Earlier this year, Venezuelan "disco love-funk sextet" Los Amigos Invisibles played an MNF-sponsored gig at the Skipperdome. To the surprise of everyone except the folks that showed up early, the show sold out, filling the venue to capacity and depriving fans of one of the primary joys of experiencing the group's eclectic, infectious, hip-but-not-pretentious rhythms: actually dancing to them.
The band is back, then, in a bigger venue with enough beloved dance-floor space to accommodate even the most spastic of revelers. It's also here to help WMNF celebrate 26 years of doing cool stuff like bringing interesting, obscure acts like Los Amigos to town and — gasp! — giving airplay to artists you're never going to hear on commercial stations beholden to the bottom line and the lowest common denominator.
So if you like your funk liberally salted with everything from salsa to clever lounge-jazz, put on your dancin' shoes, pack a picnic basket or fill a flask (this event is B.Y.O.B./B.Y.O.F.), and come on out. But come early; not only will you assure yourself entrance, but you'll also get the slightly jammy funk of Gravy, the latest project from saxophonist, vocalist and longtime scenester Ronnie Dee.
WMNF 26th Anniversary Bash, feat. Los Amigos Invisibles/Gravy, Saturday, Sept. 17, The Coliseum, St. Petersburg. 8 p.m., $22 adv./$25 d.o.s.
