SHOW PREVIEW

Taylor Swift w/bebadoobee

Gayle opens Thursday; Gracie Abrams

Friday-Saturday. Thursday-Saturday, April 13-15.

Sold-out. Raymond James Stadium, 4201 N Dale Mabry Hwy., Tampa

Zeppelin, for its part, packed that old Sombrero in 1977, attracting close to 70,000 fans for a rescheduled concert that caused a disturbance after the show that got rained out after the second-song. Metallica was part of the 1988 Monsters of Rock Tour that drew about 35,000 to Tampa Stadium. Paul McCartney sold all 60,000 tickets to his 1990 show at Raymond James Stadium—which opened in 1998 when the old Tampa Stadium closed—in just one day.

But Swift—who plays three, back-to-back-toback, sold-out shows on Thursday, Friday and Saturday—could potentially play for 150,000200,000 fans this weekend at Raymond James which seats 65,000 for games and is expandable to 75,000. (A rep for the Tampa Sports Authority has yet to respond to requests for attendance estimates for Swift’s RayJay shows, but Swift’s

Janet Scherberger, who was the Music Critic for the Tampa Tribune, also can’t remember any artist playing multiple nights at Tampa Stadium. “It’s a testimony to the strength of her fan base, and she keeps gaining new fans,” Scherberger told CL. Scherberger added that her own daughter, who’s in her 30s now, first saw Swift when she opened for Brad Paisley at the Ford Amphitheatre back in 2007. “They want to go. They’re taking boyfriends, they’re taking their husbands, and they are loyal fans—they grew up with her,” Scherberberger added.

And there’s something else U2, Metallica, Allman Brothers, Bowie, Led Zeppelin and McCartney won’t be able to do, and that’s match the revenue Swift is bringing in on this haul. Tickets to Zeppelin’s show at Tampa Stadium cost $10-$12 according to the Tribune—and yes, the internet has made it easier than ever to line up for tickets (and jack up prices on them)—but Billboard says the average cost of a ticket to Swift’s Eras tour is $215, with presales for the entire tour estimated at near $600 million.

It’s going to be a history-making affair this weekend, and you can bet that Swift’s fans are ready for it.

By Josh Bradley & Ray Roa C CL Recommends

This week's live music listing could not be contained on two pages. Visit cltampa.com/ music for the expanded version.

Thu 13

Tim Barry w/Rancho La Chua Avail frontman Tim Barry is still part of the punk-rock outfit, but stays exclusive to whatever bill he performs on. Essentially, solo gigs see the Virginia boy maintain his folk state of mind, and completely ignore Avail material. He does have some new music to push, though. For all we know, Spring Hill, which released last year, may have taken lyrical inspiration from his time hanging out with his old bandmates again. Just a thought. (Crowbar, Ybor City)

Umphrey’s McGee

This year, progressivejam band Umphrey’s McGee celebrates 25 years of existence, and while we didn’t get one of its live “Hall of Fame” albums last year—a series of compilations featuring the most popular live performances among fans—its latest studio album Asking For a Friend is loaded with exemplary guitar and keyboard work and sounds like something airy enough for Trey Anastasio to consider rocking Madison Square Garden with on New Year’s Eve. Hopefully, the band’s first local, post-COVID stop will be memorable enough that enough fans will nominate our neck of the woods for Hall of Fame Class of 2023 next year. (Jannus Live, St. Petersburg)

Fri 14

Animal Prince w/Dionysus/Anemoia

Tampa’s new school of young jazz and pop tastemakers is always busy, and two of its brightest lights—harpist-multiinstrumentalist Seth Adam Lynn and drummer Natalie Depergola (aka Katara)—join Animal Prince, a west coast synth-loving electro-acoustic duo, for a run of Florida shows. Animal Prince’s aesthetic would please fans of Matt & Kim’s energy and the experimental spirit of TuneYards. The ensemble is joined by sax-driven Gainesville fusion outfit Dionysus and Miami rock-trio Anemoia. (Shuffle, Tampa)

Fulcrum w/Vacancy/Dead Mirrors/ Ramtha After staging a sold-out rager in the room last Friday, promoter Locust Parade is back at Tampa biker bar Born Free for another heavy-hitter hardcore show. This time it's with Gainesville crusty grindcore hybrid Fulcrum, which breaks the mold on “Resuscitation”, a brutal, tempo-shifting two-and-a-half-minute highlight from its new album Heaven Is Violence . Botch, Coalesce and Converge-loving Tampa band Dead Mirrors opens the show along with new St. Pete thrash band Ramtha, and noise-rock outfit Vacancy featuring Locust Parade’s Eliot Mayo on vocals. (Born Free Pub & Grill, Tampa)

