Great new music and great ol’ beach bars aren’t usually synonymous. In fact, some consider the two mutually exclusive — one just can’t happen at the same time as the other. Sure, the beach has served as inspiration for an abundance of high-quality music over the years, even spawning entire genres. But spend an evening at any of the waterside bars scattered up and down Gulf Boulevard, and you’ll find a marked dearth of original music, though you’ll find copious cover bands, backtracked duos, and one-act performers on piano, steel drums, sexy sax or acoustic guitar, many aping that Jimmy Buffett beach-bummin’ lifestyle, if not flat out delivering cuts from his songbook.
But that’s the crux of it — beach bars draw audiences spanning all legal drinking ages and capabilities, party-minded patrons who want to let loose to the music they know, or at least an approximation of it. Meanwhile, the proprietors want these sometimes direct-from-the-beach customers to stick around. So, to keep the party vibe going and piña coladas flowing, these bars tend to cater to a broad cross-section of humanity with the least offensive music possible — Top 40 fare delivered with un-genre-specific flare, nothing too loud, depressing or distracting, the more suitable for sing-alongs and dance-alongs the better. The few great locals that do play the beach are forced to deliver covers-heavy setlists, when they’re permitted to play original tunes at all. In sum, the music is strictly part of the landscape and not a feature to actively seek out.
However, if this particular waterside drinking vibe is the sort you’re seeking to soak up, we have plenty of star beach bars worthy of a moment of your attention.
The Hurricane is a favored restaurant and watering hole in historic Pass-a-Grille, its rooftop bar featuring unobstructed sunset vistas and live entertainment nearly every night of the week; the Beach Goes Pops performances also happen once a year on the sands just steps away from its doors (809 Gulf Way, St. Pete Beach). A little ways down, the Drunken Clam Bar and Grille, while not actually on the beach but across from it (46 46th Ave., St. Pete Beach), still boasts that quaint, dive-y, Key West eclectic atmosphere and is a popular meeting place for its regular live music and TVs full of sports. Jimmy B’s at the Beachcomber Resort (6200 Gulf Blvd., St Pete Beach) presents seven days’ worth of live fare, with finer-quality acts on the weekends that you can actually listen to with your toes in the sand. That’s true, too, at one of CL’s favorite beach spots, the PCI Bar & Grill, part of the uber-hip, ultra-laid-back boutique hotel Postcard Inn on the Beach. The wooden deck of the open-air beachside bar welcomes odd beloved indie acts, usually in an acoustic or stripped-down format (6300 Gulf Blvd., St. Pete Beach). Newer to the area, right on Blind Pass, is the Sloppy Pelican, a bar and grill boasting two waterfront decks, a half-dozen boat slips, and live music until 10 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday nights (677 75th Ave., St. Pete Beach).
Stray a bit further north to Treasure Island and get your drink and music on at Gators Café & Saloon on John’s Pass (1274 Kingfish Drive, Treasure Island), with Thursday-night dueling pianos and cover bands playing mainstream rock hits on Saturdays. Or make your way to Sunset Beach staples like Ka’tiki, the thatched-roof just-off-the-beach outpost for those who prefer stripped-down instrumentation, generally folk, roots and singer-songwriter fare (8803 W. Gulf Blvd.), or Caddy’s (9000 Gulf W. Gulf Blvd.), for those lured by the appeal of imbibing on the sand while listening to “Sax on the Beach” with Cameron five days a week (Tuesday through Saturday) and occasional sets by acts such as Betty Fox Band on Saturday nights.
Still farther north on Clearwater Beach, Shephard’s Beach Resort has loads of people-watching opportunities and DJ-spun tunes at its Wave nightclub and beachside Tiki Bar & Grill (601 S. Gulfview Blvd.), while Palm Pavilion (10 Bay Esplanade) delivers daily live music on its deck, sometimes featuring multiple performers in a single day ranging from solo acts to full-scale brass-blasted ensembles. Finally, for that laid-back open-air beachfront atmosphere, Frenchy’s Rockaway Grill (7 Rockaway St.) usually has someone banging out serenades on a daily basis, too, if you’re into that barefoot, made-for-the-background kind of entertainment.
This article appears in May 9-15, 2013.