TAMPA Entertainment GuideGo. See. Do.

TAMPA BAY CONCERTS (CONT'D)

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Rockstar Energy Drink Uproar Festival

September 3, 2011  |  2:30 PM  |  $19.00 - $79.00  |  1-800-ASK-GARY Amphitheatre  |  813.740.2446

The full list of dates have been released for the 2011 Rockstar Energy Drink Uproar Festival.

The tour features the following lineup:

Main Stage:
Avenged Sevenfold
Three Days Grace
Bullet For My Valentine
Seether
Escape The Fate

Best Buy Music Gear Stage:
Sevendust
Black Tide
Art Of Dying
The Black Cloud Collective

Tickets go on sale Friday, June 24 at 11:00 AM.

The Rockstar Energy Drink UPROAR Festival is proud to continue their alliance with Child Find of America, a national not-for-profit organization dedicated to the prevention and resolution of child abduction. In addition, the Rockstar Energy Drink UPROAR Festival has joined forces with the Road 2 Recovery Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing AMA licensed professional motocross and supercross riders with financial assistance if they sustain career-ending injuries. The organization also provides motivational, emotional and spiritual support to these individuals and their families.

Rick Springfield with Starship featuring Mickey Thomas

September 3, 2011  |  7:30 PM  |  $49.75, $59.00, $100.00  |  Ruth Eckerd Hall  |  727.791.7400

Grammy® Award-winner Rick Springfield will make an exclusive Tampa Bay area concert appearance with special guest Starship featuring Mickey Thomas at Ruth Eckerd Hall on Saturday, September 3, 2011 at 7:30 pm.  Tickets go on sale Friday, July 15 at noon.
 
This will be Springfield’s first appearance at Ruth Eckerd Hall since 2004 and he will be performing his hit songs including Jessie’s Girl, I’ve Done Everything For You, Don’t Talk to Strangers, Affair of the Heart and Love Somebody.
 
The Australian born singer/actor is man of many talents. Not only is he an accomplished musician who has sold more than 20 million albums and actor, he can now add published author to his resume. His personal memoir Late, Late at Night released late last year was a New York Times bestseller.
 
Springfield's debut single, Speak to the Sky, was major pop hit and reached #14 on the Billboard charts. His debut album Beginnings was the first of seven albums to chart top 40 or better on the U.S. album charts. His 1981 album, Working Class Dog, included the Top 10 hit songs I’ve Done Everything For You and Jessie’s Girl, which peaked at #1 on the Billboard charts and achieved worldwide success.  His follow-up albums Success Hasn’t Spoiled Me Yet (1982) included the hit single Don’t Talk To Strangers (#2) and Living In Oz (1983), which included the hit single Affair of the Heart (#9).  He has continued to release albums, including 2008’s critically acclaimed Venus in Overdrive which reached #28 on the Billboard charts.
 
Joining Rick Springfield will be special guest Starship starring Mickey Thomas.
 
Mickey Thomas is the owner of the soaring voice that propelled Starship through the ’80’s and ‘90’s, with his soulful and compelling vocals, establishing himself as one of rock music’s most recognizable stars. 

Currently celebrating his 30th anniversary with Starship since he joined Jefferson Starship as lead vocalist, he first made his mark in 1976 as lead vocalist on the mega-hit Fooled Around and Fell in Love with The Elvin Bishop Band.  When Mickey joined Jefferson Starship in the late ‘70’s, backed by the power of his vocals, Jefferson Starship immediately scored a #1 hit with Jane.  With this new sound and powerful new vocals the group was renamed Starship and continued to record an amazing string of hit songs including No Way Out, We Built This City and Sara. They received an Academy® Award-nomination for the #1 hit song Nothing Gonna Stop Us Now from the move Mannequin.  Other top hit singles include Find Your Way Back, Stranger, Laying It On The Line and It’s Not Over Till It’s Over, which became Major League Baseball’s theme in 1987.  Every Starship album released has gone Gold, Platinum or Multi-Platinum. We Built This City and Sara have become staples on MTV and VH1.
 
Starship has revamped their show with an expanded set list that includes the multi-platinum hits of Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship and Starship. This along with the expanded band and addition of beautiful, powerful female vocalist, Stephanie Calvert; delivers a concert that includes all the hit songs and classics.

This month the band released Starship Marauder a CD collection of new songs on Gigatone Records.

Brad Paisley with Blake Shelton and Jerrod Niemann

September 9, 2011  |  8:00 PM  |  $25.00 - $59.75  |  1-800-ASK-GARY Amphitheatre  |  813.740.2446

Brad Paisley is a walking testament to modern-day country’s possibilities. His albums are cornucopias of words and music that provide alternately poignant and hilarious journeys across the human landscape. A triple threat recognized as one of the finest singers, songwriters, and guitar slingers of his generation, he brings a wide spectrum of subjects and styles to records as diverse and accomplished as anything being done today, and he manages it all with true wit and distinctive style.

Brad is a man whose connection with fans and sense of history were both earned in front of the microphone. His teen years on the WWVA Jamboree USA were a veritable master’s degree in country music.

“That sort of on-the-job training when you’re really young is a good thing,” he says. “I mean, I was 13 the first time I played on the Jamboree and I was 20 when I left. I opened for Jimmy Dickens and Steve Wariner and Roy Clark and Charley Pride – they all came through there. I met them and watched them all play and learned as much as I could possibly learn. I’m not the same guy I would have been if I’d started playing at 20, and wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing right now. That kind of experience entertaining an audience even goes into making an album, because I’m not one of these guys that wants my record to be background music for somebody. I don’t make dinner music.”

