(L-R) Candy Bars’ Melissa Castellano with the late Ryan Fujiki-Hastings and Daniel Martinez plays Cappy’s in Tampa, Florida on July 7, 2010. Credit: Photo by Nicole Kibert/elawgrrl.com

It’s hard to overstate how important New Granada’s more-or-less-annual Christmas night concert has been for anyone who cares about Tampa music. For three decades now, the gig has allowed locals to bring their loved ones to see the best of homegrown talent inside the city’s beloved venues.

The show—now in its 30th year—used to happen at the since-relocated Ybor City location of New World Brewery, then Crowbar, and makes its third appearance at the soon-to-close Hooch and Hive.

Making noise for 2024 are second wave emo pioneer Pohgoh, plus rowdy Tampa rock band Bad, Bad Things, along with CL’s senior photographer, Dave Decker who’ll play a solo set of acoustic punk alongside cellist Melissa Grady.

Grady—who was once in the lineup of baroque-rock band Candy Bars when she had a different last name—then plays bandleader with her Best of the Bay-winning orchestral cover band. This year, Same Day Delivery Orchestra tackles the music of the now-legendary and long-defunct local outfit, which NPR said was ushering in an indie-music “renaissance” when it released its 2006 album On Cutting Ti-Gers in Half and Understanding Narravation (which got a 7.4 from the snobs at P4K)

Tickets to the New Granada Xmas night concert at Hooch and Hive in Tampa on Wednesday, Dec. 25 are still available and start at $12.

UPDATE 12/19/24 10:30 a.m. This is the show’s third year at Hooch.

Readers are invited to submit their own events to Creative Loafing Tampa Bay’s things to do calendar.

Subscribe to Creative Loafing newsletters.

This article appears in Dec 12-18, 2024.