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✔️= Critic's Pick
✔️ Underoath w/Dance Gavin Dance/Anberlin/Crown The Empire/The Plot In You Underoath has a really good chance at selling out its biggest hometown and headlining show to date, and the success is well-deserved. The Tampa-based hard-rock band never abandoned its Florida roots en route to earning a three Grammy nods including its latest, a 2019 nomination for “On My Teeth” from a 2018 comeback album Erase Me. The show — which also features a reunion show for revered Winter Haven rock band Anberlin — is also a nice year-end cap for USF’s newly renamed Yuengling Center, where Jeff Vinik’s Tampa Bay Entertainment Properties seeks to rewrite the venue’s beleaguered storyline. (Yuengling Center, Tampa) INFO
✔️ H.R. Bad Brains w/The Dollyrots Here’s a chance to see Bad Brains frontman H.R. more than a year after he underwent brain surgery to treat a rare neurological condition, SUNCT (it gave the 62-year-old crippling headaches). “The future looks bright,” H.R. recently told Loudwire. “Any day now, we’re scheduled to go into the studio and do some more work on a new album. The greatest album that we did, Into the Future, came off great, and I really like working with the fellas.” (Brass Mug, Tampa) INFO
For King & Country w/Zach Williams Australian-born, Nashville-livin’ praise and worship duo Joel and Luke Smallbone are 100-percent excited to bring their passionate pursuit of joy to Amalie Arena for this presentation of For King & Country’s “Little Drummer Boy Christmas Tour.” The two-time Grammy-winning outfit will be joined by another Grammy-winner — songwriter Zach Williams — for this one. (Amalie Arena, Tampa) INFO
✔️ The Florida Orchestra: Holiday Pops w/Michael Lynche/Unlimited Gospel Expressions Choir American Idol alum and St. Petersburg native son Michael Lynche comes home and joins Jeff Tyzik, who’ll conduct the Florida Orchestra through holiday pop selections and a performance of The Night Before Christmas that Bay News 9’s Trevor Pettiford will narrate. A series of five performances kicks off on Friday at the Straz Center in Tampa before Mahaffey Theater and Ruth Eckerd Hall both hold matinee and evening performances on Saturday and Sunday. Canned goods will be collected at the door. (David A. Straz Center for the Performing Arts, Tampa) INFO
Rod Hamdallah w/Johnny Mile & The Kilometers/Fever Beam Legendary Shack Shakers guitarist Rod Hamdallah is no stranger to the Bay area (he was just here in July and plays another, also no-cover, Tampa show on Saturday), but here’s a chance to see his soul-bearing brand of songwriting alongside two of Tampa and St. Petersburg’s brightest young bands (hard-nosed, working-class rock-and-roll trio Johnny Mile & The Kilometers; western-loving vintage-rock outfit Fever Beam). Per usual at The Bends, this show is free but 21 & up. (The Bends, St. Petersburg) INFO
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✔️ Sugarshack Beer Release Party w/Ted Bowne and Kenny Bongos/Matt Walden You can’t be a fan of reggae-rock and let this one slip underneath your radar. Bay area media house Sugarshack Sessions is releasing a signature session IPA (a crisp, citrus and tropical fruit-forward beer, made with Vic Secret, Mosaic, Mandarina Bavaria, and Rakau hops) and tapping Passafire’s Ted Bowne to headline a solo acoustic set where he’ll be backed on percussion by SOJA’s Kenny Bongos (who calls the Bay area home). Bradenton songwriter Matt Walden opens this free, all-ages and family-friendly show. (Green Bench Brewing Co., St. Petersburg) INFO