His lifelong musical journey began at age 8 in Glen Dale, West Virginia, when his grandfather, a fan of Chet Atkins, Les Paul, and Merle Travis, gave him a guitar and taught him to play. He was accompanying himself at local events at 10, and he was in his first band, the C-Notes (“You could get us for a hundred bucks”), at 12 with his guitar teacher and mentor Hank Goddard. He followed his father’s advice to strive for excellence and began his long apprenticeship at the Jamboree, playing for six years at the annual Jamboree in the Hills in Wheeling, as well. He cites the community’s support for his early career as invaluable in his development.

After two years at West Virginia’s West Liberty State College, he transferred to Nashville’s Belmont University, meeting many of those who would go on to work with him both on the stage and behind the scenes. Hard work and a growing circle of contacts led ultimately to a publishing deal and then a recording contract with Arista Nashville, whose artist roster, which includes Alan Jackson and Brooks & Dunn, he had always admired.

Brad was quickly acknowledged as one of country music’s most original and multi-talented artists, and his work has attracted collaborators both on record (Alison Krauss, Dolly Parton, George Jones, Bill Anderson) and in his videos, many graced by an extraordinary cast of characters, including Little Jimmy Dickens, Jason Alexander, William Shatner, Jerry Springer, Kellie Pickler, Taylor Swift, Jim Belushi, and Andy Griffith, as well as Brad’s wife, Kim.

The awards and accolades naturally followed. Brad has won three GRAMMYs and been named best Male Vocalist for the last two years by the Country Music Association and the last three by the Academy of Country Music. At the 2009 ACM Awards, he also took home Video of the Year for “Waitin’ on a Woman,” which featured special guest Andy Griffith, and Vocal Event of the Year for his duet with Keith Urban on “Start a Band.” Among his many other awards, he has also received Album of the Year honors from both the CMA and the ACM.

His singles have provided a soundtrack to many of life’s big and small, profound and less-than-profound moments. He has made us cry, think, and, perhaps most importantly in a world in dire need of perspective and humor, laugh. He has been topical with songs like “Online” and “Celebrity,” and poignant with “Letter to Me” and “When I Get Where I’m Going.” He has been rowdy with “Mud on the Tires” and “Alcohol,” and tender with “Little Moments” and “We Danced.” He has brought us a host of such songs and moments, resulting in 23 Top 40 records and 14 that have hit the #1 spot, in turn leading to sales of more than 10 million albums and year after year of sold-out arena shows.

As much as Brad is the guy next door, a funny, fishing, easygoing sort, his prodigious talent, likeable personality, and strong work ethic have conspired to make him one of the genre’s brightest lights. He is known for bridging the gap between young audiences and country’s roots, uniting generations with the sheer joyful exuberance of his music, stage presence, and videos. With the release of American Saturday Night, he offers what he says is “a record about our times. This is a record about my life and the times I’m living in and the times that my children are living in, and the love and loss and heartbreak and triumphs and everything in between.”

Return To Forever IV with Zappa Plays Zappa

September 11, 2011  |  8:00 PM  |  $52.75 - $103.00  |  Ruth Eckerd Hall  |  727.791.7400

Return To Forever, whose mind-blowing experimentation in jazz and rock rock transformed the music world, will debut a historic new lineup this summer on a massive tour of 32 US cities with an exclusive Tampa Bay area stop at Ruth Eckerd Hall on Sunday, September 11 at 8 pm.  The tour brings a re-imagined musical dimension to both the wildly influential group and its repertoire.  Tickets go on sale this Friday, May 20 at noon.
 
Solidifying the tour’s once-in-a-lifetime experience, Zappa Plays Zappa, the musical tribute to Frank Zappa, will join the bill alongside “Return To Forever IV” (RTF IV), the legendary group’s fresh incarnation. The RTF IV lineup consists of core members Chick Corea (keys), Stanley Clarke (bass) and Lenny White (drums), along with Mahavishnu Orchestra alum and violin virtuoso Jean-Luc Ponty as well as guitarist Frank Gambale.
 
More on RTF IV here: http://return2forever.com/rtfiv-lineup
 
Working together with complete creative compatibility and steeped in the tradition of extreme freedom of expression, these five pillars of jazz and rock have prepared a must-see performance that will please fans new and old. Their ever-evolving setlist encompasses an amalgam of Return To Forever classics, highlights from each member’s solo repertoire, and brand-new compositions written for the RTF IV lineup.
 
“Since all the guys in the band are such good composers, I wanted to have everyone’s compositions add to the new RTF IV vibe. So we all agreed: let’s open it up — which is the way we like it, and I think the way the fans like it too.” – Chick Corea
 
Check out recent setlists at: http://return2forever.com/category/set-lists-photos
 
RTF IV is recently off a successful run across Australia that was deemed “nothing short of wonderful” and “a renaissance.”
 
Read more press reviews here: http://return2forever.com/reviews
 
Zappa Plays Zappa was founded by Dweezil Zappa to bring the music of his late father, Frank Zappa, to contemporary audiences through a series of international performance tours dubbed "Tour De Frank."  Dweezil's fellow band members are among the most brilliant and innovative players working in any genre and, collectively, rise to the challenge of bringing the legendary Zappa repertoire alive in concert. Dweezil Zappa, a 2009 GRAMMY Award winner, continues to record and perform on a regular basis around the world.
 