Jake Shimabukuro The Hawaii-born ukulele virtuoso’s latest album Jake & Friends , which dropped in 2021, is not a collection of recordings with people Jake has regularly worked and toured with over the course of his life. Instead, he brings heroes from all generations and genres together. I mean, did you ever think you’d hear Bette Midler, Billy Strings (playing Tampa this week!), Michael McDonald, and Willie Nelson on the same record? Shimabukuro’s show is not affliated with the Ukelele Fest in The District happening downtown, but you can read more about Clearwater’s very uke-centric weekend on p. 51. (Bilheimer Capitol Theatre, Clearwater)

Montell Jordan If you remember the hit song “This is How We Do It,” then you know that if you’re going to attempt to “do it,” it must be on a Friday night, and only when you’re feeling “alright,” and most importantly it needs to specifically happen on the “westside.” Well, it’s all going to go as planned when ‘90s R&B singer Montell Jordan kicks off the Clearwater Threshers’ summer concert series. The show is included with regular admission after the game against the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels. Gates open at 5:30 p.m. for a 6:30 pm start time. Tickets start at $7. Surely Jordan will play all the hits, just be sure that the designated driver takes the keys to your truck. (BayCare Ballpark, Clearwater)—Colin Wolf

Tiny.Blips New venue, the Moontower right next to Dunedin Brewery, has legs and hosts a psychedelic-soul show headlined by Heavy Pets drummer Jamie Newitt who showcases his new solo project, Tiny.Blips at this no-cover gig for fans of future funk, new school disco and live looping. (The Moontower, Dunedin)

Tampa Bay Blues Festival w/Robert Cray/Tab Benoit/Ana Popovic/The Fabulous Thunderbirds/Tower of Power/ more Tommy Castro & the Painkillers kick things off with a party at the Palladium on Thursday night, but the 27th Tampa Bay Blues festival really gets going on Friday with the one-two punch of headliner Robert Cray and supporting act Ana Popovic. Tower of Power and Tab Benoit anchor Saturday's lineup before Sunday welcomes The Fabulous Thunderbirds to close it out. All told more than a dozen artists will take the stage at what's easily one of Tampa Bay's most laidback and well-poiled music festivals. (Vinoy Park, St. Petersburg)

Sat 15

David Dondero “That was once a Cuban district and a center for the arts, was now a mall like atmosphere, homogeneous and insincere,” Dondero sings, about Ybor City, on the title track of his 2005 LP South of the South . “They burned its heart right out. Down south of the south.” Dondero and a forthcoming new art compound of folkloric proportions come together when the 53-year-old plays Crab Devil in Ybor Heights—just two miles from that mall-like entity he sang about nearly two decades ago. The show is the kickoff for Crab Devil’s live music series and will see parts of the Peninsularium immersive art experience open to attendees. If you’re into weird, mythological Florida, then you’re gonna wanna see it. Definitely crab a beer at Tim Ogden's new Deviant Libation brewery next door, too. (Crab Devil, Tampa) continued from page 55

Have Gun, Will Travel w/Nick Dittmeier & the Sawdusters/Claire Vandiver We’ve seen stranger things than an Americana band from Indiana, but there’s something extra funky about the way Nick Dittmeier—who’ll steal any free pen he can—does it with his band, the Sawdusters. Its 2022 album Heavy Denim is peppered with soulful harmony (“Save Me From Myself”), sing-along-ready anthems (“Free As We’d Ever Been”) and almost-bluesy Nawlins flavored romps (“Things are Getting Strange”). (Skipper’s Smokehouse, Tampa)

L8 Night Flights If you’ve been to the St. Pete pier as dusk turns dark lately, you might have noticed a pop-up rave of sorts. The party is organized by DJ and promoter collective L8 Night Flights, which has long booked special events across the Bay area. To help raise money to cover costs for the event, the L8 Night crew is hosting an online fundraiser and in-person party from 4 p.m.11 p.m. (organizers say the first pier pop-up cost $1,700, and they hope to collect $5,000 to help with future events). “We are super excited to see where this little experiment in crowdfunded, free-to-attend, community-supported events in public spaces will take us,” organizers wrote. “We have some intriguing ideas for the future, and we believe that with your support, we can truly have a positive impact bringing joy and dance to our entire community.” (St. Pete Pier, St. Petersburg)

