Deals are the new black, and the Tampa Bay concert schedule is not shy on shows that appeal to people who don't like parting with their dollars. There are great free shows on both sides of the Bay tonight, and if you're looking to stimulate the economies of local promoters and artists who work so hard for you every day, then those options are there, too.
The forecast for tonight is dry with a temperature under 90 degrees, so there's no reason to not strap on your Tevas and show out.
More events are on CL's events listing calendar.
CL ✔️ Dropin Pickup Album Release Party w/Redfeather/Actual Bank Robbers Dropin Pickup has a knack for the dramatic. The Tampa band has its feet planted in the indie-rock sound, but the nuances in the group’s sound mostly evade generalization. Its humongous aesthetic bellies their personnel (there’s only five of them in the band), and live sets find Dropin Pickup easily filling venues both large and small with sound thanks to songs like “Compunction” off a new album, Bearings Lost, which will celebrate its release this weekend in St. Petersburg. The three-and-a-half minute track finds frontman Mike Farrell riding a gorgeous arrangement of guitar wash, horns, and hearty bass on the way to completing one of the best new tracks Tampa Bay has birthed in 2016. The guys — Farrell, Nick Ewing, Denny Umphreys, Chase Collins, and Santino Rumore — head out on a tour of Georgia, Tennessee, and North and South Carolina after this show, and this send-off party will feel like a blast from another era thanks to the addition of Mark Etherington’s cosmic-folk rock project Redfeather. Live art will be curated by new-ish Tampa creative collective He(art). (3 Daughters Brewing, St. Petersburg) INFO
Miranda Lambert w/Kip Moore/Brothers Osborne Unfortunately, the talented Miranda Lambert had to be married to country-music doofus Blake Shelton, and while news and tabloid headlines are littered with garbage about her life in the context of that dude’s alleged bad judgement, the 32-year-old has been able to endure. It’s been over a decade since “Kerosene” helped a debut LP go platinum, effectively launching her into the forefront of an already surging industry. Her latest LP, 2014’s Platinum, takes an honest look at the ups and downs of years gone by, and after a year spent writing for a new album, she’s upping the ante on the transparency for a new single, “Vice” (released in July), where she tries to put tears in your beers by waxing on loneliness and its various coping mechanisms. The Grammy winner is on tour with country-music good guy Kip Moore (“Something ‘Bout A Truck”) and Nashville’s feel-nice country-rock siblings John and T.J Osborne, so expect a full-on Friday-night party for this one. (MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre, Tampa) INFO
CL ✔️ FayRoy w/Shua Harrell Named after an old cottage on Indian Rocks Beach, FayRoy’s sound lives up to the essence of its moniker in a big way thanks to songs like “I Had That Feeling Myself,” where sandy surf-rock riffs get tossed in with some nice high-hat and punchy piano chords fit for a sultan’s magic carpet ride. The beach-goth fellows spent some time in San Francisco when they were getting going, but the Bay area is glad to have them back in this part of the woods these days. A new album, Heaven at 27, is set for release in October and its lead single — “Life and Death” — sounds like something an even cooler Chris Isaak would’ve written had he been born a millennial. Tampa songwriter Shua Harrell, who normally hits the mic fronting indie-rock outfit Oxford Noland, does his solo steez for this show, which is free to attend. (Ella’s Americana Folk Art Café, Tampa) INFO
CL ✔️ Resinated w/Tunnel Vision/Savi Fernandez Band/NoNeed/Paint the Town Red/DJ Rollin The boys are back in town. After a quick swing through Texas, Resinated, a St. Pete-gone-national reggae quartet hits Central Avenue for a homecoming show where it’ll ask fans (also known as “Resinators”) to fill the room’s air with the smell of the sticky stuff (now extra sticky thanks to vaporizers!) while the band works through cuts like “Sativa Feva,” in which it not-so-subtly advocates for the use of medical marijuana. It’s not all Sublime and Bob Marley worship though, since the band’s 2015 LP, Smoke Signals, packs the bowl with cuts that dip heavily into funk (“Nighthawk”) and dub (“Be Yourself”) during the course of its 38 hazy minutes. A mini-festival’s worth of Resinated pals (including breaking Tampa reggae-fusion guys NoNeed) open the show. (State Theatre, St. Petersburg) INFO
Twin Peaks Score Release Party Not to be confused with the Chicago rock & roll Gen-Z-ers coming to Crowbar on Wednesday, this record-store gathering celebrates the LP release of Angelo Badalamenti’s score for the David Lynch television drama. The shop will have episodes from the show on loop and you can expect the show’s cult fans (or at least the ones who don’t order everything on the internet) to be out in full force since it’s the first time the score has seen print in the last quarter century. Also, there will be cherry pie doughnuts and damn fine cups of coffee, too. (Steelworker Records, Tampa) INFO
Flux Pavilion w/Joyride Six years after the release of his Lines in Wax EP, Flux Pavilion’s “I Can’t Stop” can still turn a club upside down. Blame it on Kanye and Jay-Z (who sampled it on “Who Gon Stop Me” from 2011 collab Watch the Throne) or just blame it on all the crazy kids who can’t get enough of the cut’s multiple drops, hypnotizing vocal loops and orchestral, bowel-shaking synth. The 27-year-old UK producer arrives at the new home of Amphitheatre (remember the other one burned up earlier this year) in support of a new single with NGHTMRE (“Feel Your Love”), where the boys continue to bring the untz-untz-untz and womp-womp of dubstep to adoring fans across the globe. (The Ritz, Ybor City) INFO
CL ✔️ Dixie Whiskey w/Ninehorn/Spar/Beerwolf You thought tribute bands were reserved for Judas Priest, Pink Floyd and Kenny Chesney? Think again, because Dixie Whiskey pays homage to New Orleans sludge royalty Eyehategod. You’d have to travel to the west coast, northeast or Chicago to see the real thing next month, so might as well get something really similar at this free show. Also, is Dave Grohl going to be there? (Fubar, St. Petersburg) INFO
CL ✔️ Significant Records Last Shows w/Anam Cara/Seventh Star/Underdog/Bind/Brain Bust/Suitcase City/Losing Vision/more For its last shows ever, locally based hardcore label Significant Records is throwing a two-night concert featuring over a dozen bands the imprint has worked with coming together for one last trip. Several bands are reuniting for the occasion (including Now Soldiers, Magma, and Dreams You Die In to name three), so expect lots of nostalgia and a little bittersweet appreciation at this one. (Local 662, St. Petersburg) INFO
ALSO PLAYING
Dan Padilla w/David Kibby (Pokey's Pub, Tampa) INFO
Blind Guardian w/Grave Digger (Orpheum, Ybor City) INFO
Damon Fowler Group w/Daniel Heitz Band (Skipper’s Smokehouse, Tampa) INFO
Starlight Concerts w/The Shakes Society (Highlander Park, Dunedin) INFO
