It took nine years, but Gasparilla Music Festival finally experienced a hiccup. On Saturday, in the moments before Dr. Kevin Parrot’s Florida Gospel choir (pictured above) was supposed to take the stage, a lift was still installing a sponsor banner, stage right, at the Curtis Hixon Park mainstage. A blip in terms of blunders, but quirky since the festival—which has become a hands-down local favorite—has been near perfect since it held its introductory press conference on a rainy August morning in 2011.
Parrot’s ensemble started its set late, but quickly made up for it by sending the booming sound of two dozen joyful voices into the bluebird sky. As someone who hasn’t missed a single GMF, there is something soothing about the sound of gospel kicking of a weekend that’s come to mean friends, food and music. It’s enough to make anyone emotional.
PHOTOS
All the people and bands we saw at Tampa’s Gasparilla Music Festival 2020
And in an election year when the country—and even the Democratic party—is fractured over what appear to be the simplest issues of humanity (healthcare, clean drinking water, climate change, access to public education), Parrot made this declaration.
“No more sickness, no more heartache and no more pain,” he proclaimed before addressing something that was on everyone’s mind. “I know we got the coronavirus, and I know we’re not shaking hands, but the human touch is so important. So I want you to look at the person beside you, and tell them, ‘I’m going to be OK.’”
You could argue that music cannot heal everything, but in troubled times, it’s amazing how the sound of song can make you believe that pain and anxiety can, and will, eventually give way to joy.
That jubilation was the hallmark of GMF 2020, and even Brandi Carlile was feeling it after Tampa Mayor Jane Castor excitedly introduced the songwriter before her very-chilly Saturday night headlining set rolled around.
“The vibes are perfect,” Carlile said to open her performance. “We don’t get down to Florida too much, and that’s bullshit.”
We forgive you, Brandi, and as another GMF ends—and another back-to-the-workweek struggle—begins, we can thanks GMF’s new, free water stations, giant on-site buckets of hand-sanitizer and sunscreen for helping us keep hangovers, coronavirus and sunburns at bay. And for now we’ll wait, for the magical weekend to roll around once again. You can bet Tampa Bay will be there for it, even if it gets started just a little bit late, because GMF, well, it’s worth the wait.
Here are some highlights from the weekend.
Kids Fest
Arriving early on Saturday, to enjoy the kid’s fest and Bears and Lions with my son was a good call. The Gainesville band, “Except the Giraffe-The Giraffe is from Tampa” got parents and tots in the fest mood with some catchy tunes about pets, airplanes and “Pancakes.”
From Macon with love
The Tony Tyler Trance band doing a Derek and the Dominoes set—including ”Bell Bottom Blues” which might be my new favorite song right now—made for a perfect singalong in the Saturday sun. It was a history lesson, too, since Tyler was recreating music a Dominos December 1, 1970 set at Curtis Hixon Hall was just one of two times when Duane Allman appeared with the band.
The Nude guys
The Nude Party (above) will definitely be added to my home listening rotation. The North Carolina boys’ vintage sounds and an organ stylings sounded borrowed from my favorite one hit wonder “96 Tears.”
Trade rumors
Early Saturday, rumors turned into reality that Trugoy—one-third of De La Soul—was ill and being replaced by Talib Kweli. Seeing “Get By” live was the best thing of the weekend that wasn’t supposed to happen. De La’s DJ Maseo struggled with wind problems during soundcheck His needle kept slipping, and Maseo got pretty frustrated when no one came the first couple of times he asked for help. But the crew eventually barricaded him and his records in, and the show went on. Even Posdnuos asked where he was during the set. “Where are we, Chicago?,” he laughed. “It’s a windy city up here!”
Bitch she did—and WMNF’s Miss Julie did, too.
The weekend goes to Big Freedia. I made a rookie mistake of being up close without earplugs and I’m still ringing. Seriously, permanent damage may have occurred. But holy crap, the Queen Diva of New Orleans bounce brought it. She went through the hits like “Karaoke” with her backup dancers in sync and ass up most of the time. It was loud. It was amazing. It was my favorite of the weekend. Even WMNF’s Miss Julie got on stage to join the twerk team—that’s Tampa music history right there.
Did you CDC that?
I did not see one facemask, but did witness plenty of washing of hands, many elbow bumps instead of hugs or handshakes, plus giant hand sanitizer buckets at the Tampa General Hospital booth. Coronavirus didn’t seem to deter the masses, but everyone was being diligent about washing up. Good job guys!
Midas’ city split
Jordan Patrick (aka Jvpxtty, above) brought his Midas Touch collective—featuring Hues, Gat$, Patrick Hughes and Betty Dawl—to the Kiley Amphitheatre on Saturday night, and it felt like the city had packed into the bowl to see one its best producers show off his talented friends. There were even non-paid festival attendees taking the set in from a distance on the Tampa Riverwalk. A peek east and over the top of the amphitheatre, however, showed that a sizable contingent was also gathered at the Tibbet’s stage—just a few hundred feet away—to see soul singer Demi Nova play the festival stage after spending a couple years overseas. Tampa stands by its local artists, and there’s obviously a lot of love to go around.
Taking breaks and catching beats
The amphitheatre provided both a showcase of Tampa’s best emcees, and a chance to sit the fuck down for a minute. Tampa hip-hop put forth its best shit with Fre$h P’s set (above) full of theatrical raps.
Veni vidi Vetnough
Vetnough gets better every time I see the band, and during its afternoon set to a packed amphitheatre Frontwoman Julia Powell (below) & co. proved themselves once more to be my favorite local band. Shit, they might be my favorite new non-local band. The three-piece synth-driven indie outfit’s new single “Bluebird” confirms the hype that’s has followed it lately, and Powell’s deep, luxurious vocals —plus the skills of Carlos Reyes and Christina Piasecki—are legit.
Fire Sales
I did a Facebook call out asking which bands I should check out, and Orlando’s Sales (below) was mentioned several times. The indie band was definitely a weekend favorite. “We’re all incredible, us Florida people,” Lauren Morgan stated to the crowd which included all of their parents filming, on the verge of happy tears. The performance was ethereal and fit in perfectly with the hazy afternoon.
Can’t believe it’s not butter, and I can’t believe I walked away from it
Curtis Harding (below) has a voice like butter. I didn’t get to catch much of him because GMF is all about sacrifices, you definitely miss more acts than you see, but what I did catch left me saying, “damn.”
Get wet
Thank you free water stations! Because hydration should be a right not a privilege and this year, GMF made that happen.
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This article appears in Mar 5-12, 2020.