The Red Clay Strays The country-rock outfit from Alabama will make you realize that maybe not all modern country music is shit. Its sound is generally pretty bass-heavy and low-key. Take the band’s Moment of Truth album, for instance. Basically, imagine Johnny Cash’s With His Hot and Blue Guitar, just mostly leaning on an acoustic bass, minus a few electric numbers. If you’re expecting to get down to music about the heartbreak of your tractor breaking down while you’re slurping a Bud Light (oh, sorry: Jack Daniels), you’re gonna be disappointed. (The Attic at Rock Brothers Brewing, Ybor City)

Sun 16

Iris DeMent Sometime in 1997, our friends at WMNF Tampa 88.5-FM decided to play Iris DeMent’s “Wasteland of the Free” (which should have been a warning of what was to come in the 21st century). In response, former Florida Senator John Grant—an avid anti-LGBTQ+ advocate who now has a massive Ron DeSantis fetish—decided to cut $104,000 from the station’s annual state funding. An emergency fundraiser staged by WMNF raised $120,000 within a day and a half, but this early brush with Floridian fascism is all the reason for the 62-year-old folk singer to remain active. Her new album Workin’ on a World has a title track in which she expresses how her only takeaway from living in such a rotten world is that she’s working to make it better for future generations, as her ancestors did for her. DeMent is definitely on the right side of history, and her buddy John Prine—who she toured with in the aughts—will surely be there in spirit when she performs at the Central Park Performing Arts Center on Sunday. (Central Park Performing Arts Center, Largo)

Laura Jane Grace w/Weakened Friends/ There are fewer purer, fan-artist connections than the one Grace has with her followers, who’ll pack 687 Central Ave. where Grace’s band Against Me! played some of its most memorable shows when the room was known as State Theatre (Grace describes many of the gigs in her 2016 memoir “Tranny: Confessions Of Punk Rock’s Most Infamous Anarchist Sellout”). Before the show, Grace will be at Bananas Records retail location on 22nd Avenue to sign anything you got, take photos and celebrate with the community from 1 p.m.-3 p.m. (Floridian Social, St. Petersburg)

The Lone Bellow Trio w/Stephen Wilson Jr. Only a group of brilliant singersongwriters could so exquisitely come up with an album like Love Songs for Losers , which the Lone Bellow dropped last year. The collection—recorded at the home of Roy Orbison, unarguably the king of what the album title conveys—is loaded with mini Americana rock operas, sentimental lyrics, and a few numbers that the Brooklynbased band feels ready to rock arenas with.

(Bilheimer Capitol Theatre, Clearwater)

Punk Flea Pop-Up: Arcane Arcade w/ Except You/Black Valley Moon/Twisty Chris & the Puddin’ Packs/DJ Dadd Lakeland’s punk rock flea market is a traveling affair, and this weekend it’s back in St. Petersburg where dozens of vendors will set up outside The Brutalist brewery alongside food trucks and bands that play pop-punk, rock, party-ready doo-wop surf-rock, and even western-flavored instrumental-noir.

(The Brutalist, St. Petersburg)

Queensryche w/Trauma/Marty Friedman

Ever since COVID-19 hit, Tampa Bay (well, Clearwater specifically) has gotten three different tastes of ex-Queensryche frontman Geoff Tate performing the jams that put him on the map. As for the current iteration of his old band, Todd La Torre—a St. Pete native— took Tate’s place 11 years ago, and recently appeared on Digital Noise Alliance , his fourth album with Queensryche. These days, the metal pioneers’ setlist is fairly short, but nonetheless agreeable between OG fans and ride-or-dies. (Jannus Live, St. Petersburg)

Mon 17

Hovvdy w/Whitmer Thomas/girlpuppy

After canceling a Jannus Live gig last fall, the Austin-based indie pop duo—fresh off a 2022 EP, billboard for my feelings —is moving to the other side of Tampa Bay, and indoors no less. The EP contains instrumental versions of every track included, just in case you think you and your homies can match the brotherly harmonies of Charlie Martin and Will Taylor.

“Stone Quackers” voice actor Whitmer Thomas and Georgia indie rocker girlpuppy open. (Crowbar, Ybor City)

Styx w/Don Felder Is it even springtime in Tampa Bay if Styx doesn’t roll into town?

