BY STEPHANIE SMITTLE Booster up, mask up and support your local creatives however you can. We’re still in a pandemic, and an increasing number of shows require proof of vaccination, so make sure you have that card ready to go. Gathering safely again is a work in progress; be on the lookout for policy changes or date changes, and handle them with all the grace you can summon.
JOJO SIWA
MONDAY 1/31. SIMMONS BANK ARENA. 7 P.M. $40-$70.
COURTESY SIMMONS BANK ARENA
Wielder of gigantic hair bows, “Dance Moms” vet and, now, young queer icon, Jojo Siwa is a Nickelodeon mogul, reigning over an empire built on glitter, rainbows, TikTok and bubblegum dance pop. Siwa told People Magazine earlier this year that she considers herself “the happiest human alive,” and after watching her interview on “4D with Demi Lovato,” I 100% believe her. Siwa’s concert at Simmons Bank Arena is going to feel like walking into a Lisa Frank Trapper Keeper universe in which all roads lead to Jojo, clad in a couture glitter jumpsuit, swinging her giant blonde ponytail and leading chants that every tween in your life knows by heart (#BestiesNotBullies) and imploring you to “D.R.E.A.M. with me!” Get tickets at simmonsbankarena.com.
ELTON JOHN
SATURDAY 1/29. SIMMONS BANK ARENA. 8 P.M. $70-$225. Though he’s arguably more famous these days for being “Lion King”-rich and taking phone calls from Vladimir Putin, pianist and composer Sir Elton John’s 50-plus-year partnership with lyricist Bernie Taupin has yielded some of the most moving melodies of our time, even if you chose to ignore the mega-hits. Shove past “Candle in the Wind” and “Crocodile Rock” and you’ll find the virtuosic mandolin in “Holiday Inn,” the immaculate couplets of poetry in “This Song Has No Title,” and the grand operatic scale of the “Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding” medley, for example. Elton’s post-“Rocketman” biopic, pandemic-era playlists are packed with enough “Bennie and the Jets” to please the crowd, with plenty left for those of us who came to hear “Border Song” and “Burn Down the Mission.” ARKANSASTIMES.COM
JANUARY 2022 13
