Concerts, June 27-July 3.
by Leilani PolkTHURSDAY, JUNE 27
Americanarama Festival of Music w/Bob Dylan/Wilco/My Morning Jacket/Bob Weir This new touring fest draws from a wide and overlapping base of relentlessly loyal fans with a lineup of significant roots music artists that are each worthy of headlining slots all on their own. Bob Dylan is one of America’s greatest singer-songwriters, a legendary dabbler in blues, folk, rock ’n’ roll, country and gospel music who, at 72, is still kicking out the tunes with 35 studio LPs to his name (the last was 2012’s Tempest). Wilco speaks to indie rock fans with their tried-and-true blend of twang, texture and experimentation as marked by the distinctive songwriting and gritty nasally vocals of frontman Jeff Tweedy. My Morning Jacket brings psychedelic washes of sound and roots-Southern grind as led by howling wild-haired vocalist Jim James. And rounding it out with some crunchy solo acoustic jams is Bob Weir, whose setlist’ll likely include songs he wrote with the Grateful Dead. Here’s hoping for some first-rate live collabs. (MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre, Tampa)
Abortion Twins/Lopster’s Pudding Shack/US LIVE Abortion Twins bark raucous, fuzzed-out tunes about Eric Roberts (brother to Julia), Dave Coulier, Tempestt Bledsoe (“He looks like Vanessa Huxtable, it makes her feel uncomfortable”), and various other cheeky subjects not related to actors. Another glib performer, Lopster’s Pudding Shack, dishes out hip hop humorous sing-song commentary on vegetables, Volvos and a “Colostomy Bag Pinata” amid beat-driven electronics. (The Hub, downtown Tampa)
FRIDAY, JUNE 28
Uh Huh Her w/Daphne Willis The chic-vibing duo of the LGBT community and headliners at St. Pete Pride’s 27-82 concert event, is the synth pop project of Leisha Hailey (backing vocals, bass, keys) and Camila Grey (lead vocals, bass and keys), the former getting some buzz for her recurring role on HBO’s The L Word, the latter her long time collaborative partner through three EPs and a few full-lengths, the last 2011’s Nocturnes. Read more about UHH in Tiffany Razzano’s forthcoming Q&A with Hailey. (State Theatre, St. Petersburg)
Rehab If you know Southern-fried rap rock group Rehab at all, it’s more than likely from top-selling single “Bartender Song (Sittin’ at a Bar),” which finds a man lamenting his woes to a bartender (“She stole my heart in the trailer park, so I jacked the keys to her father’s car, and crashed that Chevrolet, and then stepped away”). Last album Gullible’s Travels gets a little crunkier, but retains their Georgia home flavor and Rehab swag. (Local 662, St. Petersburg)
Tate Stevens Country music crooner Tate Stevens secured the win on Fox’s second season of reality competition show The X Factor and used his $5 million recording contract with Syco/RCA Nashville to complete and release his full-length eponymous debut in April. Its first single is schmaltzy ballad, “Power of a Love Song.” (Dallas Bull, Tampa)
Pitbull/Ke$ha What is the world coming to, that two such insipid artists could draw an amphitheatre’s worth of people to see them? Chalk it up to chart-busting hits literally engulfing the airwaves. At least Pitbull has some bilingual Latino cred and tangible rapping chops, though his songs lack substance and originality and he has a knack for using already famous riffs to bolster his production ala the first three singles off seventh studio album Global Warming; “Back in Time” adds dubstep womp to Mickey & Sylvia’s “Love Is Strange,” Toots and the Maytals’“Funky Kingston” is spliced into club-banger “Don’t Stop the Party” featuring TJR, and “Feel This Moment” has Christina Aguilera’s vocals soaring and Pitbull’s rhymes slinging over A-ha’s “Take on Me” melody as done with house-blasting synthesizers. Dance party rapper and treacherous piece of pop singer-songwriter Ke$ha co-headlines behind another terrible chart-topping single “Die Young,” which actually makes her putrid overplayed debut hit “Tik Tok” seem almost mediocre in comparison. (MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre, Tampa)
