Emo Night Tampa w/Oprah Spinfrey/Mes McDonald It’s your last official chance to drop tears in your beers this year, and while this final 2017 edition of the wildly popular DJ-driven Emo Night Tampa series probably won’t feature any songs from Brand New (frontman Jesse Lacey recently admitted to predatory online behavior with women and girls), it will feature a bunch of your friends simply doing their best to have a good time to some sad songs. (First Chance Last Chance Bar, Ybor City) INFO
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Photos: JJ Grey breaks in The Attic, Ybor City's new listening room
✔️ JJ Grey Good luck getting into either of these two sold-out solo shows from Mofro frontman JJ Grey. The NoFla swamp-rock legend (who also plays the same stage on December 3) was one of the first artists to break in this very active listening room, but if you can’t get in to see him stomp on drums and wail on harmonica this time around, then keep chekcing cltampa.com/music, where we’ll be writing about a new beer (Lochloosa Lager) that he’s gonna put out with Tampa’s Rock Brothers Brewing. (The Attic at Rock Brothers Brewing, Ybor City) INFO
✔️ The Drums w/Hoops/Hello Joyce If there was ever such a thing as an indie-rock hipster early Christmas present concert, then this one featuring Jonny Pierce’s Brooklyn band The Drums would be it. The Kissimmee, Florida-reared songwriter has bared his soul to great effect on a new album (Abysmal Thoughts, released in June via Anti-), and he’s bringing a wonderfully sunny Fat Possum Records-approved pop trio, Hoops, to open the show. (Crowbar, Ybor City) INFO
✔️ Microgroove’s 6th Anniversary Celebration w/The Easy Button/COEDS/Adieux/The Blonde Tongues/Horsewhip/DieAlps!/Sandspur City An embrace of local retail — especially record stores — is something CL readers should be well-adjusted to by now, and staring at six years of Seminole Heights vinyl-slinging has to feel good for longtime Tampa Bay indie-rock totems Keith and Susie Ulrey, who are tapping an old, out-of-town friend (Georgia band COEDS, which is actually signed to the Ulrey’s New Granada Records imprint) to play a show alongside some well-known Florida bands (DieAlps!, Horsewhip) as well as a few we’re excited to get acquainted with (The Easy Button, Adieux). The free, family-friendly affair kicks off around 11 a.m. and will feature lots of PBR, Commune + Co. coffee plus discounts and Cappy’s and the Independent just a few doors down. (Microgroove, Tampa) INFO
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Lauris Vidal It’s been about eight months since he’s been in the biergarten, so Saturday is a good opportunity for Ormond Beach folk-rock star Lauris Vidal to bring his one-man band back to the ‘Burg for an evening of Sunshine State pickin’ accompanied by more than a little Sunshine City beer sippin’. (Green Bench Brewing Co., St. Petersburg) INFO
✔️ Indian Classical Vocal Concert w/Rachna Bodas/Shankh Lahiri/Rohan Prabhudesai You know that magic George Harrison conjured up on Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band highlight “Within You Without You”? He found it after immersing himself in the sounds of Indian music, and you, too, can have the chance to take a dip in that tuneage when tabla, harmonium and classical vocals from the region come alive at this indoor event featuring limited baithak seating (aka floor cushions). (Lotus Pond Yoga Center at India Cultural Center & Hindu Temple, Tampa) INFO
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Miracle on Cleveland w/Atlanta Rhythm Section Downtown Clearwater gets its own holiday block party soundtracked by OG Decca Records outfit Atlanta Rhythm Section, which will sprinkle a little Southern rock into the falling “snow,” ice skating and horse-drawn carriage rides going down on Cleveland Street. Santa — not Xenu — will be in the house, too. (Cleveland Street District, Clearwater) INFO
✔️ Plastiol w/Ethical Trash/Piss Ghost/Kid Loki Transitions Art Gallery is having its first-ever art show (full disclosure: CL contributor Anthony Martino will be showing alongside a handful of other great Bay area creators), and a nice lineup of punk bands (Plastiol, Ethical Trash and Piss Ghost) peppered with some ukulele by Tampa strummer Kid Loki is providing the sounds. This all-ages show is taking donations at the door and leaving dickheads who refuse to be nice out in the rain. (Transitions Art Gallery, Tampa) INFO
