Leon Bridges w/Lianne La Havas In our Fall Arts preview, the gushing over Leon Bridges's faithful throwback to the sounds of Sam Cooke and Otis Redding was in full effect. Two weeks later, the 27-year-old’s Bay area debut is finally upon us, and while there are no more surprises left after countless spins of Bridges’ nearly-flawless 2015 LP, Coming Home, we are expecting to be jaws-dropped and in awe for most of his set. The young man has been groomed to perfection — either by his past or by management — and certainly falls in the once-in-a-generation category. Be careful about who you bring as a date to this one, because Bridges’ sweet, smooth delivery is probably going to have you leaving in love. Watch Danny Clinch's mini-doc on Bridges here. (Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater) INFO
Twin Peaks w/White Reaper/Modern Vices/Poster In CL’s interview with Twin Peaks’ Cadien James, the guitarist/songwriter is unforgivingly mellow and so down to earth that it feels like we’re talking to our best friend from middle school. It’s probably because Cadien has been on tour with his best friends for the last three years in support of two albums — 2013’s Sunken and Wild Onion, released a year later — where the guys do sloppy, carefree throwback rock & roll better than men twice their age (everyone in the band is 22-years-old now, except keys player Colin Croom who is the elder statesmen at 25-years old). On Wednesday, the Chicago-based crew comes with their best effort to date, this year’s Down In Heaven, in tow. The collection is refined, yet it still possesses a youthful, but not innocent, quality, that sounds and feels like their sensible midwest values are coming to grips with growing up. The only thing is there’s not a lot of regret, just a lot of relief and recognition that their best days are now and that there’s no time to be trying to plan the future. Read the interview at cltampa.com/music. (Crowbar, Ybor City) INFO
Kanye West At his last stop in town, a late November 2013 show with Kendrick Lamar opening, Kanye West’s stage show all but fell apart in front of an adoring audience there to see him bring a then-new, still polarizing album, Yeezus, to life on stage. He berated his production crew for missing cues. Lights malfunctioned, and songs stopped then restarted countless times. Some would say it was a mess, and while it wasn’t always elegant, the show possessed a wholly poetic and beautiful vibe to it. Watching the thin crowd stay mesmerized (less than 8,000 showed) was as entertaining as the show, and it was evident that its concept was fleshed out in his head while the execution…well, not so much. Fast forward to today. Fans are bumping a re-worked version of a new album, The Life of Pablo, after Mr. West didn’t like the one he initially released in February. Images of his new stage — a minimalist almost Star Wars-esque platform the hovers above the crowd — are making the rounds on social media. It’s ambitious, but it obviously feels more focused than the Yeezus live concept. Will Kanye be able to pull it off? No one really knows, but you can bet they’ll be reading the reviews in the morning. Oh, don't try to climb the stage either. (Amalie Arena, Tampa) INFO
Connor Zwetsch There are other venues where we’d rather see this Tampa songwriter work through cuts from here What Comes After EP, but the possibility of seeing her trademark sound worked into some covers is enough to get us into the casino for some music and Wheel of Fortune slot machines. (Council Oak Lounge at Seminole Hard Rock, Tampa) INFO
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Cormac Kavanagh w/Davis Cohen (New World Brewery, Ybor City) INFO
This article appears in Sep 8-15, 2016.