Thursday, March 29
LIVE w/AUDITORIUM Their popularity peaked about a decade ago, but dead-serious rockers Live maintain a strong fanbase that goes well beyond those of us who dug the sepia-toned video for the band's melodramatic ballad "Lightning Crashes" back in '95 (even though we totally forgot about the song/video and bald-dude singer when we entered high school). Arrive on time to witness St. Pete art-rockers Auditorium deliver their engaging six-minute epic, "Serenity," and other choice cuts, on the big stage. (Jannus Landing,
St. Petersburg)
JOSHUA RADIN w/SCHUYLER FISK He strums his acoustic guitar softly, writes lyrics about girls with "gold dust" in their eyes and sings with a feminine gentleness. If that isn't enough to make the ladies flock, Joshua Radin is also a pretty handsome chap who got a big break last year when his buddy Zach Braff put his ballad "Winter" on the popular sitcom Scrubs, which led to a major-label record deal. (State Theatre, St. Petersburg)
Friday, March 30
LÚNASA Even though St. Paddy's Day has passed, that doesn't mean it's too late to dig on the flute-'n'-tin-whistle Celtic music this band is famous for. (Tarpon Springs Arts Center)
6 YEAR BENDER/CODE ZERO/SUNSET LILY Sarasota's 6 Year Bender are a hardcore punk outfit with an aggressive, cocky attitude that suggests more than a couple Danzig tapes in their music collections. (Rasher Tierney's Backroom, Bradenton)
LIPSTICK "MODERN MUSIC FOR ROMANTICS" w/HOLIDAY/INDIGO VOX/DOLL PARTS Billed as "Tampa's premiere glam party," the event features throbbing electronica from Holiday, of St. Pete, and Gainesville disco darlings Indigo Vox, as well as girl-power punk rock courtesy of Clearwater's Doll Parts. There will also be the requisite fashion show. (Crowbar, Ybor City)
CHRIS MCCARTY BAND The Gainesville quintet's breezy acoustic pop comes with a Caribbean flair and is buoyed by the soulful vocals of the band's namesake frontman, who sounds a bit like Ben Harper. (Skipper's Smokehouse, Tampa)
THE ANODYNE PROJECT w/ THE INTERVENTIONISTS Tampa trio The Anodyne Project spikes strum-pop with noisy guitar touches, but also issues songs with underwater synths, culminating in a strange brew of styles. (Crowbar, Ybor City)
Saturday, March 31
LAMB OF GOD w/TRIVIUM/MACHINE HEAD/GOJIRA Bust out your pentagrams and pitchforks — the quintet formerly known as Burn the Priest (Lamb of God since '98) headlines a bill of menacing death/black/thrash metal. Whereas the genre has been huge in these parts for years, Lamb of God is that rare doomsday outfit to have an album land in the Billboard Top 10, which they accomplished with 2006's Sacrament. Orlando's Trivium made it big with those death-metal-loving Germans before inking a deal stateside with Roadrunner. (Jannus Landing, St. Petersburg)
JOHN DANLEY Word around the campfire (or at least in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune) is that Bradenton's Fogartyville Café is slated to shut down come June. The owners aren't sure if they'll reopen or where they'll do so even if they want to. Which means we need to get all of its laidback vibe while we still can. John Danley does his fingerpickin' instrumental thing this weekend, and it's as good of an excuse as any to head to B-town. (Fogartyville Café, Bradenton) —Cooper Levey-Baker
PAULINA RUBIO This sexy pop star is quite the sensation in her native Mexico and across the Spanish-speaking world. Rubio's latest album, Ananda,hit No. 1 on Billboard's Top Latin Albums Chart and reached No. 25 on the Billboard 200, her best crossover showing to date. (Busch Gardens Tampa Bay)
VISION QUEST, TRANS-ERA, MR. BELLA, LO AND FEEDBACK Named after the greatest (only?) high school grappling movie ever made, Orlando's Vision Quest is a quartet that matches heavy guitar crunch with occasional, nuanced reggae nods that are most pronounced in the vocal sensibility of frontman Diego Quiroz. (Crowbar, Ybor City)
Sunday, April 1
TED LEO AND THE PHARMACISTS/LOVE OF DIAGRAMS Ted Leo is on fire right now. He just released his fifth indie-pop-punk burner, stretching out his fiery, lyric-packed gems into Irish folk and slow-rocking reggae. Like all good punks, he's growing up and looking beyond his borders for inspiration. Love of Diagrams, meanwhile, are on the rise. The Aussie trio recently released an attention-getting four-track debut on Matador that reminds me more than a little of the early career-building Yeah Yeah Yeahs EPs. Catch 'em on the way up. (The Social, Orlando) —CLB
NATION OF POETRY PRESENTS: FOOLISH STATE Area wordsmiths congregate for an event that's equal parts poetry slam, music festival and dance-off. The bands/singers scheduled to perform are Justin Kline, Mike Copper, Lord Khefran, Devon and Elysian Sex Drive, an eclectic (jammy, indie, punky) six-piece from Sarasota led by feisty frontwoman Delaran. (State Theatre, St. Petersburg)
