Hey, it's Friday, you've made it through the week all in one piece and now you're gearing up to launch into the first weekend in December. Here's some concerts happening tonight (Fri., Dec. 4), plus a peek at the live music schedule ahead.

The Soul Rebels with Parker Urban Band WMNF welcomes a New Orleans brass band mainstay and the first of two Crescent City-brewed acts to hit town this weekend (the other is Big Sam's Funky Nation at Skipper's on Saturday). The Soul Rebels are an eight-piece that draw on elements of soul, funk, jazz, hip-hop, R&B, rock and pop in original material and covers by artists ranging from Jay-Z to Daft Punk to Nicki Minaj as fueled by a six-member horn section (two trumpeters, two trombonists, a sax player and a sousaphonist) along with a couple of rhythm keepers on snare and bass drums. (Skipper’s Smokehouse, Tampa)

Joe Bonamassa A favorite around these parts, blues rock axeman Joe Bonamassa – who plays two consecutive nights in Clearwater, both Friday and Saturday – earned some good press on his 11th studio outing, last year’s Different Shade of Blue, which showcases his mastership of guitar in fluid soloing and groove-catching prowess. Setlists encompass original material and Bonamassa-stamped covers by Jimi Hendrix, John Hiatt, Leonard Cohen, Jeff Beck, Tom Waits and a diversity of others. Packing the rhythmic clout on his current tour is Letterman/CBS Orchestra drummer Anton Fig, who just dropped a debut solo album, Figments, that features guests spots by Brian Wilson, the late Richie Havens and Ace Frehley among other musician friends of the much-called-upon session player. (Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater)

Wolf-Face with Awkward Age, Pool Party, You Vandal, Big Brother Dubbed “Michael J. Wolf's Nutcracker Punk Bash,” this bill finds Teen Wolf punk rock growlers and howlers Wolf-Face back at their old home place after a while away, packing a new 12-inch split with Teen Agers that includes a pretty banging cover of TV on the Radio’s “Wolf Like Me.” We dig the irony. Other sounds represented on this night include hooky punk pop (Awkward Age), surf and folk-laced punk rock with rah-rah choruses and weirdo lead vocals (Miami-based Pool Party), melodic indie punk (Gainesville’s You Vandal) and emo-hued post-hardcore (Big Brother). (Fubar, St. Petersburg)

COEDS with Ninehorn, The High Divers With rich robust lead belts and snarls from guitarist Anna Chandler and a few hooky rock singles ala “Tagalong” and “I Wanna Dance with You (All Night Long)” that touch on garage, doo wop and power pop in equal doses, COEDS returns to town following their Plan B come-out with sounds splashed in the warm sunshine of their Savannah, Ga. home. Also performing on this night: Ninehorn, a local outfit with rock sounds dosed heavily in reverb and featuring members of Empire Cinema, Sun Signs and Alexander and the Grapes; and The High Divers, a roots rock outfit from Charleston, S.C. that has taken a groovy, synthy folktronic turn in 2014’s Highlights. (New World Brewery, Ybor City)

Machine Head “Now We Die” – the lead-off track of the eighth and latest LP from Oakland, Calif., metal makers Machine Head – has a dark and evil vibe in its mix of thrash, groove and heavy sounds, its propulsive rhythmic drive broken up by blast beats, guitars laying out complex solos amid the riff-raging distortion, basslines growling low and ominous, and lead singer Robb Flynn juggling rough-edged clean vocals, death growls and soaring roars. The Guardian’s Dom Lawson called Bloodstone & Diamonds “the finest mainstream metal album of 2014 by a huge margin,” and it spurs the current round of tour dates. (State Theatre, St. Petersburg)

Legends of the Old School with Salt-N-Pepa, Naughty By Nature, 2 Live Crew, Vanilla Ice, TKA & K7, Color Me Badd Part of a series of concerts in Florida showcasing ‘80s-to-late-‘90s era R&B-pop and hip hop talents – those who pretty much dominated the airwaves at one (or many points) in their careers and can, for all intents and purposes, be considered legends even if they aren’t really doing anything right now, or haven’t since their heyday. Among the latter, Color Me Badd (behind such pop hits as “I Wanna Sex You Up,” “I Adore Mi Amor” and “All 4 Love” and currently a trio of Mark Calderon, Kevin "K.T." Thornton and Bryan Abrams) and Vanilla Ice (as if you never heard “Ice Ice Baby,” that track that so famously tapped “Under Pressure”?). Value is added by way of Grammy-winning Naughty By Nature, a Jersey group with several genre classics to their credit (“O.P.P.,” Hip Hop Hooray,” “Feel Me Flow” — read more about the group in this week's Way Back Wednesday), Miami’s controversial and influential 2 Live Crew (“Me So Horny,” “Banned in the U.S.A.,” “Pop That Coochie”), and Queens, N.Y.-bred stage-owning hits-spitting femme trio Salt-N-Pepa (“Push It,” "Do You Want Me,” “Let’s Talk About Sex,” “Shoop,” “Whatta Man,” et. al.) Freestyle kings TKA and K7 are also scheduled to perform. (USF Sun Dome, Tampa)

