Bayou City

Your Cheat Sheet For All the Music Surrounding Houston's Big Game

Bruno Mars's February 3 show at the pop-up venue Club Nomadic is one of the highest-profile peripheral concerts around Super Bowl LI, but far from the only one.
Bruno Mars's February 3 show at the pop-up venue Club Nomadic is one of the highest-profile peripheral concerts around Super Bowl LI, but far from the only one. Photo by Kai Z. Feng/Courtesy of Atlantic Records

The teams are set, the commercial time has been sold and Houston’s hospitality industry is about to experience the longest — and with any luck most lucrative — two weeks of its life. This Super Bowl mania about to descend on our city also includes the dozens of events only peripherally related to the NFL and the big game itself; these pop-up concerts, parties, meet-and-greets, food tastings and the like exist solely to capitalize on the legions of visitors soon to arrive in town, often as not with expense-account money to burn, who will be desperately in need of something to do. Many of them will be music fans.

The Houston Super Bowl Host Committee filled in a huge piece of that puzzle last week by announcing the complete lineup of the Super Bowl LIVE free concert series at Discovery Green. For everything else, we combed through our usual informational channels, plus supersundayhq.com, Culturemap and the Houston Press’s own forthcoming Super Bowl Guide to assemble this simple roadmap to the abundance of extra music going on from this coming weekend through after the game is over. A few of these events will be near-impossible to get into (or at least very expensive), still others completely free, so we’ll leave it to you to determine which ones are more your speed; if necessary, available tickets should be accessible through the appropriate link. Enjoy!

WONDER BOWL
8th Wonder Brewery, January 29-February 2
Free

January 29 — BBQ Showcase (12 p.m.): Heapin' Helpin'
January 30 — DonKee Boy & Friends Art Show (6 p.m.): DJ Gonz
February 1 — Game City Showcase (6 p.m.): Camera Cult, The Wheel Workers, Glass the Sky, Jealous Creatures
February 2 — Welcome to Brewston (2 p.m.): Paul Wall, etc.

SUPER-RAD CONCERT SERIES
Axelrad, January 30-February 5
Free

January 30 (6 p.m.): Night Drive, Deep Cuts, Mind Shrine
January 31 (6 p.m.): Handsomebeast, Birthday Club, Ndaclouds, Alex Riddle
February 1 (6 p.m.): Kermit Ruffins, Decory, Regal People, Sherita Perez
February 2 (6 p.m.): Young Mammals, JERK, Stacks w/DJ Squincy Jones
February 3 (6 p.m.): GIO Chamba, Gracie Chavez, Princpe Q
February 4 (2 p.m.): Telephantom, Rex Hudson, Mantra Love, Another Run
February 5 (2 p.m.): DJ Big Reeks, Waxaholics, Young Girls, Pop Pistol

NFL OPENING NIGHT
X Ambassadors
Minute Maid Park, January 30
Tickets: $20-30

MID-MAIN SUPER FEST
3500-3700 Main, February 2-5 (Winbern Street Art Market, 12 p.m. February 4)
Free

February 2 (5 p.m.): Stooges Brass Band, Geno Delafose & French Rockin’ Boogie, DJ Tempty
February 3 (5 p.m.): The Tontons, Ishi, The Gramaphones
February 4 (3 p.m.): The Polyphonic Spree, -Us, A Fistful of Soul, The Phantom Royals
February 5 10:30 a.m.): The Light Rock Express

THE PLAYERS PARTY 2017
Sam Houston Race Park, February 2-5
Tickets: $24/30 (individual days); $59/79 (4-day ā€œSuper Party Passā€); $15/20 (Sunday only)

February 2: Montgomery Gentry, Jaime-Lynn Spears, Bag of Donuts, Klockwork
February 3: The Beach Boys, Bayou Roux, The Guzzlers
February 4: Hunter Hayes, Tracy Byrd, Danielle Bradbery, Masters of Funk (members of Bar-Kays, Dazz Band, Con Funk Shun & Lakeside), Eddie Money
February 5: KC & the Sunshine Band

STILL TIPPIN HTX
OG Ron C & the Chopstars, Mike Jones, Lil' Flip, etc.
Rockefeller's, February 2
Tickets: $40-250

WELCOME TO HOUSTON
Hosted by Willie D
King's Court (903 Hutchins), February 2 (11 a.m.)
Tickets: $35-$3,500

ā€œBIG GAME WEEKENDā€
Cle Houston, February 2-5
Prices below

February 2: DJ Vice ($35-1,000)
February 3: Tiƫsto ($250-1,000)
February 4: Skrillex ($200-1,000)
February 5: DJ Snake ($100-$1,000); NGHTMRE (after-hours, $25-1,000)

Stereo Live, February 2-4
Prices below

February 2: Steve Aoki ($45/55)
February 3: 3lau ($30/35)
February 4: Krewella ($30/40)

CLUB NOMADIC
2121 Edwards, February 2-4
Prices below

February 2 — EA Sports Bowl: Sam Hunt, Chainsmokers ($100/$275)
February 3: Bruno Mars ($175, GA only)
February 4: Taylor Swift*
* Tickets have been distributed exclusively via AT&T and DirecTV promotions, but are available through StubHub starting about $1,500.