Zappa Plays Zappa: http://www.zappaplayszappa.com

The Hazies In Concert

September 16, 2011  |  8:00 PM  |  $15.00 - $22.00  |  Capitol Theatre  |  727.791.7400

The Hazies will reunite for a special live performance at the historic Capitol Theatre in the Cleveland Street District in Downtown Clearwater on Friday, September 16, 2011 at 8 pm.  Tickets go on sale Friday, July 15 at noon at the Ruth Eckerd Hall Ticket Office.
 
One of the standout bands of the Tampa Bay scene of the 1990’s, The Hazies broke onto the national stage with their 1996 EMI release Vinnie Smokin’ in the Big Room featuring the fan favorite tracks Skin and Bones and Trip. Prior to being called The Hazies, the band performed under the name UROK emerging out of the post-grunge era with a sound all their own. This will be the second time the band has reunited since playing the Back to the Future last November at Jannus Live. The night will begin with a nostalgic set of UROK material with the band then venturing into the music and highlights of The Hazies.
 
The lineup remains the same with Ken Logan (vocals), David Walker (bass), Greg Czinke (guitar), Wes Eubanks (keyboards), and Steven Tanner (drums).

Journey with Foreigner and Night Ranger

September 17, 2011  |  7:00 PM  |  $19.00 - $135.00  |  1-800-ASK-GARY Amphitheatre  |  813.740.2446

Journey was formed by Santana manager Walter “Herbie” Herbert in 1973 and found most success in the 70s with classic rock tracks including “Don’t Stop Believing”, “Separate Ways”, “Faithfully” and “Open Arms”.

Their first albums, Journey, Look Into the Future and Next, were notable for their excellent musicianship but failed to secure the success they were hoping for. So Journey made an effort to move into more commercial waters, trying to replicate the successes of Foreigner and Boston. Steve Perry was recruited as vocalist and Infinity was released in 1978, catapulting them to platinum-edged stardom. Evolution and 1980's Departure did little to dent their success.

In December 2007, after considering the lead singer of a Virginia-based tribute band, Journey hired Filipino singer Arnel Pineda of the cover band The Zoo after Neal Schon saw him on YouTube singing covers of Journey songs. Journey debuted their new lead singer in February 2008 in Chile, released the album Revelation, and announced a summer tour with Heart and Cheap Trick. Revelation debuted at No.5 on the Billboard charts, selling more than 196,000 units in its first two weeks, making it the band's best selling album since Trial by Fire.

Foreigner is universally hailed as one of the most popular rock acts in the world, racking up scores of smash hits, multi-platinum albums, and sold out concert tours.

From “Cold As Ice” to “Hot Blooded,” “Urgent” to “Jukebox Hero,” “Waiting For A Girl Like You” to the chart topper “I Want To Know What Love is,” reForeigner's thrilling mix of blustery blues and impeccably crafted pop continues to captivate generation after generation of music fans.

Today, over 70 million albums later, Foreigner is an ensemble of talented musicians each adding their individual credentials to the mix to make the band stronger and more powerful than ever.

Night Ranger left an indelible mark with a string of best-selling albums that sold more than 16 million copies worldwide. The band’s popularity was fuelled by an impressive string of instantly recognizable hit singles and signature album tracks, including “Sister Christian,” “(You Can Still) Rock In America,” “When You Close Your Eyes,” “Sentimental Street,” “Goodbye” and the afore mentioned “Don’t Tell Me You Love Me.” Harnessing the frenetic drive of heavy metal to hook-laden rock songs, throwing in a stunning twin lead guitar team, and melodious, radio-friendly power ballads, Night Ranger inspired new descriptive phrases such as “melodic metal” and “metal power pop”. They became the standard-bearer of a new sound.

Elvis Costello & The Imposters Spinning Songbook Tour

September 17, 2011  |  8:00 PM  |  $49.00, $69.00, $89.00  |  Ruth Eckerd Hall  |  727.791.7400

Elvis Costello and the Imposters today answer the call of unanimously cheering audiences and critics from coast to coast, announcing a further extension of the massively successful Spinning Songbook tour with a string of fall dates in the Eastern U.S., including an exclusive stop at Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater on Saturday, September 17, 2011 at 8 pm.  Tickets go on sale Friday, July 15 at noon.
 
Having begun as a brief two-week stint this spring, the Spinning Songbook tour soon expanded to include 17 additional cities in June and July, garnering acclaim at every turn:
 
-      "Unfettered, free-wheeling fun" – Minneapolis Star-Tribune
-      "[The Wheel] was the perfect way to shake up a set list with a couple decades' worth of excellent material" – Columbus Dispatch
-      "Three hours of hilarity, musicality, and unabated joy" – St. Louis Post-Dispatch
-      "It's hard to imagine any other musician in the world playing the show that Elvis Costello did" – Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
 
At each performance, select fans are invited onstage to spin the Wheel, helping to create new sets at each performance from a collection of 40 banners including hits, rarities, and a few surprises.

Declan MacManus is known as one of the most idiosyncratic new wave performers, under his alias Elvis Costello. The UK-born singer-songwriter had a string of Top 30 chart hits in the UK in the late 70s and early 80s, though his work throughout his career has always gathered critical respect.

