The Dallas stop is part of Bell’s rollout tour for his new album, Non-Stop Flight, the cover of which features Bell surrounded by women who appear to be half his age — not a great look for someone who pleaded guilty to child endangerment three years ago when faced with allegations of sexual misconduct.
The former child star had a rough fall from grace over the past decade even before that, having been accused of verbal and physical abuse by ex-girlfriend Melissa Lingafelt.
During the 2000s, Bell was a household name among kids and parents mainly due to his work on The Amanda Show and as a star on Drake & Josh. He also had smaller roles as a child on Seinfeld and Jerry Maguire in the '90s. Bell continued acting after his sitcom ended in 2007 with roles such as Timmy Turner in the live-action The Fairly OddParents movies and the voice of Peter Parker in Ultimate Spider-Man, but he shifted his career focus into music.
Unfortunately, Bell’s music isn't anything to write home about, which should be expected from someone whose artist bio gives more attention to their dead acting career than to their music. His 2014 release, Ready, Steady, Go, had a worse debut than his 2006 album, It’s Only Time, and peaked at 182 on the U.S. Billboard 200 list. Bell’s popularity and album sales have only declined in the 10 years since, though he maintains a respectable 4.4 million followers on Instagram.
Last we had heard from him, Bell had moved to Mexico and rebranded as "Drake Campana."
In its best moments, Non-Stop Flight is unremarkable, with over-produced, drawn-out songs and endless vocal tuning that makes it impossible to sit through. At its worst it's out of touch — such as on “Extraordinary Life,” when Bell speaks directly to the listener about how hard it is “at the top” and how badly he’d like to trade places to live their “ordinary life” over repetitive uninspired piano chords.
At an hour and 25 minutes long, saying this record drags is an understatement. At least we're lucky that Bell limited his Latin output to just five tracks of this 27-song slog. While “Te Desenamoraste” is somehow probably the best song on the album, the drop-off in quality for the next three tracks is palpable. Between cringe-inducing verses, “I Found Love” has an overblown chorus that would only hit on an acid trip, and Bell’s covers of “Living La Vida Loca” and “La Camisa Negra” come off like unearthed cuts from a drunken karaoke night.
The few comments on Trees' online concert announcement included "Honestly, this is probably the only Drake I can afford to go see," and "Dont support a grapist [sic] & groomer!!"
Sadly, the show is a bit too early in December to buy someone tickets as a gag holiday gift. But anyone who wants to pay 20–30 bucks to see the guy they used to watch on TV in person can find tickets on Bell’s website or at treesdallas.com.
