Most of the acts coming to town this weekend are landing at Gasparilla Music Festival. But there's still other stuff happening around town, if less than the usual bounty. Take a look at the breakdown of highlights for this Sat., March 12 below.
Coheed and Cambria with Glassjaw, Silver Snakes, I The Mighty Arena-ready rock anthems might not be what they used to be, but that’s not stopping Coheed and Cambria churning out the fist-pumping-ly powerful jams on their latest, and most personal album to date, The Color Before The Sun. This is a huge departure for frontman Claudio Sanchez, who’s shifted from the band’s long-running sci-fi storyline to material dealing with his life and wife before and after parenthood. Laid atop a landscape of catchy melodies, riffs that shoot for the nosebleeds and a generally blissful vibe, it’s just the kind of music made for a outdoor stage like Jannus Live, which Coheed and Cambria has already graced on a few occasions. (Jannus Live, St. Petersburg) –Andrew Silverstein
Gasparilla Music Festival with Erykah Badu, Antibalas, Talib Kweli, Lucero & many more Upwards of 40 acts touching on indie rock, alt country, funk, soul, reggae, world music and plenty else are scheduled to land in downtown Tampa this Saturday and Sunday for the fifth annual edition of GMF. Get our don’t-miss recs, further details and the full schedule here. (Curtis Hixon Park, Kiley Gardens MacDill Park, downtown Tampa)–Leilani Polk
Trinity 7 with Badda Skat, Facility It’s a local reggae triple header with highlights in roots septet Trinity 7, founded by Jamaican bassist/singer Ras Meishak, and dub-and-dancehall-fused Badda Skat (Skipper’s Smokehouse, Tampa)–LP
The Nude Party with Mo Booty Boone, N.C.’s The Nude Party hits town with vintage psych-garage rock that sounds as if ripped straight from 1969, all jangly and vaguely discordant with tinny tube-amped guitar riffs, eerie rising organ notes, tambourine washes and cymbal clashes backing wildly chortled vocals. Support on this date from Miami psych-surf outfit Mo Booty. (The Bends, St. Petersburg)–LP
ALSO TONIGHT
Scott Hopkins Retirement Bash w/Future Vintage/Juanjamon Band/Serotonic (Ringside Café, St. Petersburg)
Cruel Curses w/The Proper Crooks/The Skarz/The Cruz Brothers/Tranquill (Local 662, St. Petersburg)
Divine Science/Against My Will/Demented Truth/Rosedale/Time and Distance/Xployt (Brass Mug, Tampa)
Itzhak Perlman (Carol Morsani Hall at Straz Center for the Performing Arts, Tampa)
The Black Atlas (Sacred Grounds, Tampa)
Somos w/Petal/The Superweaks (Epic Problem, Tampa)
Albert Castiglia (Ale And The Witch, St. Petersburg)
This article appears in Mar 10-16, 2016.