THURSDAY, AUGUST 28
ROD STEWART It's been quite a journey for 63-year-old Rod Stewart, from his early days as a British blues belter through his superstar '70s and all the way up to his period as a crooner of American standards in the 2000s. Um, it's not always been good. In fact, Stewart's best work dates back to the early-1970s. This is a Rod-sings-his-hits show and thus should offer a career retrospective, which means there should be at least a few times when he rocks. (Ford Amphitheatre, Tampa) —Eric Snider
TRÈS BIEN w/BANG BANG BOOM/DOOMBOT/TOMMY SIMMS Clearwater garage-rock quartet Très Bien has both the exuberance of youth and chops on its side, leading to justified national acclaim and a promising future. (Crowbar, Ybor City)
JAKE LA BOTZ That rare (only?) artist to make a living playing the nation's tattoo parlors almost exclusively, La Botz performs gritty, electric blues spiked by the singer's desperate whiskey howl. (Las Vegas Tattoo Co., Tampa)
FRIDAY, AUGUST 29
KENNY CHESNEY w/MIRANDA LAMBERT On the radio, country superstar Chesney can be heard shamelessly channeling Jimmy Buffett with odes to sand and suds like "No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems," "When the Sun Goes Down" and "Beer in Mexico." In concert, these songs are re-created note-for-note while less popular uptempo tunes are amplified with monster guitars straight out of the 1980s hair-metal playbook. Opener Miranda Lambert is a 24-year-old Texas beauty with the singing and songwriting talent to match her looks. For proof, check out her brilliantly emotive breakup ballad "Desperation." (Ford Amphitheatre, Tampa)
KATE VOEGELE w/MATT WHITE/JOSH HOGE She's the cute, just-turned-21 singer/songwriter who wooed the MySpace set with her crush-gone-bad piano number "Kindly Unspoken." The song has been played nearly 2 million times on the networking site and earned Voegele a deal with MySpace Records. (State Theatre, St. Petersburg)
FLASHBACK: THE CLASSIC ROCK EXPERIENCE FEATURING THE MYSTIC ORCHESTRA A classic-rock tribute show. At the St. Pete Times Forum. These are troubling times indeed. Here's a snippet from the press release: "The Mystic Orchestra features 14 brilliant rock musicians and singers, as well as an 11-piece string-and-horn section." Attendees are promised covers of Hendrix, Janis, Doors, Floyd, etc. (St. Pete Times Forum, Tampa)
CHRIS McCARTY w/SONGS OF YONI Skipperdome fave McCarty and his four-man backing unit offer strum-pop with dollops of funk and reggae. (Skipper's Smokehouse, Tampa)
THE HUMAN CONDITION Dean Johanesen and crew return to the SRQ with their earnest brand of acoustic alt-rock. (Flying Dog Café, Sarasota) —Amanda Schurr
SATURDAY, AUGUST 30
MY MORNING JACKET High gas prices and all-around hard times make road trips less appealing every day, but save up your beer and lunch money for this one. Genre-hopping experts My Morning Jacket have long enjoyed a rep as an excellent live act. And this tour finds the band playing in support of Evil Urges, a sublime collection ranging from humorous club-funk ("Highly Suspicious") to pedal-steel-laced space cowboy laments ("Sec Walkin"). (House of Blues, Orlando)
JOHN MAYER w/ONEREPUBLIC Kudos to Mayer for shedding his wimp-folkie image in favor of being an accomplished pop-R&B singer/songwriter and solid lead guitarist. Kudos to Mayer for being the geek who gets the hot chicks. OneRepublic is an L.A. band that makes sensitive, rounded-at-the-edges pop-rock. Their "Apologize" is one of those ubiquitous songs ("it's too late to apologize") that everyone's heard but very few know who did it. (Ford Amphitheatre, Tampa) —ES
'80s REGENERATION TOUR w/ABC/THE ROMANTICS/A FLOCK OF SEAGULLS/MISSING PERSONS/NAKED EYES Well, if you really, really liked your 1980s New Wave, New Romantic, synth-pop et al, you most surely won't want to miss this blowout. These bands were more known for their individual hits (and videos) and image than for artistic importance, but, hey, they may have artistic importance to some folks. My favorite single from any of these groups is Naked Eyes' plucky version of the Bacharach/David-penned "Always Something There to Remind Me." (Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater) —ES
YOUNG JEEZY Atlanta crack-rapper returns to the Bay, again. I saw him play Wild Splash a couple years back and was thoroughly unimpressed. (Jannus Landing, St. Petersburg)
THE LEGENDARY JC'S w/K-G AND THE BAND Re-creating the soul revue fervor of the 1960s with a first-rate band replete with brass and animated Eugene Snowden on lead vocals, The Legendary J.C.'s deliver greasy, Southern rhythm & blues with ebullience and precision. (Skipper's Smokehouse, Tampa)
FLORIDA SWAMP STOMP III w/THE ROCKETZ/THE VAN ORSDELS/COFFIN CADDIES A decidedly different kind of touring Stomp hits Miami, Orlando and Sarasota for its third installment of frantic psychobilly and monster punk fun. The lineup includes O.C. "power billy" trio The Rocketz, South Florida surf sickos The Van Orsdels and the comic-book- and video-game-influenced pop-punk of the Coffin Caddies, whose morbid hits list includes "Skeletor Am I" and "Zombies Ate My Neighbors." (Pastimes Pub, Sarasota) —AS
ELYSIAN SEX DRIVE Full disclosure: I was in ESD for a split second a few years back, before frontwoman Delaran reunited with the almost complete original lineup. The band's just dropped new disc, A Night With the Alchemist, marks a sonic step forward that furthers its indie rock jams with electronic scratches and slick production. They're worth checking out live, in all likelihood much more so now that I'm gone. (The Bungalow, Sarasota) —AS
This article appears in Aug 27 – Sep 2, 2008.