Although he was initially marketed as a punk, his music originally seemed to sound more like pub-rock with country and Tin Pan Alley influences. With his trademark geeky glasses, suit and quiff -- a look not dissimilar to Buddy Holly –- Costello emerged in 1977 with debut album My Aim is True, and the memorable single "Alison". It was a classic debut, showcasing Costello's literate, witty lyrics, and his ear for a catchy tune too. It was arguably surpassed when Costello, now recording with The Attractions as his backing band, released his second album, This Year's Model (1978), which featured three of his most famous songs: "Pump It Up", "(I Don't Want to Go to) Chelsea" and "Radio Radio".

1979 saw the release of Armed Forces, which featured perhaps his best known hit: "Oliver's Army", a song critical of the British Army's recruitment policy in Northern Ireland, went to No.2 in the British charts despite a degree of controversy over the lyrics. In 1980, he changed musical direction with the heavily soul-influenced Get Happy!!, and then demonstrated his versatility with 1981's eclectic Trust. Both albums were huge critical success, and Costello was a critic's darling having released five excellent albums in five successive years. Almost Blue was a covers record, with Costello tackling his favourite country & western songs, while Imperial Bedroom had a similar album to Trust, and was equally well-regarded.

After seven highly acclaimed albums, Costello finally dropped a clanger with the average Punch the Clock, followed by another with Goodbye Cruel World. Costello continued to tour and record regularly, and subsequent albums King of America, Blood and Chocolate (both 1986), and Painted From Memory (a 1998 collaboration with Burt Bacharach) were highly regarded.

Costello is now married to Canadian singer Diana Krall. In 2004, Costello widened his already-impressive musical scope by composing a work of classical ballet.

Incubus If Not Now, When? US Tour

September 18, 2011  |  8:00 PM  |  $20.00 - $65.50  |  1-800-ASK-GARY Amphitheatre  |  813.740.2446

Success is a devilish opiate. A swift and heady drink that goes down smooth at first, and then starts to burn your throat and rattle your bones. Only to leave crater sized holes in your constitution the next day. We all love a good success story, don't we? But interestingly, what usually makes it 'good' are not the 'good' things about the story. No. It's the bad things that perk our ears up. It's the tragedy inherent in the struggle that keeps us tuned in. I am in a band called Incubus. We are all about the same age; and we started our band in 1991. Our story is not unlike other success stories. It has its peaks and valleys, its struggles, its triumphs, its highest highs and lowest lows. But it's not the bad parts of our unfolding story that have intrigued people over all of these years. To tell you the truth, I am not sure exactly what has kept people interested in us this long. I'd like to think it's the music we make and ultimately share. I'd like to think it's because we have struck chords with people at very specific times in their lives and that when they hear certain songs they are harkened back to the not so distant past wherein life changing events and turns in their own stories coincided with lyrics and rhythms. Sounds meandering into symmetry with an individual's psyche like that rare moment when your body and your shadow line up on a wall. If the music has been the true catalyst for our (once again) unfolding success story, than I'd say we were right on track. Perhaps we are wanderers who have tasted the drug, smiled and mused at the kaleidoscope it wrought, then woke the next day, shook it off and kept truckin'.

Still mildly hungover from our night on the town, we decided that it was hi-time we wrote another record. It had been five years since the release of 'Light Grenades', our last full length offering, and we were feeling a collective itch to chase that dragon once again.
By about three songs into the writing process, I think we began to understand that we were unearthing something new. And excitedly, we began chasing that new rabbit as far down, around and into the wormhole as it led us. At a certain point amongst all of this creative wandering we began to understand quite clearly that certain creative mantras were reemerging. Both consciously and unconsciously. Words like, 'economy', 'elegance', 'space', and 'restraint' kept creeping back into our many conversations. Words we had toyed with in the past, but never so deliberately and never so confidently. Sprinkle into this caldron a dash of whimsy and a pinch of psychedelia, let it stew in the recording studio for a couple of months and you get this: 'If Not Now, When?’ Our unabashed, romantic, lush, sonic love letter to the world. It's darker, slower, more rich, more refined, and more involved than anything Incubus has birthed to date. And I am so happy to share it with all of you. This entire time, Incubus has essentially been searching for a sense of balance between all of the possibilities inherent in crafting a song. I do believe that for many years now we have been searching for something different. Something unique, both to the world and to us as a band. We decided that 'If Not Now, When?’ our 6th full length studio album would be just that.

In the title track, we set the tone of the album. A stirring in the water somewhere, a long time ago, sends ripples outward. Beautifully. Symmetrically, and relentlessly pulsing out, out, out. They travel countless miles and eventually arrive at shallow waters. Then the triumphant finale. The breaking wave, after gaining thousands of miles of momentum, arcs forward into the future; the wave is about to break. If not now, when? A unique event in space and time. Never to be repeated ever again. Now. Now. Now.

Our first single, 'Adolescents' is perhaps the most familiar sounding Incubus song on this new album. It begins with Michael's unmistakable and inimitable guitar work and rolls its way into a kind of drunken waltz. Creeping its way into the idea that we are collectively just about to reach our cultural teenage years. It does seem like we've been around forever. Us, I mean. People. Culture. But all it takes is a sojourn into Earth's biological record to realize that WE are quite new! And the transitions at play in our complex little game are akin to the struggles that an adolescent might endure.

