True rivetheads don't much care if all a band does is blast out power chords, thunder beats and wailing vocals, along with the requisite flailing of long hair. Those of us who are something less than heavy-metal aficionados appreciate a band like Tool, though, who bring a fully formed artistic vision to their music, not to mention ghoulish visuals, costumes, body paint and various other theatrical touches. The L.A.-based outfit relies on the shifting musical movements and time-signature fuckery of prog-rock, but can bring serious crunch and plenty of dark melody. A Tool show is an overall sense experience, not merely a thrash-fest.
Tool, Tues., May 29, 8 p.m., USF Sun Dome, Tampa. $50.50. usf.edu/sundome. —Eric Snider
Brass 'n' steel
Kudos toe The Garage for recent forays into eclectic programming, and especially for this one: a double bill featuring the New Orleans second-line ensemble The Dirty Dozen Brass Band and sacred steel gospel group The Lee Boys. Both of these acts come from storied traditions. DDBB emanate from the small marching bands that accompany street funerals in the Crescent City — these guys updated and enlivened the sound, and for a while in the '80s and '90s, became a major attraction on the jazz festival circuit. Twice, the DDBB turned a Saturday night at Clearwater Jazz Holiday into a straight-up dance party. Sacred steel is a gospel style that features the pedal steel guitar as its instrumental and emotional centerpiece. The genre broke out of the church a few years ago with the rise of Robert Randolph. The Orlando-based Lee Boys hew to the gospel line a little more closely than Randolph, but still infuse plenty of rock and R&B into their sound.
Dirty Dozen Brass Band w/The Lee Boys, Sun. May 27, 7 p.m. @ The Garage, 662 Central Ave., St. Petersburg. $15 advance/$18 day of. stpetegaragebar.com —ES
WILL THE SONGS REMAIN THE SAME?
Will anyone dare tackle the prog-metal prototype "Achilles Last Stand?" The epic blues of "Since I've Been Loving You"? How about the one, the only, "Stairway to Heaven"? WMNF jock Flee has again corralled a bunch (16) of local bands to pay tribute to a classic-rock institution: Led Zeppelin (past shows have mined the songbooks of The Beatles, Bob Dylan and The Who). The eclectic lineup includes power-pop favorites Barely Pink and The Ditchflowers, neo-classic rockers Roppongi's Ace, bluegrass pickers the Pickford Sundries and the Smokestack Blues Band. Each act will perform two to four Zep songs in sets that range 15-20 minutes. There will also be an air guitar contest "for Jimmy Page wannabes." If you haven't been to one of these WMNF tribute extravaganzas, by all means start now. For a complete band lineup, go to wmnf.org.
WMNF presents: Dazed and Confused — A Tribute to Led Zeppelin, 5 p.m. Sat., May 26, Skipper's Smokehouse, Tampa. $12 adv/$15 day of show. —Wade Tatangelo
This article appears in May 23-29, 2007.