BIG TEXAS PARTY
ā€œMajor musical entertainmentā€
Silver Street Studios, February 2
Tickets: $125-1,250

SUPER BOWL: THE HOUSTON POWER PARTY
Kid Capri, GO DJ Hi-C, DJ Supastar, Donnie Houston
Houston Museum of Natural Science, February 2
Tickets: $100/200

WONKY POWER AT MARKET SQUARE PARK
Market Square Park, February 3-4 (11 a.m.)
Free

February 3: Dollie Barnes, Young Girls, Mind Shrine, DJ Charlee Brown
February 4: Birthday Club, Camera Cult, Vodi, El Lago, Handsomebeast, DJ Dayta

WAXED & CHOPPED BLOCK PARTY
Waxaholics DJs, DJ Big Reeks, DJ Demo, DJ Losty Los, OJ Ron C, DJ Candlestick, N.O. Joe, The Groove Ensemble, Big Mike, Devin Tha Dude
Alley Kat Bar & Lounge, February 3 (5 p.m.)
Tickets: $20-30

SUPER BOWL GOSPEL CELEBRATION
CeCe Winans, Yolanda Adams, LeCrae, Natalie Grant, Dave & Tamala Mann (hosts), etc.
Lakewood Church, February 3
Tickets: $12-75

ROBERT EARL KEEN & FRIENDS
Heights Theater, February 3-4
Tickets: $75-125

DAN PASTORINI’S SUPER PARTY
Tracy Byrd, Mark Chesnutt
Redneck Country Club, February 3
Tickets: $85

THE SUPERBASH
Snoop Dogg & Snoopadelic, Flo Rida (unconfirmed), more TBD
Music World Entertainment/House of Dereon (2202 Crawford), February 3-5

Tickets: $150-35,000

PLANET NEW ERA
2 Chainz, Migos, DJ Ace, Bun B (host)
VrSi, February 3
Invite only

ESPN THE PARTY
Fergie, DJ Khaled
Unnamed downtown warehouse, but a big one (65,000 sq. ft.), February 3
Invite-only, but other sponsors include Alfa Romeo, Dunkin’ Donuts and MillerCoors; may be time to hit up any and all connections you may have at those companies.

GOOD VIBES ONLY HTX BLOCK PARTY (ā€œSuper Bowl Editionā€)
Wale, more TBD
Alley Kat Bar & Lounge, February 4
Tickets: $25-40

TAILGATE ON MCGOWEN
Mystery Loves Company, Blaggards, Soulshine, Edgebrook
Leon’s Lounge/Mongoose Versus Cobra, February 4 (starts 11 a.m.)
Free

PEARLAND SUPER WEEKEND
RaeLynn, Two Tons of Steel
Pearland Town Center, February 4
Free

SUPER BOWL JAM FEST
Karina Nistal Band, Photon Mechanics, Sons of Conquering Lion, Jenny Franck, DJ Swift, DJ Hiroking, Dion Seasar, Freddy B, DJ N9NE and T-Bone, Colorblog
Satellite Bar, February 4 (2 p.m.)
Tickets: $8/10 (RSVP required)

LIL WAYNE & CELEBRITY FRIENDS
Lil Wayne, DJ Drama, DJ Green Lantern, more TBD
Ayva Center, February 4
Tickets: $75-7,500

PLAYBOY SUPER BOWL PARTY
Flo Rida
Spire Houston, February 4
Tickets: $250-1,000

EXTRAVAGANZA OF STARS
Clay Walker, Jordin Sparks
Hughes Manor, February 4
Tickets: $1,500

ROLLING STONE LIVE
Diplo, Nas, Big Sean, DJ Cassidy
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, February 4
Tickets: $750-1,250

THE 2017 MAXIM PARTY
Travis Scott, DJ Khaled
Smart Financial Centre at Sugar Land, February 4

Invite-only; code may be available by emailing [email protected].
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Chris Gray has been Music Editor for the Houston Press since 2008. He is the proud father of a Beatles-loving toddler named Oliver.
Contact: Chris Gray