Charlie Daniels Band w/Confederate Railroad/Craig Wayne Boyd/Across the Wide/Embry Brothers Band He might be another one of those “lock her up” guys, but uber-patriot Charlie Daniels is still a country-music legend who brings his philanthropic mission to the Bay area every winter, so why not dust off those old shitkickers and shuffle with strangers for the night. The show does benefit Angelus House — a Hudson-based home established in 1979 to accommodate severely handicapped persons unable to care for themselves. (Dallas Bull, Tampa) INFO
✔️ WMNF’s 3rd Annual Ukulele Festival w/Tom Hood Beatles Jam/Poly Essence/Applebutter Express Duo/Reenee and the Rollers/Rich Whiteley/Uke-A-Ladies/Jct 27/Ari Chi/Tom Hood & The Tropical Sons Uke better be at this celebration of the mighty and tiny instrument. Expect more than a dozen ukulele-based bands, a custom brew and doggos. If you need more motivation, then read more about the mini-fest here. (Cage Brewing, St. Petersburg) INFO
✔️ 97X Next Big Thing w/The Lumineers/Vance Joy/Portugal. The Man/Paramore/X Ambassadors/more Ho, hey. The summer was good for fans of alternative-rock radio as it saw the expansion of 97X’s beloved Next Big Thing concert, which is now a two-day festival headlined by The Lumineers, X Ambassadors, Magic Giant, the Arkells and the Aces, which all play on Saturday before Paramore, Walk the Moon, Vance Joy, Portugal. The Man, Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness, Saint Motel, Misterwives, Joywave, Mondo Cozmo, Barnes Courtney and Vinyl Theatre close things out on Sunday. Read our interview with Lumineers frontman Wesley Schultz here. (MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre, Tampa) INFO
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ALSO PLAYING
Folk/Singer-songwriter
Kristina White (Blue Note, Tampa) INFO
Gyrojets, The Prople, and Mave's Arcade (Beer & Brownies, Tampa) INFO
Americana
The Applebutter Express w/Florida Mountain Boys (The Ale & the Witch, St. Petersburg) INFO
Instrumental/Jam/Fusion/World
Gypsy Star’s ‘The Tale of the Mistletoe’ (Colorama Music, Hudson) INFO
Poetry 'N' Lotion (Five Star Dive Bar, Ybor City) INFO
Electric Piquete (Dunedin Brewery, Dunedin) INFO
Rev. Barry & the Funk (Ringside Café, St. Petersburg) INFO
Shaun Hopper (Safety Harbor Arts & Music Center, Safety Harbor) INFO
Americo (Orpheum, Ybor City) CANCELLED
Rock
Clutch w/Devin Townsend (Jannus Live, St. Petersburg) INFO
Streetcar Live w/Johnny Mile & the Kilometers (TECO Streetcar Line System, Ybor City & Downtown Tampa) INFO
Halcyon Toy Drive w/Diane Ward Band (Skipper’s Smokehouse, Tampa) INFO
Ben Katzman w/The Venus/MTVH1N1 (The Bends, St. Petersburg) INFO
The Mavericks (Capitol Theatre, Clearwater) SOLD OUT
Barsity Champs Album Release Party (Terra Nova Club, St. Petersburg) INFO
Siesta Beach Seafood & Music Festival w/Twinkle/Ari & the Alibis/Kettle of Fish/Rev. Barry & Funktastic Soul/more (Paragon Center, Siesta Key Beach) INFO
DJ/EDM
D-Unity w/High Frequency/Rob Bello/Noval (Hyde Park Carfé, Tampa) INFO
Classical/Chorale/Jazz
Florida Orchestra Family Concerts: The Science of Sound w/Horn quartet (Hillsborough Community College Performing Arts Building, YBor City) INFO
Rebecca Pennys Master Class (St. Petersburg College Music Center, St. Petersburg) INFO
Carrollwood Community Chorus (Carrollwood Cultural Center, Tampa) INFO
James J. (Hudson Regional Library, Hudson) INFO
Ethan Bortnick (Pinellas Park Performing Arts Center, Pinellas Park) INFO
First Saturday Jazz w/Denise Moore And Then Some (The Independent Bar & Cafe, Tampa) INFO
Blues
Bradenton Blues Fest w/Joe Louis Walker/Curtis Salgado/Sugar Blue/Chubby Carrier and the Bayou Swamp Band/more (Bradenton Riverwalk Event Pavilion, Bradenton) SOLD OUT
Hip-hop
The Elements Monthly Hip-Hop Night December (Fubar, St. Petersburg) INFO
Amp’d Saturday (The Ritz, Ybor City) INFO
Cover/Tribute
Phoenix (Buckets Tavern & Tap, Tampa) INFO
This article appears in Nov 30 – Dec 7, 2017.