ALSO HAPPENING THIS FRIDAY, DECEMBER 4
The Academy Is…10 Year Anniversary Tour House of Blues, Orlando
Bangarang/Smokestack Lightning/Johnny Mile & The Kilometers Crowbar, Ybor City
Navigator Live Series: MS MR Vinoy Renaissance Resort, St. Petersburg
Victor Wainwright Dunedin Brewery, Dunedin
Jenn Bostic Hideaway Café & Recording Studio, St. Petersburg
Albert Castiglia (Courtyard)/UNRB (DEN) Ale and the Witch, St. Petersburg
Daniel Joiner: Jazz at Christmas Time SPC Music Center, St. Petersburg
Andy Brey & Friends Ella’s Americana Folk Art Café, Tampa
FayRoy/Fictional Friends The Bends, St. Petersburg
Darryl Worley w/Jason Michael Carroll The Concert Courtyard @ Ferg's, St. Petersburg
Highway to Hell AC/DC Tribute Jannus Live, St. Petersburg
Lucky Lucille/Dethstar Thrive/Spasm/American Greed/Xployt Brass Mug, Tampa
An Elvis Christmas PHSC Performing Arts Center, New Port Richey

COMING UP THIS WEEKEND
Lucero Sat., Dec. 5, The Ritz Ybor, Ybor City
97X Next Big Thing w/twenty one pilots/Of Monsters and Men/Walk the Moon/Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness/Robert DeLong/X Ambassadors/Glass Animals/others *SOLD OUT* Sat., Dec. 5, MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheater, Tampa
Dance Gavin Dance 10-Year Anniversary Tour w/Slaves/A Lot Like Birds/Dayshell/Strawberry Girls Sat., Dec. 5, Orpheum, Ybor City
Spred The Dub w/Oceanstone/Part One Tribe/Yamadeo Sat., Dec. 5, Local 662, St. Petersburg
Big Sam's Funky Nation Sat., Dec. 5, Jannus Live, St. Petersburg
Fifth Annual Shoe Box Christmas w/Abortion Twins/Counted Out/Dead Cat Lounge/Sibyls/The Horribles/Stand Up Ralph/Slade & the Wasters/Pig Pen Sat., Dec. 5, The Amsterdam, St. Petersburg
Annual Halcyon Toy Drive w/The Cheaters Sat., Dec. 5, Skipper’s Smokehouse, Tampa
Madchild Sat., Dec. 5, State Theatre, St. Petersburg
The Mavericks Sat., Dec. 5, Capitol Theatre, Clearwater
Crowbar 9-Year Anniversary Party w/Dirty Bourbon River Show/Poetry n' Lotion/Underhill Family Orchestra/more Sat., Dec. 5, Crowbar, Ybor City
Blues Festival w/Blues Caravan/James "Super Chikan" Johnson/Mike Zito/Rick Estrin & The Nightcats Sat., Dec. 5, Riverwalk, Bradenton
Together In Exile/Archangel/Clench Fist/Atom N Evol Sat., Dec. 5, Brass Mug, Tampa
Urban Gypsies w/Florida Mountain Boys Sat., Dec. 5, Ale and the Witch, St. Petersburg
Winter’s Miracle on Cleveland Street Starring Chuck Negron of Three Dog Night Sat., Dec. 5, Cleveland Street, downtown Clearwater
Fred Johnson Sat., Dec. 5, The Underground at Moscato’s, St. Petersburg
Jobsite Rocks! – Home For The Holidays Variety Show Sat., Dec. 5, New World Brewery, Ybor City
Jordan Esker & The Hundred Percent/Speaking Cursive/House Of I/Matthew Wead Trio Sat., Dec. 5, Fubar, St. Petersburg
John McCutcheon Sun., Dec. 6, Craftsman House, St. Petersburg
Erick Baker Sun., Dec. 6, Sideshow @ SHAMc, Safety Harbor
Tampa Jazz Club and HCC/Ybor Performing Arts Series: Dick Hyman & Whitney James Sun., Dec. 6, HCC Ybor Mainstage Theater, Ybor City
Wahh! World Fusion Band: Musical Moments feat. Prattyush Banerjee/Jolly Mukerjee/“The Violin Brothers” Deb and Jyoti Sankar Roy Sun., Dec. 6, Jaeb Theater at Straz Center for Performing Arts, Tampa)
Sunday Funday w/Knocked Loose/Capsize/Adaliah/Varials/Madtown/Death with Dignity/Engraved /A Sense Of Discovery/Untomoria/Aegeus/Life Hearafter Sun., Dec. 6, Local 662, St. Petersburg
Patel Rock School Blowout Sun., Dec. 6, Skipper’s Smokehouse, Tampa
Acme Jazz Garage Sun., Dec. 6, Ella’s Americana Folk Art Café, Tampa