There are ample options for your New Year's Eve all over cltampa.com today, and here are your best bets for live music. Some of them are free, too (more shit that won't break the bank is here). Be safe out there people, you know it's amatuer night.
We've written about a lot of the bands below, so feel free to click through the links to hear a little more.
Ninehorn w/Empire Cinema/Sun Signs/Fr33dback It’s gonna get a little incestuous at Tampa Heights brewhouse Hidden Springs Ale Works. Three of the four bands appearing share members (drummer Andrew Pellegrino plays in Ninehorn and Empire Cinema while bassist Jeff Dominguez is Ninehorn and Sun Signs), and the music all falls somewhere between Queens of the Stone Age cock rock and moody indie-noir. Matt Reisinger is the odd man out here, not just because he plays solo dolo under the Fr33dback moniker, but also because his set involves what seems like a mile’s worth of audio cable that runs in and out of his menagerie of Moogs and drum machine. (Hidden Springs Ale Works, Tampa) INFO
New Years Eve Bangarang w/Rising Down A perennial Best of the Bay Reader’s Pick winner (Bangarang) brings their energetic set to Gaspar’s outdoor patio for a raucous performance that should also double as great people walking consider the volume of humanity that walks by the venue’s iron gates. (Gaspar’s Grotto, Ybor City) INFO
Vices & Virtues w/Lauren Lance/Russell Andrade/Stephanie McCranie/John William Short/Amy Easter/Linda Hines For New Year’s Eve, the Iberian Rooster (who hosted Geri X and Oxford Noland on Friday) are bringing in the burlesque. They’re taking it a step further, however, by performing a live opera that will be highlighted by performances from Panamory and Lilith frontwoman Lauren Lance. (Iberian Rooster, St. Petersburg) INFO
New Year's Eve Bash at Crowbar w/Samurai Shotgun/The Young Parisians/DRUG/DJ Qeys Samurai Shotgun don’t call Tampa Bay home anymore, but frontman Mateo Henley & his crew continue to make us proud. They just made Afropunk’s top ten albums of the year alongside some most excellent albums like Dev Hynes's Freetown Sound, Solange’s A Seat at the Table and Childish Gambino’s Awaken, My Love! “The Tampa-based quintet blurs the edges between hip-hop, punk, and prog on their sophomore record. Odd time signatures and off-kilter rhythms juxtapose frontman Mateo's often introspective flow, while the band conjures poorly lit basement shows and pit theatrics,” the website wrote, “The band summons pure hope out of pain and struggle on the year-summing title track; “swim / push against that riptide.” We’ll take that. And we’ll jump at a chance to see them play a homecoming show. (Crowbar, Ybor City) INFO
Alex Newell We all know 2016 pretty much sucked, but at least it left us with the news that Massachusetts actor and singer Alex Newell (Glee) would join Morgan James and Shoshana Bean in a one night only performance of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Jesus Christ Superstar. Those of us who can’t make it to New York’s Highline Ballroom next month will have to settle for this appearance at Liquid where the 24-year-old Coachella alum will take to the stage after midnight to hopefully perform cuts from his 2016 EP, Power, a disco-charged, 18-minute blast of Beyonce, Donna Summers and Chaka Khan influenced dance music. (Liquid, Ybor City) INFO
Butch Trucks and The Freight Train Bandw/Damon Fowler Butch Trucks doesn’t really appreciate Lady Gaga as a music maker. He doesn’t like Trump much either, but we’ll tell you what the 69 year old founding member of The Allman Brothers is a fan of — the country of France and Tampa Bay’s Damon Fowler, who is in Trucks’ touring band. “I'm not about to try and rank guitar players I've worked with,” Trucks told CL in a recent Q&A. “They all bring their own pluses and minuses to the show. Damon, however, is as good as the best of them.” Trucks will ring in the New Year at Capitol Theatre in Clearwater, and you can read our full Q&A (where we talk politics, Gaga, France and more) here. (Capitol Theatre, St. Petersburg) INFO
Hot 101.5 New Year's Eve w/Daya Did Grace Tandon even leave Tampa after her appearance at 93.3 FLZ’s Jingle Ball two weekends ago? The 18-year-old rising pop star better known as Daya was outshadowed on the bill by DNCE (featuring Joe Jonas), Chainsmokers and Pitbull, but she’ll sit (still, look pretty?) on top of the lineup for this New Year’s Eve for another Top 40 station 101.5 FM. (Jannus Live, St. Petersburg) INFO
ALSO PLAYING
Salute to Vienna: A New Year's Concert (Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater) INFO
New Year's Eve German Style w/Sepp and Heinz (German American Society of Pinellas County, Pinellas Park) INFO
Swingin' the New Year w/The Jive Aces (Coliseum, St. Petersburg) INFO
Celtic New Year's Eve w/Freekbass/The Bump Assembly (Dunedin Brewery, Dunedin) INFO
Borgeous (The Ritz, Ybor City) INFO
Ring in the New Year w/Kirk Adams Band (Hideaway Café, St. Petersburg) INFO
DJ Tolbeard (Independent Bar and Café, Tampa) INFO
DJ Fader (Orbit 19 Lounge, Holiday) INFO
This article appears in Dec 29, 2016 – Jan 5, 2017.