Blast Friday w/Robin Zander Band For the latest installment of downtown Clearwater’s regularly scheduled Friday evening street fair and party, organizers have persuaded a Tampa-based rocker to play the street-side stage. Cheap Trick lead singer Robin Zander (who lives on Davis Islands) is backed by three seasoned musicians (guitarist Mark Hitt, bassist Larry Hobbs and drummer Steve Luongo) in a program of his solo and Cheap Trick tunes. This show is free; Zander also plays a far more intimate ticketed date at Hideaway Café in St. Petersburg on Saturday night. (Cleveland Street, Downtown Clearwater)
Shoeless Soul CD Release Party w/Between Bluffs Dunedin-by-way-of-Switzerland singer, songwriter and guitarist René Schlegel has been working on original material with drummer/percussionist Sladjan Vidic and bassist Justin Pearl-Morakis, and the trio has performed their mix of jazz-fused reggae-saturated rock as Shoeless Soul for the past few years. This show celebrates the completion of their first album. (Dunedin Brewery, Dunedin)
Math the Band w/The Other Ryan Willis/Ugly Spud Imagine a punk rock band making so much noise with vintage synths, drum machines, handmade electronics and video-game consoles, and you’ll get a feel for the music made by Rhode Island boy-girl duo Math the Band. Distorted riff-raging guitar and high-speed rhythms get candy-coated treatment via 8-bit blips, whirrs, trills, fuzz and other synthesized embellishments, and absurd, nonsensical or simply cheeky verses are delivered in cheerful rah rah shouts or barked bursts of commentary (“I’m not making a joke that’s not stupid, I’m not making a plan that’s not dumb,”“When all you’ve got is broken tape decks / It’s how you talk, it’s how you listen,”“Hey, let me tell you something / I’m not talking to you!” et. al). For fans of Matt and Kim, and Dan Deacon. (New World Brewery, Ybor City)
[page]Cigar Box Guitar Soiree w/Steve Arvey/Cigar City Blues Band/Delta Swamp Rats The cigar box guitar is a post-Civil War era tradition spawned from the rural south’s West African-rooted diddley bow and passed down by generations of poor musicians looking for a cost-effective substitute to the guitar. The handmade instrument has enjoyed a mild resurgence of late amid roots music makers, and Chicago-bred Sarasota-based bluesman Steve Arvey is repping it hard here in the Southeast. In addition to being a talented axeman on slide, resonator and acoustic guitars, he has cigar box chops and his gear includes a standard three-string cigar box guitar, along with axe handle and gator lap slide guitars that’ll likely be dusted off for this special showcase. (Skipper’s Smokehouse, Tampa)
SATURDAY, JUNE 29
Badass Soloists A handful of locally based musicians who are generally accompanied by a full band, or at least a few instrumentalists, perform solo sets during this low-key showcase: Tommy Simms (Win Win Winter, Automatic Loveletter), Mark Etherington (RedFeather, set and setting), Hector Mayoral (Acho Brother), Ben Thurmond (The Send Offs) and Geri X. (New World Brewery, Ybor City)
Rays Summer Concert Series: The Felice Brothers Following the second game of a three-bout run between the Rays and Tigers, New York five-piece The Felice Brothers take the outfield stage to perform a set of roots rock and country-folk melodies as drawn from a nine-album collection that includes originals and traditionals marked by the lively strains of fiddle and accordion. (Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg)
Y Los Dos Pistoles/Raguckas/…Radarmen? Three Bay area bands connected by overlapping musicians brew up a boisterous soundtrack to The Hub’s Saturday night. Y Los Dos Pistoles craft grimy, hazy, folk-and-pop-flecked garage rock fueled by the dulcet-toned vocals and occasional turns on harmonica by frontwoman Shae Krispinsky. Raguckas offers up straightforward gritty punk rock and …Radarmen? delivers on post-punk experimentation and “musical… mind-controlling… mind-bending Radar-waves.” (The Hub, downtown Tampa)
