30 years ago: Clint Black dazzles at the rodeo and NKOTB packs the Summit

Katy native Clint Black, who used to sing for free at picnic tables in Bear Creek Park, proved his star power Sunday, Feb. 18, 1990, with a record sellout crowd in the Astrodome. Katy native Clint Black, who used to sing for free at picnic tables in Bear Creek Park, proved his star power Sunday, Feb. 18, 1990, with a record sellout crowd in the Astrodome. Photo: Richard Carson, Houston Chronicle Photo: Richard Carson, Houston Chronicle Image 1 of / 45 Caption Close 30 years ago: Clint Black dazzles at the rodeo and NKOTB packs the Summit 1 / 45 Back to Gallery

If it’s February, it’s rodeo time in Houston. At least it was in 1990.

In this month’s roundup of Houston Chronicle photos from 30 years ago, photographers were there for George Strait’s and Clint Black’s performances. Black, raised in Katy, opened the rodeo before a then-record-setting crowd of 55,000 at the Astrodome.

From Rick Mitchell’s review in the Feb. 19, 1990, Chronicle:

Despite the decent sound and large video screens projection up-close images of Black’s face, there is no way that watching a show in the Astrodome can compare to the intimacy possible in a nightclub such as Rockefeller’s. Still, the band is considerably tighter than when I last heard them in that club eight months ago.

“The most enjoyable part of the whole evening for me was listening to Ron Stone’s introduction,” Black told Mitchell afterward. “That’s when it really hit me. I had every intention of playing the rodeo and filling the place up, but out there singing, it was hard to take it all in. It was kind of overwhelming.”

Black’s accomplishment didn’t last long. Less than a week later, George Strait would beat him by just over 100 rodeo goers to set a new record.

Here’s what else happened here 30 years ago.

ON HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM: Do you know where this coin came from?

* In non-rodeo concert news, thousands of teens, and some parents, descended upon the Summit on Feb. 10 to see New Kids on the Block.

The Chronicle dispatched Aldine High School senior Kelley Lyons to review the show. The concert got a glowing review.

From the article:

Many parents encourage their children’s love for the New Kids on the Block because the group depicts good role models for the younger generation. The entertainers openly support and encourage drug-free lives.

According to Donnie [Wahlberg], “Live a drug-free life and the future will be yours.”

See more from this month in 1990 in the photos above.

J.R. Gonzales, a third-generation Houstonian, covers local history with an eye toward the people and events that have mostly been forgotten to time. Follow him through Bayou City History on Facebook and Twitter. He can be reached at 713-362-6163 or john.gonzales@chron.com.