In a year packed with horrible and unlikely surprises, the Tampa music gods blessed us with one welcome and wholly unexpected development: the reunion of Florida Night Heat. Fans haven’t seen the instrumental-rock trio since its smoldering set at the 2017 farewell show for the Ybor City location of New World Brewery (pictured above). The beloved venue, restaurant and bar has since reopened in Sulphur Springs, but the Florida Night boys settled back into their scattered existence afterwards (guitarist Jensen Kistler in Las Vegas, bassist Andre “Black Viking God” Jones in New York and drummer Chris Wood, aka Mes McDonald, in Tampa).
They’re all back in one place, for one night only, and to celebrate, Florida Night Heat is re-releasing its 2013 EP, Omegas (home to the head-bobbing homage “Joe Haskins (Remix 96)”), on 180-gram vinyl. Only 50 copies of the vinyl will be available at the Crowbar gig, where only 100 people will be admitted to create social distancing. If you miss out, there’s a livestream, but don’t expect to see the band back together again anytime soon.
Florida Night Heat w/Moonthing, Sat. Oct. 31, 8 p.m. $15. Crowbar, Ybor City. crowbarybor.com
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This article appears in Oct 29 – Nov 4, 2020.