YELLOWCARD The pop-punk quintet from Jacksonville set themselves apart with a violin player and scored a big hit in '04 with a tune titled "Lights and Sounds." Yellowcard returns to the area to perform after the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg around 5:15 p.m. (The performance will be held in the Honda Plaza, located inside the race circuit adjacent to the Mahaffey Theater) (Honda Grand Prix, St. Petersburg)
MATT MACKELCAN BAND w/THE NOTION Winter Park's Matt MacKelcan made a big splash at last year's Florida Music Festival in downtown Orlando and is building a loyal, statewide following with his strum-pop-flavored, upbeat brand of rock 'n' roll. (Skipper's Smokehouse, Tampa)
MONDAY, April 2
VINCE GILL An ace bluegrass singer and gifted multi-instrumentalist, Gill veered toward country pop in the mid-'80s and by the early '90s was one of the genre's biggest stars thanks to No. 1 hits like "I Still Believe in You," "One More Last Chance" and "Tryin' to Get Over You" (Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater)
THE COLOUR w/SIMON DAWES L.A.-based rockers The Colour tip their hat to '70s classic rock (see music feature), while fellow Cali band Simon Dawes borrow a bit more from the decade's glam proponents with some post-millennium noise thrown in for good measure. (Orpheum, Ybor City)
TUESDAY, April 3
"A NIGHT OF JAZZ" w/ERIC DARIUS/LEON ANDERSON/JOSE VALENTINO/JAMES CRUMBLY/THOMAS ZIEGELHOFER Blake High School (Tampa's arts magnet) presents a jazz show in its Don Thompson Theater featuring Darius, who has staked out some turf nationally as a smooth jazz artist, and ace flutist Valentino. Crumbly plays piano, Anderson is on drums, and Ziegelhofer (Blake's assistant principal) handles trumpet. Show time is 7 p.m. (Blake High School, Tampa) —ES
MEAT LOAF The man the New York Times once referred to as "Mr. Loaf" has long specialized in bombastic pop, be it the overblown ballad "Two Out of Three Ain't Bad" or a frenetic mess like "Paradise by the Dashboard Light." His Bat Out of Hell album sold like a gazillion copies in 1978. After a long lull, he scored a No. 1 hit in '93 with "I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That)" (Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater) —ES
WEDNESDAY, April 4
THE HEAVY PETS This Fort Lauderdale-by-way-of-Goshen, N.Y., quartet won the Sonicbids fan vote to open the Langerado Music Festival this year. While that honor probably had something to do with their local status, the music speaks for itself, a fusion of heavy funk, reggae and psychedelia. It's beat-rific jam-rock that's fun, lively and definitely worthy of some Wednesday night booty-shakin'. (The Garage, St. Petersburg) —Leilani Polk
April
5 Tom Jones Ruth Eckerd Hall
5 Stephen Lynch Tampa Theatre
6 Nora Jean Brusco Skipper's Smokehouse
6 Lovedrug State Theatre
6 VNV Nation Jannus Landing
7 Deicide State Theatre
7 Legendary JC's Skipper's Smokehosue
7 Riddle of Steel Crowbar
9 Daughtry w/Cinder Road State Theatre
9-10 Burt Bacharach Youkey Theatre
10 Olga Kern Ruth Eckerd Hall
10 Jamie Lynn-Sigler USF Sun Dome
11 Blood Brothers State Theatre
11 Mayday w/Breakdown New World Brewery
13 -14 Wanee Festival w/Allman Brothers Band/Gov'tMule/Robert Randolph/The Radiators/Derek Trucks Band & Susan Tedeschi Live Oak
13 The Draft w/Fake Problems/Guiltmaker/Elysium Crowbar
13 Kenny Loggins Ruth Eckerd Hall
13 Lynyrd Skynyrd w/Hank Williams Jr. St. Pete Times Forum
14 The Flaming Lips Jannus Landing
14 Anti-Flag w/Alexisonfire State Theatre
15 Steve Forbert Skipper's Smokehouse
15 Total Chaos w/Complete Control/The Ghouls Crowbar
18 The Killers USF Sun Dome
19 Dear + Glorious w/Physician/Summerbirds in the Cellar Crowbar
19 My Chemical Romance w/Muse St. Pete Times Forum
20 Radio Moscow w/Poetry n' Lotion New World Brewery
20 Fall Out Boy w/+44/Paul Wall/Cobra Starship Ford Amphitheatre
21 WMNF 88.5 Celebrates Ronny Elliott's 60th Birthday Skipper's Smokehouse
21 Captured by Robots w/Yip-Yip Crowbar
21 Ellis Paul Ruth Eckerd Hall
26 Diana Ross Ruth Eckerd Hall
29 98Rockfest w/Hinder/Three Days Grace/Buckcherry/Puddle of Mudd/Chevelle/Daughtry/Papa Roach/Flyleaf/Bullet For My Valentine/Dropping Daylight Raymond James Stadium grounds
May
2 Heart w/Todd Rundgren Ruth Eckerd Hall
2 Melt Banana Crowbar
3 Patrizio Buanne w/Matt Dusk Ruth Eckerd Hall
4 Tampa Bay Blues Festival w/Jerry Lee Lewis/George Thorogood/Percy Sledge Vinoy Park
4 Delbert McClinton Tampa Theatre
4 Christina Aguilera w/Dannity Kane/Pussycat Dolls St. Pete Time sForum
8 Gwen Stefani w/Lady Sovereign Ford Amphitheatre
11 The Charlie Daniels Band Volunteer Jam w/The Outlaws/Marshall Tucker Band Ford Amphitheatre
12 WMNF Tropical Heatwave Cuban Club
13 Saves the Day Jannus Landing
14-15 Steely Dan Ruth Eckerd Hall
16 Bright Eyes Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center
19 Roger Waters Ford Amphitheatre
June
2 Kenny Chesney w/Sugarland/Pat Green Ford Amphitheatre
19 Stephen Marley Jannus Landing
July
11 The Police St. Pete Times Forum
August
7 John Mayer w/Ben Folds/James Morrison Ford Amphitheatre
10 Toby Keith w/ Miranda Lambert and Flynnville Train Ford Amphitheatre
September
22 Brad Paisley w/Rodney Atkins Ford Amphitheatre
October
20 Alan Jackson and Brooks & Dunn w/Jake Owen and Catherine Britt Ford Amphitheatre