'Promises, Promises', is our homage to the pop songs of yester-morrow. Referencing the deservedly ubiquitous artists of our parents' generation, we are here attempting to craft an artisan's clock. A piece that ticks effortlessly on the strength of its good design, its beauty and its simplicity. Herein a young girl, after so many failed attempts at love, has resigned herself to a "road of least resistance". Armoring herself against the pain of intimacy by only engaging in surface affairs. Only to meet someone who she CAN trust with her most valued of possessions, her heart. But she can barely recognize what the real thing looks like after so much time running away from it.

'Friends and Lovers' is a song that I always hoped we would write. I do believe it is my most favorite thus far. It speaks to the heart of many of our culturally held biases about relationships and what love looks like. It combats the long held notions of love and intimacy and plainly states that Friends make the best Lovers. And that love can in fact be born of friendship and can indeed last outside of our pre-prescribed notions of what it looks like, feels like and how it endures. Movies and Religion have largely defined our cultural notions of this most important of topics. And in this song it was my attempt to share a different idea of what modern love might look like.

'Tomorrow's Food' was written about two years ago. Making it the first song penned for this album. Here Michael shows us once again how deep his musical well runs. A vibrant, sonic quilt is wrapped around us and we are lulled by its choices and its warmth. Lyrically I am specifically referencing Philosopher Ken Wilbur's quote from 'A Brief History Of Everything’, "No epoch is finally privileged. We are all tomorrow's food. The process continues. And spirit is found in the process itself, not in any particular epoch, or time, or place." No one had ever put so succinctly and eloquently into words how I felt about growing up. About reaching my mid-thirties. After reading this quote, and witnessing the vast push and pull at play between the old and the new, the young and the not so young, I saw the inherent beauty and wisdom in the process of it all. And consequently, wrote a song about it. It is in this reporter's opinion that we are in the midst of a massive shift. Culturally, ethically, artistically, technologically, intellectually, philosophically and spiritually. Almost of the "-ally's". This shift has occurred before; with different details and end results of course. And this shift will happen again. Absolutely. The new thing at play is our awareness of this shift. The awareness that there is never an 'end of the world'. Only the process and the choice to witness and to participate. What may feel like the end of the world is that humbling moment when you realize that a new set of ideas has usurped your generation's ideas. Confused and confounded by the "way things are going" you can't help but think it's all going to shit, and that you have to fight to defend what you've built. But in actuality what is occurring is a necessary evolution. A handing over of the collective baton. If not now, when?

When we recorded and released our first album 'S.C.I.E.N.C.E.', we were but wee lads overflowing with enthusiasm and energy. We'd never really toured, we'd never had an audience other than our family and friends. We ended up touring around America and Europe quite relentlessly for over two years in search of... rock and roll? By the time we sputtered, coughed and crawled our way home we were exhausted. But strangely inspired. We began writing songs for what became our sophomore effort, 'Make Yourself'. An album that when finished, evoked a kind of head scratching reaction out of us. Being that we had unintentionally helped define a new sub-genre of music with the previous one. It seemed almost counterintuitive that we had just written a rock and roll album filled with melody, restraint, thoughtfulness (both musically and lyrically), and God forbid...singles! (If this narrative had moving imagery attached, I would place a quick edit to Godzilla tearing apart a city somewhere. People running frantically in all directions and a few brave souls here and there pointing up at the fiendish, pre-historic creature from the deep.) Make Yourself was met with trepidation by our newfound listeners. We had flipped the switch on them. Pulled the old switcheroo. We even got nervous at certain points that perhaps we had made a mistake in trusting those instincts to keep moving in this more 'song' oriented direction. But a few months after its release, things began slowly arcing towards success. And I stress, slowly. Slowly but surely. In the end, our creative instincts had pointed us in the right direction. It was a meandering compass, but a good one.

If Not Now, When? is the coalescing of this slow arc. The wave that has been traveling so long, about to break. A force that is capable of both beauty and destruction, but is most noteworthy because of it's uniqueness as an event that will never occur again. Waves have broken before it, waves will break afterwards, but each one is an individual canvas. This one is ours. Yours and mine.

So, if success is a drug, then Incubus is a functioning addict. I know how trite it sounds to be commenting on our own success but I see our addiction as a collective one. You have enabled us thus far and what we are creating in the process will be worthy of conversation for a long time to come. When I say 'WE' I mean you and I. All of us. This is, after all, a conversation that started in the early 90's and has continued until today. A stroll along a winding path through many landscapes and over much terrain. Yes, our bones ache, our dogs are barkin', our shoes have holes in them, and we don't look as good with our shirts off anymore. But that doesn't mean we won't keep walking! And conversing along the way. I'd like to start thinking of success less as an opiate and more of a segue into the good parts of a conversation.

See you soon, girls and boys. We love making music and we feel blessed and grateful to have your attentions today and hopefully tomorrow!

Classic Albums Live performs The Who's "Who's Next"

September 23, 2011  |  8:00 PM  |  $24.50+  |  Straz Center for the Performing Arts   |  813.229.7827

Classic Albums Live performs The Who's Who's Next live on stage -- note for note, cut for cut. Founded in 2003 by Craig Martin, Classic Albums Live has become the ultimate destination for music lovers wanting to hear the greatest albums performed live without all the gimmickry and cheesy impersonations. Relying only on the music, using what Martin refers to as 'the world's best musicians,' Classic Albums Live has defined itself as a mainstay in performing arts centers across North America. For the official website, click here.

