Some of the disco decade's most enduring rock, soul, jazz and funk acts have been recruited for the PAETEC music tour's stop in Tampa this weekend at the Ford Amphitheatre. New Orleans piano great Dr. John, the man who took his distinctive brand of voodoo music to the masses with the 1973 smash "Right Place Wrong Time," opens Friday's show. He'll be followed by Dickey Betts, the singer/songwriter/guitar hero behind the Allman Brothers Band's lone Top 10 single "Ramblin' Man," along with his ABB-style outfit Great Southern. Boz Scaggs closes Friday's show, hopefully with a heavy sampling of his classic 1976 album Silk Degrees, the laid-back R&B classic that produced the hit "Lowdown." Saturday kicks off at 5 p.m. with a set by soul-funk organ trio Soulive; formed in '99, these purveyors of danceable instrumentals are by far the youngest act on the roster. Once a critically acclaimed straight-ahead jazz guitarist, George Benson found mainstream success in the mid-'70s as a vocalist with such titles as "This Masquerade" and "On Broadway." The incomparable Al Green — the greatest soul singer alive, for my money — closes the two-day event with a performance that will likely feature hits like "Let's Stay Together" and hopefully a deep track/gospel number such as the sublime "Jesus Is Waiting," the final number on his 1973 masterpiece, Call Me.
PAETEC Music Tour: Boz Scaggs/Dr. John/Dickey Betts & Great Southern, 5 p.m. Fri., April 4; Al Green/George Benson/Soulive, 5 p.m. Apr. 5, Ford Amphitheatre, Tampa, $10-$70.
