In addition to the Listening Room Festival Finale at Palladium Theater, there's some other live music happening tonight. Breakdown below...
Walk the Moon with The Griswolds The Cincinnati group behind that ear-wormy, dance-pop tune “Shut Up and Dance” – you know, the one with the echoing U2-styled guitar riffs? It gets all cheesy and uplifting while amping up the distortion and synths? – hits town on a tour behind Talking Is Hard, which spawned said hit single. Walk the Moon is joined by The Griswolds, which hail from Australia and have a brighter, bouncier, lightly Afro-pop-infused sound marked by choruses with tuneful multi-part vocal harmonies. (State Theatre, St. Petersburg) –Leilani Polk
Yellowcard with Finch, The Downtown Fiction Hard to believe after 18 years, Yellowcard is still going strong. It’s also a little creepy that the band is likely older than the majority of its audiences. Lift a Sail, Yellowcard’s ninth album, dropped in October. And in case you missed the subsequent tour, the Jacksonville-based pop-punk vets return to Tampa to regale you with it once again. This time, Finch, a Californian post-hardcore five-piece, joins the fray along with power-pop rockers The Downtown Fiction. (Orpheum, Ybor City) –Adam Hardy
Jim Chambers Music Box & Sam Ash Drum Bash V7.0 The seventh installment of the drum clinic-cum-competition that features the best and brightest beat-keeping students of music educator Jim Chambers – 20 hit this go-around –performing for a live audience and three judges (including extreme metal drummer Tony Laureano and Erik “EDubb” Holmes of the Commodores) who award prizes at the event’s conclusion. The Drum Bash takes place from 5 to 8 p.m.; admission is free. (Sam Ash Music, Tampa) –LP
Empire Cinema with Valise, Ninehorn Imagine a world where Ben Gibbard sang in a post-punk band with instrumentation akin to Two Door Cinema Club. Tampa Locals Empire Cinema aren’t too far off. Brendon Hock’s talk-sung vocals wheel over roaring guitar riffs, the overall effect a perfect juxtaposition of melancholia and excitement. Valise is a fresh four-piece from Dallas that just issued a fantastic debut of ambient rock, Young Bloomer, while a compilation of members from Empire Cinema, Alexander & the Grapes and various other acts make up Ninehorn, which kicks off the music on this night with its first performance ever. (The Hub, downtown Tampa) –AH
Of Mice & Men with Crown The Empire, Volumes Normally, I think of Steinbeck’s novel when it comes to Of Mice & Men, not a metalcore band from California. This one dropped its third full-length, Restoring Force, last year and even released a deluxe version back in February ahead of its upcoming “Full Circle Tour.” Frontman Austin Carlile is “passionate about all the stuff” on the album and you hear that reflected in every note he screams. Bassist Aaron Pauley counterbalances that rawness with more ear-friendly vocals supported by a dual guitar onslaught and thundering rhythms that power through songs like popular singles “Feels Like Forever” and “Another You.” (The Ritz Ybor, Ybor City) –Seth Peterson
Hit the Lights with Makari, Still Average, The Incorporated Ohio pop-punk outfit Hit the Lights comes out swinging behind latest album Summer Bones, which has already received some critical acclaim with aggressive guitar riffs paired with more positive, catchy lyrical refrains. Lead singer Nick Thompson says the band’s “mindset was to be able to do the songs live,” so expect to hear plenty of the new cuts amid old favorites. (Epic Problem, Tampa) –SP
ALSO TONIGHT
Ol’ Dirty Sundays w/DJ Q’Phunk Crowbar, Ybor City
Stokeswood w/Ghost Owl Dunedin Brewery, Dunedin
Soul Circus Cowboys Single Release Party Skipper’s Smokehouse, Tampa
