Review: Clearwater Celebrates Music brought local and touring musicians together for a sweaty good time in Coachman Park [PHOTOS]

I started sweating the moment I arrived in Clearwater’s Coachman Park around 3:30 p.m. Unlike during Wednesday’s Grand Opening Ceremony, people weren’t exactly pouring into the park Friday afternoon as temperatures topped 90 degrees.

I followed the sound of a trombone onto The Bier Pier, where I caught James Wall Trio in the middle of a set. Despite Clearwater’s love of jazz and waterfront entertainment, the blue Adirondack chairs were mostly empty except for a few diehard jazz fans clustered under patio umbrellas.

La Lucha followed, playing a set dedicated to the history of jazz music, starting with a modern take on Duke Ellington’s “Take the A Train.” Thus, Clearwater Jazz Holiday’s 3-day History of Jazz Fest began, horns blaring in a hot breeze over Clearwater Harbor.

Meanwhile, on The Green, The Petty Experience played through Tom Petty’s catalog of hits for a similarly small audience.
Around 5 p.m., our local bands packed up as The Sound prepared to receive thousands of Gavin DeGraw and Colbie Caillat fans. After a 6:45 p.m. ribbon cutting celebrating the opening of The Sound, DeGraw burst onto the stage with “Sweeter,” the title song from his fourth studio album, before moving on to “Chariot” from his debut album. In addition to his older hits, DeGraw played “Freedom,” “Summertime,” and “Greatest of all Time” from his 2022 album “Face the River,” a tribute to his late parents.

Throughout the set, DeGraw spoke about how his upbringing and relationships have inspired his songwriting. The best story came before the crowd-pleasing closer, “I Don’t Wanna Be,” when DeGraw shared that he was broke and angry when he wrote the song, which ended up paying off his student loans.

After a brief intermission, Caillat started her solo set with her 2009 hit “Fallin’ For You,” followed by “Realize” from her debut album Coco (2007) and her Grammy award-winning 2009 collaboration with Jason Mraz, “Lucky.” Back among the audience, I could hear folks singing along to the fourth song in Caillat’s set, a cover of Post Malone’s “Circles.” Caillat’s 2014 single “Try” prompted a similar sing-along. Nestled among her hits, Caillat’s set also included songs “Worth It” and “Pretend” from her upcoming country album “Along the Way,” due for release in September.

Caillat’s breakthrough hit, “Bubbly,” appeared towards the end of the set, after which she invited the audience to get up and dance to her upbeat 2011 hit “Brighter Than the Sun.” On the final lyric, Caillat ran backstage for a quick break before returning with DeGraw moments later, right on cue, as the band finished their extended outro to “Brighter Than the Sun.”

The audience got back on their feet as the band played DeGraw and Caillat in to “We Both Know,” a song the pair wrote together in 2010.

Caillat pulled up a stool next to DeGraw’s keyboard before the pair performed an additional four songs together in what felt like a casual midnight jam session with your best friend. The sess began with a cover of Sam Cooke’s “Nothing can change this love,” a perfect match for DeGraw’s soulful vocals.

Around this time, the pair finally acknowledged the heat, with DeGraw saying something like, “I’ve never taken a steam bath with 5,000 people before,” before tossing Caillat a T-shirt/rag she used to wipe the sweat from her legs.

Not to be defeated by the Florida heat, DeGraw and Caillat went on to perform their favorite songs together, starting with Caillat’s favorite Gavin DeGraw song, “You Know Where I’m At,” from DeGraw’s 2022 album “Sweeter.” The duo then performed “I Never Told You” from Caillat’s second album before moving on to their closer, “Not Over You.”

From start to finish, Clearwater Celebrates Music was worth sweating over. It was a great day for jazz fans, Tom Petty fans, and fans of singer-songwriters Gavin DeGraw and Colbie Caillat. As Colbie Callait pointed out before performing her 2023 single “Worth It,” some memories are worth the sweat and the tears.