Who's Next was first released by Track Records in August 1971, and in the 1980s as a CD  with a remixed and remastered CD following in 1995. It is currently available as a Deluxe Edition 2-CD set (Polydor 113 056-2), issued in 2003. Read more about the album under "About the Show."

Blink 182 with My Chemical Romance

September 24, 2011  |  7:00 PM  |  $33.00 - $83.50  |  1-800-ASK-GARY Amphitheatre  |  813.740.2446

It's been nearly two decades since blink-182 first burst upon the scene, emerging from a garage in the San Diego suburbs to take over the world with their signature sound. A strange thing also happened over those years: while singing along to hit after hit and laughing out loud, a generation of fans grew up right along with the band. Every step of the way, they followed Tom DeLonge, Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker's epic journey—both musical and personal.

With 30,000,000-plus records sold worldwide, the trip's been a global one. The trio is recognizable nearly everywhere. They've reaped awards, played the top television programs and graced the covers of publications in the U.S. and numerous countries. Crowds have lined up at arenas around the globe to see them play live. Each member has since become a brand-building star, exploring the worlds of fashion/clothing, TV, various musical projects and—most important—fatherhood. Yes, the very same guys who once stunned parents with wildly raunchy jokes are dads themselves.

Now, self-producing their first album and recording together for the first time since 2003, the band is actively pushing their musical boundaries, all while keeping firm hold of the classic blink-182 sound that took them to the top in the first place. And, with the dual added benefits of age and life experiences to draw upon, the results of these sessions will surely set the tone for the next blink decade.

This is growing up.

Sometimes, in order to grow, you need to tear down everything that came before. And, if you're My Chemical Romance, sometimes you have to do it twice.

The Jersey band had conquered the globe with their bombastic and bleak, platinum-selling third album, The Black Parade, and after the tour, it became apparent that it was time to make music again. When the band returned to Los Angeles in January of last year, they regrouped at the home studio of Black Parade producer Rob Cavallo. The concept of the new album would be an utterly outrageous explosion of every quirk, kick and punch the band had been holding in for years. Gone was the dark poetry. In its place was unadulterated exuberance.

Out of the album's chaotic creation, a concept came together, one loosely inspired by a comic-book project that dated back to the band's earliest days criss-crossing the country in a beat-up van. Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys is the album My Chemical Romance have been building towards their entire career. From soaring sentiment ("The Only Hope for Me is You") to bare-knuckled brawling in the streets ("DESTROYA") it defies lazy labels and demolishes expectations. Beholden to no scene, credo or code, it's a rock n' roll album from the future aimed directly at the dead-hearted present.

Bogus Pomp

September 24, 2011  |  7:30 PM  |  $20.00 - $25.00  |  Capitol Theatre  |  727.791.7400

Formed in 1994, Bogus Pomp plays a variety of Zappa’s more difficult arrangements including jazz, rock and orchestral. They have performed several highly acclaimed shows with The Florida Orchestra and have been a featured artist in the annual Zappanale Festival in Germany. Their Zappaween shows in St. Petersburg are a favorite Halloween event each year. 

Bogus Pomp is an unusual band of musicians dedicated to recreating the music of the great composers from Bach to Zappa. The band was started by Jerry Outlaw, Rick Olson and Alex Pasut in the late summer of 1994 and since then BP has taken on many different incarnations and has enjoyed the honor of having some of the greatest musicians in florida perform with us in various contexts. BP has endured many changes but somehow has continued to grow stronger over the years. Bogus Pomp has always had one singular goal in mind and that is to keep this music alive and being performed with precision, humor and love.

This band is clearly a labor of love because if we were only in it for the money, we would be playing top 40. BP hopes to enjoy performing this wonderful music as long as the situation and the musicians involved will allow.

Reserved tickets purchased in advance will be available at $20.00.  Reserved tickets purchased day of show will be available for $25.00.

Blondie North American Fall Tour

September 24, 2011  |  8:00 PM  |  $35.00, $45.00, $65.00  |  Ruth Eckerd Hall  |  727.791.7400

Blondie has announced a North American Fall tour behind their 9th studio album, Panic of Girls, set for release on September 13th, 2011, via the band's own imprint. With an impressive new collection of songs and a sound more recognizable than ever, Debbie Harry, Clem Burke and Chris Stein, along with newer band members Leigh Foxx, Tommy Kessler and Matt Katz-Bohen, will kick off the tour on September 4th.  The tour includes an exclusive Tampa Bay area stop at Ruth Eckerd Hall on Saturday, September 24 at 8 pm.  Tickets go on sale this Friday, July 8 at noon.  This will be the band's first appearance at Ruth Eckerd Hall.  The band will bring the incredible new tracks and Blondie hits to crowds from coast to coast before wrapping on October 8th.
 
First single Mother, a nod to the legendary West 14th Street night club of the same name, has been instantly embraced by fans and the video for the song recently set the web abuzz. See it here. Panic of Girls, colored with inspirations from New York City's roiling melting pot and street-level pop culture, hearkens back to the core of Blondie's genius while remaining positively fresh. Collaborating with producers Jeff Saltzman (the Killers, Fischerspooner) and Kato Khandwala (Paramore, Papa Roach) for the first time, Blondie has created one of their most astounding albums in their storied 37-year career. New wave dance gems, songs sung in French and Spanish and even a reggae cover are threaded together with a timeless pop sheen giving an irresistible glisten to the album - simply perfection.
 