Guitarist and co-founder James “J.Y.” Young recently lost his wife of 50 years, so he’s a guy who definitely needs a distraction. You’re lying if you think that a “Come Sail Away” singalong—with or without Dennis DeYoung—won’t make all the adversity go away for six minutes. (Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater)

Tue 18

Billy Strings Strings has been on a rapid rise since he played Safety Harbor Songfest in 2017, and that journey comes back to Tampa Bay next spring. The show is in support of the Michigan-born, Nashville-based picker’s 2021 inward-looking album, Renewal , plus the release of this year’s Me/And/Dad

The latter is a covers record where Strings and his father Terry Barber play new renditions of 14 bluegrass and country songs that they’ve been playing together since Strings was a child. (Yuengling Center, Tampa)

Wed 19

The Happy Fits w/The Hails The guys in the New Jersey-based indie rock trio now know for sure that they’ve made it, because fairly recently, they were officially granted a Wikipedia page. To celebrate that—and the release of last summer’s Under the Shade of Green —The Happy Fits make their Tampa Bay debut at Crowbar next week, with support from fellow indie rock outfit The Hails, which has yet to score a spot on the Internet’s most editable encyclopedia. (Crowbar, Ybor City)

Thu 20

Drive-By Truckers w/Lydia Loveless

The Truckers’ Patterson Hood played two solo shows in Ybor City last year, but this stop find his Athens, Georgia rock and roll band on tour in support of a new album, Welcome 2 Club VIII , which plays like a tip of the cap to the band’s honky-tonkin, Muscle Shoals origin. Lydia Loveless—a heartbreaking, almost unrivaled Americana songwriter and Bloodshot Records signee—opens the show. (Floridian Social Club, St. Petersburg)

Of Good Nature w/Wheeland Brothers

One of Of Good Nature’s first major gigs was opening the 2017 iteration of Reggae Rise Up on the Vibe Stage. Six years down the line, the funky alt-rock outfit is hanging onto the occasional horns, but continues a segue into a more mainstream sound that could potentially land it in a position to rock 97X Next Big Thing this winter. In the meantime, Skipper’s Smokehouse is where the boys from Charlotte will spend 4/20, with support from the Wheeland Brothers. (Skipper’s Smokehouse, Tampa)

Prof w/Juice Lord/Bayo/Willie Wonka

Horse , the new album from Jacob Anderson—aka Prof—has a star-studded lineup featuring Kevin Gates, Method Man, and Mac Irv. Not that we expect any major, unannounced guests to show up at the emcee’s Tampa Bay debut on Thursday— nine days before his 39th birthday—but Juice Lord, Bayo, and Willie Wonka play support for what promises to be a late ass work night. (Jannus Live, St. Petersburg)

Tommy Prine Nearly three years after the death of his father John, Tommy Prine has plans to release his debut album this summer. Before that, however, comes a St. Petersburg gig just six-and-a-half miles from the Gulfport home that John kept with his wife (and Tommy’s mom) Fiona. Produced by Ruston Kelly and Gena Johnson, This Far South , due on June 23, is a hat tip to a feeling Tommy (who played the old Hideaway Cafe in 2021) had when he was without purpose, partying and just existing. “I found myself at a fork in the road and chose the better path, and in that moment, I swore I would never be ‘this far south’ again,” he said in a statement. (Hough Hall at Palladium Theater, St. Petersburg)

Wilco w/The A’s The Chicago indierock band’s Bay area show arrives nearly a year after the release of its latest album, Cruel Country, where Wilco sprawls out on a 21-track, 80-minute meditation on the United States' recent tumultuous last few years. Read part of our Q&A with Wilco guitarist Nels Cline on p. 47, and see the full chat via cltampa.com/music. (Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater)

APRIL

APRIL

MAY

MAY

Fast Fashion

SATURDAY APRIL 15

MUSIC HALL ENDOXA BOOKING PRESENTS

ALLMAN BROS TRIBUTE

Steelin Peaches

DOORS 8 | SHOW 9 $10 ADV | $15 DOS | 18+

SUNDAY APRIL 16

MUSIC HALL ENDOXA BOOKING PRESENTS

Frankie Rose

+ ROMEO BLU / OFFERINGS

DOORS 8 | SHOW 9 $15 ADV | $20 DOS | 18+

MONDAY APRIL 17 CLOSED

TUESDAY APRIL 18

Dj Gabe

& 10:30-12:30 | FREE

BIERGARTEN LAURIS

Vidal

JEFF BRAWER GREG MILO SG WOOD 4:30-9:30 | FREE

BIERGARTEN

Jamie Thomas

6:30-8:30 | FREE

NO SHOW | RESTAURANT & BAR OPEN 11AM-11PM

WEDNESDAY APRIL 19

BIERGARTEN

BBQUSTIC! PAMELA JO BAND

FOLK / BLUEGRASS 6:30-8:30 | FREE

MAY

JUNE

JUNE

JUNE

MAY

Two months after headlining Orpheum—and just a week after playing Coachella—Soul Glo is headed back to Tampa Bay. The rising star of Philadelphia hardcore is among headliners for the fourday Lost In St. Pete music and arts festival happening April 27-30.