WMNF Americana/Roots Festival: The Deadfields/Have Gun, Will Travel/The Applebutter Express/Rebekah Pulley and the Reluctant Prophets/The Wholetones/Bloody Jug Band/Nook & Cranny/Joel Tatangelo Band/Justin + Travis/Sara Rose Band with Ronny Elliott Listener-supported radio station WMNF brings together 10 of the Southeast’s finest roots rock and Americana purveyors for the 2013 edition of its popular festival. Country-twangy Atlanta quintet The Deadfields made such a good impression at Tropical Heatwave this year with their tight musicianship and four-part drawling harmonies that they were invited back to headline the fest. Other highlights include old timey folk-fired favorites Have Gun Will Travel, ukulele-driven outfit Applebutter Express, and Naples-based metalgrass shredders The Wholetones. (Skipper’s Smokehouse, Tampa)
SUNDAY, JUNE 30
Juanes — Loud & Unplugged Tour Seems like a rather gaping dichotomy, to go from a thrash metal frontman to Latin pop superstar, but if you watched the trajectory of his tenure in the metal band, you could tell Juanes was already headed in a solo beefcake direction. The Columbian musician has made the transition with ease, writing material that’s earned him 19 Latin Grammys and a few “regular” ones, too, including Best Latin Pop Album in 2013 for last year’s Juanes: MTV Unplugged. His “Loud & Unplugged Tour” backing that LP finds his tenor sailing over the textured arrangements of a 10-piece backing band (sax, trombone, trumpet, guitars, bass, percussion, drums, keys) that, paired with a few back-up singers, makes for a big show despite the (mostly) unplugged aesthetic. (Carol Morsani Hall at the Straz Center, Tampa)
Unpainted Souls w/Trigger City Trio/NPG For nearly a dozen years, singer-songwriter Billy Whiting has been kicking around the Bay area and doling out servings of easy-riding roots rock and swinging vintage-hued Americana, jumping between strumming mandolin or guitar, and usually backed by a full band when performing as Unpainted Souls. (Skipper’s Smokehouse, Tampa)
Mike Pinto w/Natural Vibrations/Three Legged Fox/Resinated The Cali-bred singer-songwriter brews up a grooving, pop-sensible blend of acoustic rock, roots reggae, ska and Latin music bolstered by the sounds of a two-piece horn section. This tour follows the release of fourth full-length Truthful Lies. (State Theatre, St. Petersburg)
Ol’ Dirty Sundays w/DJ Evil Dee/Crazy DJ Bazarro For the last Sunday dance party in June, the Ol’ Dirty crew welcomes Brooklyn old hand DJ Evil Dee, one-half of production duo Da Beatminerz and founding member of hip-hop trio Black Moon. He hits the decks with some hip-hop, R&B, funk and soul joints. Beatminerz Radio spinner Crazy DJ Bazarro (Da Booze Brothers) also delivers on the hip-hop jams. (Crowbar, Ybor City)
[page]WEDNESDAY, JULY 3
Hot Dog Party 7: Wolf-Face/Early Forms/Funny Bunny/Dylar What better way to prep for a day of patriotism and blowing shit up than a night of munching franks and rocking out to some Tampa Bay area tuneage? It’s the return of the Hot Dog Show, the annual pre-Fourth of July party hosted by THX Management! This year’s bill is packed with loads of sonic griminess sure to saturate the sticky summer air. Teen Wolf punk ’n’ rollers Wolf-Face get hot, hairy and locker room sweaty in a set of adrenaline-stoked tube sock-wrapped raucousness while Early Forms brings a more melodic surf-and-synth whirring grunge appeal (fans of Weezer and Surfer Blood take note). Funny Bunny does lo-fi loud, and Philip Pietri’s new dreamy hazy shoe-gazey project, Dylar, warms up the night’s festivities. Show up early enough and take part in the Hot Dog Eating Competition (beef and vegan options!) or chow down on free barbecue from 6 to 9 p.m. (Crowbar, Ybor City)
Valient Thorr w/Gypsyhawk/Ramming Speed/Riptorn/Abortion Twins Valient Thorr crafts a high-octane mix of classic heavy metal and hard rock sounds in the vein of early Black Sabbath, but maintains a GWAR sort of mythology — personas for each member (frontman Valient Himself joined by guitarists Eidan and Sadat Thorr, drummer Lucian Thorr and bassist Dr. Professor Nitewolf Strangees), an origin story (born in Venus, making the best of being Viking-looking aliens stranded on earth by saving the planet with rock ’n’ roll), and thematic allegorical songwriting. This tour hypes just-released sixth album Our Own Masters. (Orpheum, Ybor City)
CLICK HERE to see a complete rundown of shows taking place this week and in the coming weeks.