has towards her life, family, friends, and her beloved fans."

Gratitude marks the 15th album in a career that dates back to What's the 411? in 1992. The vast majority of those albums have gone to No. 1 on the Billboard R&B chart, and almost all of them have been in the top 10 on the overall Billboard 200.

This long track record of success led to Blige's recent inclusion in the 2024 class of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. She will be inducted with the rest of the class on October 19 in Cleveland, Ohio.

Tickets for the tour will be available starting with a Citi presale beginning on Tuesday, December 10 through the Citi Entertainment program. The general on-sale begins Friday, December 13 at 10 am at LiveNation.com.

MARY J. BLIGE – THE FOR MY FANS TOUR 2025 DATES

Thu Jan 30 - Greensboro, NC - Greensboro Coliseum Fri Jan 31 - Raleigh, NC - Lenovo Center
Sun Feb 02 - Memphis, TN - FedExForum - ADDED SHOW
Mon Feb 03 - Atlanta, GA - State Farm Arena
Wed Feb 05 - Columbia, SC - Colonial Life Arena - ADDED SHOW
Thu Feb 06 - Charlotte, NC - Spectrum CenterSat Feb 08 - Tampa, FL - Amalie Arena
Tue Feb 11 - Hollywood, FL - Hard Rock Live Fri Feb 14 - New Orleans, LA - Smoothie King Center
Sat Feb 15 - Birmingham, AL - Legacy Arena - ADDED SHOW
Mon Feb 17 - Austin, TX - Moody Center - ADDED SHOW
Tue Feb 18 - Houston, TX - Toyota Center
Fri Feb 21 - Ft. Worth, TX - Dickies Arena
Tue Feb 25 - Denver, CO - Ball Arena
Fri Feb 28 - Las Vegas, NV - T-Mobile Arena - ADDED SHOW
Sat Mar 01 - Los Angeles, CA - Intuit Dome
Mon Mar 03 - San Bernardino, CA - Yaamava’ Theater - ADDED SHOW*
Fri Mar 07 - San Francisco, CA - Chase Center
Sat Mar 08 - Sacramento, CA - Golden 1 Center
Wed Mar 12 - St. Louis, MO - Enterprise Center
Fri Mar 14 - Chicago, IL - United Center
Sun Mar 16 - St. Paul, MN - Xcel Energy Center
Wed Mar 19 - Detroit, MI - Little Caesars Arena
Sat Mar 22 - Buffalo, NY - KeyBank Center
Mon Mar 24 - Toronto, ON - Scotiabank Arena
Wed Mar 26 - Washington, DC - Capital One Arena
Fri Mar 28 - Atlantic City, NJ - Boardwalk Hall
Tue Apr 01 - Cleveland, OH - Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse - ADDED SHOW
Wed Apr 02 - Columbus, OH - Nationwide Arena
Fri Apr 04 - Baltimore, MD - CFG Bank Arena
Sun Apr 06 - Newark, NJ - Prudential Center
Tue Apr 08 - Hartford, CT - XL Center - ADDED SHOW
Thu Apr 10 - New York, NY - Madison Square Garden
Fri Apr 11 - Belmont Park, NY - UBS Arena
Mon Apr 14 - Boston, MA - TD Garden
Thu Apr 17 - Philadelphia, PA - Wells Fargo Center - ADDED SHOW

* Denotes shows without NE-YO and Mario

concerts music

Movie Review

Lord of the Rings animated sequel depends on nostalgia to make impact

Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures

Hèra (Gaia Wise) in The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim.

The Peter Jackson-led Lord of the Rings movie trilogy in the early 21st century was such a smashing success that people have been trying to recreate that magic for a long time. First came the ill-conceived The Hobbittrilogy, which made lots of money despite mostly poor reviews. The recent Amazon TV series, The Rings of Power, has gotten generally good reviews, but doesn’t seem to hold a place in the wider pop culture consciousness.

And now comes The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, an anime-style film that seems like an attempt at both reclaiming the world in animated form from the weird 1978 film, and a nostalgia play for fans of the original series. Set 200 years before the events in J.R.R. Tolkien’s books, it nonetheless takes place in two very familiar locations that are recreated to appear exactly how they looked in Jackson’s films.

The story centers around Hèra (voiced by Gaia Wise), the only daughter of King Helm (Brian Cox) of Rohan. An early conflict with Lord Freca (Shaun Dooley) leads Freca’s son, Wulf (Luca Pasqualino), to develop a deep grudge against Helm and his family. Wulf pursues that ill will for years, eventually driving his foes into a fortress in a valley to make a final stand against his aggression.

Based on information found in the appendices of Tolkien’s novels, this is the rare instance when choosing to use animation holds back the creativity of a film. Typically, animation allows filmmakers to do things that wouldn’t be possible in the real world, but director Kenji Kamiyama and his team seem beholden to the look of Jackson’s films. While the animation itself is great, it doesn’t offer the fluidity of live action, and so the action scenes are often stilted and flat.

The story itself is not very compelling, as a quartet of screenwriters have concocted a plot that relies on revenge and heroism tropes that allow the audience to predict almost everything that happens. There are a few surprises to be had, but as the conflict revolves around a strong-willed female character and her unwillingness to be told whom to marry, it’s generally clear how the story will be resolved, with only the specific details left to be discovered.

It also would have been great if the film weren’t so dependent on nostalgia for the original films. The two main locations are ones that played a big part in set pieces from those films, and their usage here doesn’t measure up favorably. Eowyn (Miranda Otto) serves as narrator, and other characters/actors from the original trilogy also make appearances, leaving little room for this film to establish itself on its own terms.

The majesty of the original Lord of the Rings trilogy, with its New Zealand vistas and incomparable visuals created by Wētā Workshop, set a high bar that none of the subsequent projects have been able to meet. The War of the Rohirrim is a competently made film, but it doesn’t hold up to scrutiny with the Oscar-quality work of 20+ years prior.

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The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim opens in theaters on December 13.

movies film

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Movie Review

Lord of the Rings animated sequel depends on nostalgia to make impact