Other Lost In St. Pete headliners coming to the Sunshine City this month include feminist punk band War on Women (pictured), Virgina hardcore favorite Strike Anywhere, soul-powerviolence hybrid Zulu, Fat Mike’s new band Codefendants, plus Tampa rappers Famous Kid Brick and Big Baby Scumbag. All told, upwards of 200 bands are on the poster for the four-day festival happening in various venues including Floridian Social, Cage Brewing and the Lost HQ in the Warehouse District.

Cover charge for the various shows range from free to $25, and a full lineup is available via lostcreations.art. See Josh Bradley’s weekly roundup of new concert announcements below.—Ray Roa

Budapalooza: Chlorinefields w/ Witch Hiatus/Samsara/Razor & the Boogiemen/House of I/Sligh/Highway Advisory Radio/King Bee/The Don’t Belongs/more Thursday, April 20. 4:20 p.m. Prices TBA. Hooch and Hive, Tampa

The Forum w/Kind Villain/Nate Lundy Saturday, April 22. 7 p.m. $10. Hooch and Hive, Tampa

Mike Tony Saturday, April 22. 7 p.m. No cover. In Between Days, St. Petersburg

Tendencia w/Must Not Kill/March of the Fallen/The Horribles/123Terrible Sunday, April 23. 6 p.m. $12. Orpheum, Tampa

WizTheMc (supporting USPAHL) Saturday, April 29. 7 p.m. $17. Crowbar, Ybor City

MIRA’s Live Music Showcase Monday, May 1. 7 p.m. $5, no cover for SPC students, faculty, and staff. Hough Hall at Palladium Theater, St. Petersburg

Tampa Bay Symphony Spring 2023: Tchaikovsky’s Pathetique Tuesday, May 2. 8 p.m. $20, no cover to students and children. Hough Hall at Palladium Theater, St. Petersburg

Eem Triplin (supporting $not w/ Night Lovell/TBA/DC The Don/Micro)

Saturday, May 6. 7 p.m. Prices TBA. Jannus Live, St. Petersburg

Anders Osborne (acoustic) Thursday, May 11. 8 p.m. $60 & up. The Attic at Rock Brothers, Ybor City

Gypsy Soul Blues: Troy Youngblood & the Soulfish w/The Skull and Bone Band/George Pennington III Thursday, May 18. 9 p.m. $10. Crowbar, Ybor City

Leon Majcen w/Joel Luke Saturday, May 20. 7 p.m. $20. Tarpon Arts, Tarpon Springs

Light The Fire w/Ghost Chant/ Otherworld/Oceans End Thursday, May 25. 8 p.m. $13. Crowbar, Ybor City

Grand Lotus w/King Complex/Twin Suns/Witch Hiatus Friday, May 26. 9 p.m. $10. Crowbar, Ybor City

Parrotfish w/Visit Neptune/Gary Lazer Eyes Friday, June 2. 8 p.m. $12. Hooch and Hive, Tampa

Gareth Emery Saturday, June 3. 10 p.m. $25. The Ritz, Ybor City

Bones w/Xavier Wulf/Eddy Baker Tuesday, June 6. 6:30 p.m. $84 (resale only).

Jannus Live, St. Petersburg

Donald Harrison Quartet Thursday, June 8. 7:30 p.m. $30 & up. Side Door at Palladium Theater, St. Petersburg

Mercy McCoy w/Joshua Reilly Saturday, June 10. 7 p.m. $20. Tarpon Arts, Tarpon Springs

Melanie Martinez Tuesday, June 20. 7:30 p.m. $150 & up (resale only). Yuengling Center, Tampa

Palomino Blond w/Chorinefields/Mold!/

Novely Friday, June 30. 9 p.m. $12. Music Hall at New World Brewery, Tampa

Liam Bauman w/Taylor Raynor/Greg

Bauman Saturday, July 8. 7 p.m. $20.

Tarpon Arts, Tarpon Springs

Lynyrd Skynyrd w/ZZ Top/Uncle

Kracker Saturday, July 22. 6:30 p.m. $29.50 & up. Midflorida Credit Union Amphitheatre, Tampa