Since COVID-19 shut things down in mid-March 2020, Tampa Bay’s megaconcert scene has seen two installments of 97x Next Big Thing, Reggae Rise Up, Gasparilla Music Festival, and Sunset Music Festival. Last March’s debut Innings Festival was a wild enough success that it’s coming back this spring. But what about something for the mainstream pop kids?
The last time 93.3 FLZ held an iHeartRadio Jingle Ball tour stop in Tampa was in 2019, when Sam Smith, Lizzo, and Normani headlined the party at Amalie Arena. The package skipped Tampa last year, but returned last Friday with nostalgia all up in the lineup.
The Backstreet Boys—one of which, Nick Carter, called Tampa Bay home for a time—and Nickelodeon boy band Big Time Rush have both already been to Tampa this year, both in support of new albums. On Friday, both had no backing band, relying instead on instrumental tracks. And like everyone else on the bill, the two boy bands that owned the hearts of both millennials and Gen-Zers alike only had about 25 minutes to present stripped down—holiday-ified on Backstreet’s end—versions of what they had to offer at the end of 2022.
After Nicky Youre (“Sunroof”) and Jax (“Victoria’s Secret”) opened things up by being the only two acts with other instrumentalists onstage, Cheat Codes brought EDM for the edgier people in the house, and those who wished they could have made it to Riot Ten’s show over at The Ritz Ybor. Frontman Trevor Dahl wasted no time in spitting out whatever he could, while bouncing between slurping water with his friends behind the DJ equip, and promoting the trio’s impending One Night in Nashville album while centerstage.
There was also no shortage of Tampa representation in the artists, beyond screaming the town’s name for engagement purposes. Tate McRae (“you broke me first”) was rocking a custom Bolts jersey with No. 93 on the back. And Jax was draped in a massive Bucs sweater. “I had it DoorDashed this morning. I love it,” she joked.
And not to mention Nick Carter’s “Tampa! Bay!” wink at the Bucs midway through BSB’s set.
Perhaps the only blow of the evening was that many arrived to find out that Black Eyed Peas—the only name on the bill to have ever played the Super Bowl—had to pull out of performing. Luckily, most disappointment died once Flo Rida was announced as replacement. If you don’t know a song by 43-year-old rapper Tramar Lacel Dillard,you’re either really bad with names, or your radio dial is drowning in cobwebs.
His first Jingle Ball spot in Tampa since 2013 kicked off with a holy quadfecta of hits, starting with “Good Feeling,” followed by “Right Round.” The emcee took a few shots of God-knows-what after inviting backstage fans to join him onstage for Zumba classic “Low,” and demanded a “Christmas tree of lights” form in the crowd while he ripped into “Whistle.” And if you think for a second that Dillard didn’t literally ride on Santa Claus’ shoulders through the crowd during a few cuts near the end of his set, you’d be dead wrong.
