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✔️ = Critic’s Pick
✔️ Wiz Khalifa w/Rae Sremmurd/Lil’ Skies/O.T. Genasis It’s apparently the Summer of Swole at MidFlorida Credit Union, and on Thursday Wiz Khalifa becomes the third pop star to arrive at the fairgrounds with increased muscle mass to show off (Logic and Imagine Dragons frontman Dan Reynolds sported beefier bods earlier this year). “I just got tired of getting my ass whooped, so I figured I would learn how to fight,” the Pittsburgh rapper said about the MMA regimen that’s helped him pack on 35 pounds. “I was cool with being skinny before, but as a 30-year-old man, I like myself with more weight.” Expect his fans to pack MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre (and pack blunts) on Thursday when Wiz arrives to support a new album Rolling Papers 2, which saw release in July. A formidable slate of young hip-hop talent — including Rae Sremmurd and Lil’ Skies — opens the show. (MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre, Tampa) INFO
Steel Panther w/Beerwolf Glam metal, in many ways, just isn’t meant to be taken too seriously. Steel Panther — a comedic glam band from L.A. — totally gets that, and it’ll totally get a strong local boost when hard-partying Tampa metal band Beerwolf opens this show, where Steel Panther will run through selections from its 2017 album Lower The Bar which actually rose to No. 40 on Billboard’s Top 200 chart while also hitting No. 1 on the publication’s comedy album chart. (Jannus Live, St. Petersburg) INFO
Beer Garden Sessions w/The Tortoise and Bear/Vetnough/Lou Collazo/Rodney Smith/Bob Frierson Crowbar’s ongoing Beer Garden Sessions monthly is a good excuse to start your weekend early alongside a rotating cast of Bay area songwriters who’ll play while local pitmasters (this time it’s Sean Pomeroy) and makers peddle their meats and wares. The show is always free-to-attend. (Crowbar, Ybor City) INFO
Hedwig and the Angry Inch Here’s a friendly reminder that a host of your most-talented neighbors are staging a production of one of the greatest, trans-tastic musicals of all time. The show runs through September 9, so you’re really just an asshole if you miss one of the more than a dozen performances. (Shimberg Playhouse at the David A. Straz Center for the Performing Arts, Tampa) INFO
✔️ Summer of Soul: Cannonball and Nancy Saxophonist Jack Wilkins takes the stage along with vocalist Whitney James, trumpeter James Suggs and a rhythm section that includes guitarist LaRue Nickelson, bass player Patrick Bettison and drummer Walt Hubbard. On the docket? Selections from a 1961 album of pop and jazz standards where Nancy Wilson’s vocals play more-than-nice with swinging, often bop-ish alto melodies from the one and only Cannonball Adderley. (Side Door Cabaret at Palladium Theater, St. Petersburg) INFO
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ALSO PLAYING
More Is More (Ringside Café, St. Petersburg) INFO
The Damnsels w/Vomit Sawdust/The Robinsons/Longfinger/The Filthy Deniro’s (Brass Mug, Tampa) INFO
Trap & Soul (SubCentral at Iberian Rooster, St. Petersburg) INFO
This article appears in Aug 16-23, 2018.