Inducted into the Rock 'N' Roll Hall of Fame in 2006, selling more than 40 million albums globally and penning such hits over the course of four decades such as One Way Or Another, Heart Of Glass, Rapture and Call Me, we’ve been inspired by, danced to, and sang along with Blondie. Don't miss your chance to do it all once again at their live shows this Fall!

Enter The Haggis

September 29, 2011  |  7:30 PM  |  $20.00 - $25.00  |  Capitol Theatre  |  727.791.7400

With three albums over the past five years, Canadian world Celtic rock band Enter The Haggis has found itself at the center of a grassroots success story teetering on the brink of mainstream success. From headlining Celtic festivals to selling out multiple nights at rock venues, ETH has blazed the path touring throughout the U.S. and Canada. The band has made appearances on TV-shows such as Live with Regis and Kelly, A&E Breakfast with the Arts and PBS’ popular program Out of Ireland.

The name of the band is a reference to the diverse nature of the band's sound. Like Haggis (the food) the sound of ETH is a mixture of diverse and unusual elements, brought together to create something new.
 
Members of the group are Brian Buchanan, Craig Downie, Trevor Lewington, Mark Abraham and Bruce McCarthy.
 
Reserved tickets priced at $25.00 and $20.00 will be available at the Ruth Eckerd Hall Ticket Office.

Lindsey Buckingham

October 5, 2011  |  8:00 PM  |  SOLD OUT  |  Capitol Theatre  |  727.791.7400

Lindsey Buckingham is coming to rock the intimate Capitol Theatre! Fans will be get to hear his classic Fleetwood Mac hits as well as tunes from his new CD Seeds We Sow.

Speaking on Seeds We Sow, Buckingham says, “This might be the best work I've ever done. I think it's an excellent representation of what I do. It shows a certain maturity and musicianship and I just feel like I have a lot of tools in my musical vocabulary from which to draw that are again the product of the choices I’ve made. It’s on my own terms. This is very much from the inside out and I hope I never stop doing that.”
 
From the album’s first single In Our Own Time, to the soft melodic pop/rock tinge of End Of Time and the album’s most rocking track, One Take, to the touching When She Comes Down and the almost lullaby-esque hushed tones of the gorgeous closing number, She Smiles Sweetly, the album showcases Buckingham’s full arsenal of skills.  Just as his guitar style on Seeds We Sow is more mature and refined, so too are his lyrics, with one of the standout tracks being the hook-laden Illumination. “I think the lyrics over the years have actually gotten better because they’ve gotten a little, I don’t want to say obscure, but more poetic in the way they’re created,” he says, adding, “It’s a mysterious process even to me.”

Before he joined Fleetwood Mac, Lindsey Buckingham was sketching out his brand of Brian Wilson-influenced pop with Stevie Nicks in the folky duo Buckingham Nicks. Mick Fleetwood invited the duo to join his band in late 1974. After Buckingham joined, the band's po...p tendencies flowered under his direction. Not only did he provide the group with some brilliant, surprisingly dark pop songs, he sharpened the other members' songs with his production, arrangements, and breathtaking guitar playing. Buckingham left the band after their 1987 album Tango in the Night to concentrate on his solo recordings, work that had thus far included 1981's Law and Order and 1984's Go Insane. Out of the Cradle arrived in 1992, followed by the slow but ultimately rewarding reunion of Fleetwood Mac in the late '90s. Buckingham then released Under the Skin in 2006.

While Buckingham's solo albums are deceptively simple and calm on the surface, there are complex arrangements and emotions beneath the smooth production. None of them has sold anything approaching the level of Rumours - or even Tango in the Night - yet they are rich, layered pop albums; his first solo record, Law and Order, had a hit single with Trouble, while his contribution to National Lampoon's Vacation, the infectious Holiday Road, has become a cult classic. A two-disc (one audio disc and one video disc) concert album, Live at the Bass Performance Hall, was released in 2008.

Buckingham will perform his solo works along with his famed Fleetwood Mac hits.

The Script

October 5, 2011  |  8:00 PM  |  $38.00 - $43.00  |  Ruth Eckerd Hall  |  727.791.7400

Hot off the heels of a notable #3 debut for their recent studio album, Science & Faith, and currently touring the U.S. on a string of sold out dates – The Script clearly have no plans to slow down. This fall, the Irish rockers will return stateside for a 31-city headlining tour, kicking things off August 30th in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  The tour makes a stop at Ruth Eckerd Hall Wednesday, October 5 at 8 pm.
 
Tickets for The Script’s U.S. Fall headlining tour will become available to the public on June 10th beginning at 10 am immediately following the band’s performance on NBC-TV’s Today Show Summer Concert Series.

For The First Time, the hit single off Science & Faith is currently Top 10 at Pop Radio and holding the #2 spot at Hot AC, while the video for the single – which debuted at #1 on VH1 around release - is currently in heavy rotation at MTV. The band recently appeared on VH1’s Big Morning Buzz Live show, and participated in VH1’s Best Cruise Ever at the end of April.

The album, which was also released overseas, immediately garnered interest from critics and debuted at #1 in Ireland and the UK. Written and produced by The Script frontman Danny O’Donoghue and guitarist Mark Sheehan Science & Faith was recorded in both London and Los Angeles and is once again a testament to what The Script do best; pen emotion-packed songs that contain fluid melodies, haunting hooks and Danny’s soulful vocals riding high over huge, anthemic choruses.

