Relatively cooler weather means more reasons to experience music outdoors, and while Tampa and St. Petersburg aren’t cities like Austin or Chicago, which can host multiple, ginormous multi-stage festivals on consecutive weekends, the area is still ripe with more than enough options across several genres. In addition to the events previewed and listed in Music Week, this week‘s live-music outlook is so robust it’s scary.
It’s even more scary because even after reading it, you’ll still have friends who say there’s nothing to do around here. Put it this way: we managed to preview a frat/indie rock BBQ benefiting kidney cancer and a festival headlined by vegan, capitalist-bashing Canadian punks all on the same page.
Big Pre-Fest In Little Ybor w/Propagandhi/Less Than Jake/Off With Their Heads/Strike Anywhere/Samiam/A Wilhelm Scream/The Flatliners/Knapsack/Dead To Me/Mustard Plug/more In its fourth year, Big Pre-Fest in Little Ybor looks to be here to stay. Yes, it is a precursor to the grand punk-rock bacchanalia in Gainesville later in the week, but this two-day affair is definitely not mini. About 80 sets are going down across just four venues (New World Brewery, Orpheum, Tequila’s and Crowbar), and while the schedule features highlights aplenty, the biggest might be Propagandhi’s late-night performance on Thursday. The Manitoba old-timers have spent almost three decades amassing a fanbase that appreciates their stance against human rights violations, homophobia and many, many isms (race, sex, age, imperial, capital, amongst others).
They recently gained even more Tampa Bay fans last year after recruiting Tampa guitarist Sulynn Hago to shred in place of David “The Beaver” Guillas, who took a full-time job teaching. “BEWARE ALL POSERS. We have a new friend. Her name is Sulynn,” is how the band announced the news on Facebook a year ago. “She plays an SG and she’s ready to crack some fuckin skulls with it onstage with us. What the fuck else do you need to know?!? What else matters in this world?!?” It was quite the welcome, and all the bands will get the same treatment from Bay area fans, especially the ones who can’t always take off from work or travel to spend time drinking PBRs and moshing.
A full schedule of bands and more details are at thefestfl.com/prefest. Read about St. Pete’s Pre-Pre-Fest and another Pre-Pre-Fest show at Tampa’s Pokey’s Pub via Music week in Thursday's week's issue. Oct. 26 & 27, Ybor City, Tampa — INFO
Pig Jig w/O.A.R./A Thousand Horses/Born Ruffians/Carson McHone/The Weeks/Allen Hunt/Southern Train/Ethan Parker Band Hundreds of thousands of dollars. That’s what Tampa Pig Jig — now in its sixth year — raises annually for NephCure Kidney International, the world’s only nonprofit committed to finding a cure for focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS). The rare condition is a cause of kidney disease in teens and adults and the leading cause of adult kidney failure. Six years ago, Pig Jig was unknowingly born when a group of friends, who wanted to raise money for the cause after their friend was diagnosed with FSGS, started charging a cover at a backyard barbecue. To date, those pals have raised over one million dollars for the cause. These days the circle of friends is much, much larger, and this weekend that barbecue happens in downtown Tampa’s Curtis Hixon Park and Kiley Garden.
Thousands are expected to attend, with many just coming to enjoy the fruits of the annual BBQ competition. Naturally, there will be a band. Over the years, the lineup at Pig Jig has leaned heavily on country and frat-house-friendly pop-rock, and while 2016’s headliners — Of A Revolution, aka O.A.R., and Big Machine signees A Thousand Horses — don’t do much to buck that trend, this year’s lineup most certainly reflects the world at large’s general desire to embrace more independent artists. Mississippi’s The Weeks — with hits like “Brother in the Night,” “Buttons” and “Dear Bo Jackson” — bridge the mainstream-indie gap, and Born Ruffians feel like a total get for music fans who read more Pitchfork than Garden & Gun. The Ontario-based quartet arrived in 2008 behind a quirky debut that celebrated humanism (“Kurt Vonnegut”), monogamy (“Foxes Mate For Life”) and even accordion music (“Little Garçon”). Frontman Luke LaLonde still owns one of the most fun and unique deliveries in rock, and his band is definitely one of the more intelligent acts that the east banks of the Hillsborough will see this year. Oct. 22, Curtis Hixon Park, Tampa — INFO
Beats By The Bay w/Maze featuring Frankie Beverly/Ginuwine/Joe and Monica/August Alsina/Fat Joe /&/ Rumba 106.5 FM Festival Orgullo Latino They should’ve just called it iHeartRadio weekend at Vinoy Park. On Saturday and Sunday, two of the radio conglomerate’s Tampa Bay stations — long-running 95.7 FM The Beat and seven-month-old Spanish tropical station Rumba 106.5 FM — take over the big green space in downtown St. Petersburg. Saturday welcomes R&B legends Frankie Beverly (performing with Maze), Monica, Joe and Ginuwine (you know you still jam to “Pony”) as well as hip-hop stars past and present (Fat Joe, August Alsina), while Sunday promises to be even more ready to dance thanks to Guayama, Puerto Rico-born headliners reggaeton duo Plan B. Orgullo Latino (“Latino Pride” for non Rosetta Stone subscribers) also features New York’s Bachata Heightz (take a guess as to what dance they’ll invoke), Nicaruaguan crooner Luis Enrique, Boricua merengue trio Limi-T 21, and 20-year-old Dutch X-Factor sensation Rolf Sanchez who’s been a steady presence on the Billboard charts since his salsa banger “Por No Te Vuelvo A Ver” hit No. 1 last summer. More information is available at local.cltampa.com. Oct. 22 & 23, Vinoy Park, St. Petersburg — INFO
This article appears in Oct 13-20, 2016.