Downtown Tampa’s Rock the Park free outdoor concert series has long been a first-class showcase of the Bay area’s best talent, but there are some months when the stars align and a national artist pops up on the bill.
To wrap up 2021, Rock the Park gives fans a holiday present in Kaelin Ellis, an Orlando-based producer who’s one of the busiest in the game and still riding high on his 2020 House EP, which features Lupe Fiasco (and the late Virgil Abloh). Fans of TEK.LUN, Lakim, and Kaytranada will appreciate Ellis’ aesthetic, but his jazz, funk and soul-inflicted live set—driven by Ableton and a live drum kit (and maybe keys for this one, pretty please?)—is the kind of thing you should have to pay to see.
Songbird Shella opens the show backed by cellist Ryan Tatum and one of the best jazz trios in town, Katara. Holiday lights will be in full effect at The Curt, too, making this show a literal wonderland.
Rock the Park w/Kaelin Ellis/Songbird Shella/Kevin Earle Siebel. Thursday, Dec. 2, 6:30 p.m. Free. Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park, Tampa. @rockthepark on Facebook
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This article appears in Nov 25 – Dec 1, 2021.