✔️ Selwyn Birchwood w/Gloria West & the Gents Fans of the Bay area’s jazz and blues scenes know that it’s not uncommon to catch sets from Alligator Records’ Selwyn Birchwood or singer Gloria West, but it’s not too often that the powerhouse pair shows up on the same bill. Here’s a chance to relax under the oaks at Skipper’s while soaking in two of of this area’s best exports. (Skipper’s Smokehouse, Tampa) INFO
Heff w/A Rainy Night In/Wave Coast/ChanneL Drive Zachary Patchen brings a new, lo-fi rock project — Heff — to the Blue Note, which is rounding out a year of playing incubator to not just jazz, but dozens of the Bay area’s new young bands (including the three opening this show). (The Blue Note, Tampa) INFO
Peekaboo w/D3V/Lizzy Jane/Winta Los Angeles-based disciples of Liquid Stranger (who signed Peekaboo to his WAKAAN label) brings a take on trap and dubstep to The Ritz for the venue’s always-packed #Pound Friday party. This one features all the wubby untz your heart (maybe literally?) can handle and finds Peekaboo supporting its big, bass-drop-laden new EP, Imposters, after a trio of Bay area EDM-scene staples — D3V, Lizzy Jane and Winta — open the show. (The Ritz, Ybor City) INFO
✔️ Art Raffle w/Yoz/Euro Trill/Neil Edward/Young Wezz/Vern Sr. Big props go out to Ari Chi, who has quietly organized and activated one of the year’s most consistent visual artist and musician showcases. This final installment of 2018 is highlighted by a low-key, Bavarian-born and out-of-the-cloud rapper, Euro Trill, who's been racking up a following on the strength of her fresh, super laid-back take on the kind of hip-hop that’s been taking the internet by storm lately. (The Attic Café, Tampa) INFO
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ALSO PLAYING
Singer-songwriter
Love and Theft (The Attic at Rock Brothers Brewing, Ybor City) INFO
Live & Local w/Connor Zwetsch (Jaeb Courtyard at David A. Straz Center for the Performing Arts, Tampa) INFO
Lauris Vidal (Shuffle, Tampa) INFO
The Currys (Hideaway Café, St. Petersburg) INFO
J.T. Brown (c. 1949 Florida Beer Garden, Tampa) INFO
Kasondra Rose (Independent Bar, St.Petersburg) INFO
Sean Holcolm (3 Daughters Brewing, St. Petersburg) INFO
Seth Walker (The Attic at Rock Brothers Brewing, Ybor City) INFO
Rock/Blues
Listen Lounge w/Yatuzi/Pourtaghi/Terrapin (Community Cafe, St. Petersburg) INFO
Bayside (Crowbar, Ybor City) INFO
JP Soars and the Red Hots (The Ale & the Witch, St. Petersburg) INFO
The Black Honkeys w/Hotel Life/Four Star Riot/Johnny Mile and the Kilometers (Jannus Live, St. Petersburg) RESCHEDULED
Displace (Dunedin Brewery, Dunedin) INFO
HoneyWhat (Red Star Rock Bar, Tampa) INFO
The Freecoasters (Ella's Americana Folk Art Café, Tampa) INFO
Pitbull Toddler 10th Anniversary Bash (Stockyard Live, Holiday) INFO
Spazmatics (Ringside Café, St. Petersburg) INFO
The Wild Tones (Ka’Tiki, Treasure Island) INFO
EDM
Techyes feat. Matroda (Hooch and Hive, Tampa) INFO
DJ
Sami Sirius (Tampa Armature Works, Tampa) INFO
DJ Mike Bison (Mermaid Tavern, Tampa) INFO
Hip-hop
Last Damn Show 2nd Saturday Music provided by DJ YETI (Fubar, St. Petersburg) INFO
Jazz
Kenny G (Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater) INFO
Classical/Chorale
The Cabaret Series : Memories and Mistletoe w/Gloria Rice (Safety Harbor Art and Music Center, Safety Harbor) INFO
Tribute/Cover
J3 Vocal Showband: Jolly Holiday (Hough Hall at Palladium Theater, St. Petersburg) INFO
Magnum Opus (Two Buks, Clearwater) INFO
Inna Vision (Hard Rock Café at Seminole Hard Rock Casino, Tampa) INFO
The Red Sunday (Smokin’ 19, St. Petersburg) INFO
This article appears in Dec 13-20, 2018.