Critics on U.S. soil have followed suit. USA TODAY awarded Science & Faith a stellar review, The New York Times bestowed the album a “critic’s choice review,” while Entertainment Weekly described “the band’s sunny lyrics, tuneful riffs, and build-build explode! – choruses nail a VH1 catnip niche.”

The Script have appeared on NBC-TV’s Today Show, The Late Show with David Letterman, Live! With Regis & Kelly, Ellen DeGeneres, Jimmy Kimmel LIVE, and most recently on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and Lopez Tonight.

The Script is Danny O’Donoghue (vocals/keys), Mark Sheehan (guitar) and Glen Power (drums).
For more information on The Script please visit: thescriptmusic.com.

Marc Broussard with Scars on 45 and Chick Gamine

October 6, 2011  |  7:30 PM  |  $22.00 - $35.00  |  Capitol Theatre  |  727.791.7400

Atlantic recording artist Marc Broussard has announced plans for a major North American headline tour which kicks off tomorrow in Los Angeles and makes a stop at the historic Capitol Theatre in the Cleveland Street District in Downtown Clearwater on Thursday, October 6 at 7:30 pm.  Tickets go on sale this Friday, June 17 at noon.   Opening for Broussard will be Scars on 45 and Chick Gamine.  For a complete list of tour dates and ticket information, please visit marcbroussard.com.
 
The dates are in conjunction with the arrival of the Louisiana-based bayou soul troubadour’s self-titled new album, MARC BROUSSARD due in stores and at all online retailers tomorrow Tuesday, June 14.
 
MARC BROUSSARD is currently being heralded by the new single, Only Everything, which has already begun scoring at Hot AC radio outlets nationwide.  A companion music video – directed by filmmakers Paul & Joey Boukadakis – is now in pre-production with a premiere date to be announced soon.
What’s more, Broussard will celebrate the new album’s release with a much anticipated performance of Only Everything on an upcoming episode of TBS’ Lopez Tonight, scheduled to air tonight.   
 
MARC BROUSSARD is available now for pre-order at Broussard’s own www.marcbroussard.com. The album is being offered in an array of unique bundles, featuring such exciting extras as an exclusive autographed poster, a limited edition t-shirt, a full album stream one week prior to release, and one-year membership to “The Bayou Club,” the official Marc Broussard Fan Club.  All pre-orders receive an instant MP3 download of Only Everything.
 
The story behind MARC BROUSSARD – appropriately this unique artist’s first self-titled album – is simple yet eloquent: It’s great music, pulled from the heart, crafted impeccably and delivered with deep emotion.  From the exhilarating drive of its first single, Only Everything, to the hushed and exultant old-school soul of Lucky, to the swampy blues that haunts Eye on the Prize, MARC BROUSSARD stands as a lesson in transplanting the seeds of American music into the spirit of today.

“Weird Al” Yankovic The Alpocalypse Tour

October 6, 2011  |  8:00 PM  |  $35.00, $45.00, $55.00  |  Ruth Eckerd Hall  |  727.791.7400

The time has come. “Weird Al” Yankovic, the biggest selling comedy recording artist of all time, has announced U.S. tour dates in support of Alpocalypse, his first full-length studio album release in nearly five years.  His tour will make a stop at Ruth Eckerd Hall on Thursday, October 6, 2011 at 8 pm.  Tickets go on sale Friday, July 29 at noon.
 
Few would have guessed that Yankovic, who as an awkward, accordion-playing teenager got his start sending in homemade tapes to the Dr. Demento Radio Show, would go on to enjoy a varied and successful career that is now entering its fourth decade. Over that time he’s won 3 Grammy® awards (with 12 nominations), racked up 31 Gold and Platinum Albums, and won countless awards and accolades for Weird Al classics like Eat It, Like a Surgeon, Fat, Smells Like Nirvana, Amish Paradise and The Saga Begins. Yankovic is also well-known for his cult-hit feature film UHF (1989), his late ‘90s CBS Saturday morning series The Weird Al Show and the numerous AL-TV specials that he’s made for MTV and VH1 over the years. His previous album Straight Outta Lynwood (2006), the highest-charting of his career, spawned the Billboard Top 10 single White & Nerdy, the video of which spent two months at #1 on iTunes chart and garnered more than 100 million hits on the Internet.
 
Since then, Yankovic has performed 240 concerts throughout North America, Australia and Europe, including England’s All Tomorrow’s Parties Festival. He released his greatest hits package The Essential
“Weird Al” Yankovic (Legacy), directed the themed attraction Al’s Brain: A 3-D Journey through the Human Brain (featuring cameos by everybody from Fabio to Paul McCartney) and accumulated more than 2 million followers on Twitter. And with the recent release of his children’s book When I Grow Up
(HarperCollins), Al now adds “New York Times Bestselling Author” to his resume. An app version of the book will be available for the iPhone and iPad soon.
 
The first single from Alpocalypse is the Lady Gaga parody Perform This Way. This song has already had its fair share of controversy… suffice it to say that after a number of crossed wires and a crazy one-day media firestorm, all is well – the song has Lady Gaga’s full approval and blessing. Yankovic is directing the video clip for Perform This Way, and his proceeds from the single and video will go to the Human Rights Campaign.
 
Alpocalypse also features parodies of Miley Cyrus (Party In The CIA), Taylor Swift (TMZ), B.o.B featuring Bruno Mars (Another Tattoo) and T.I. (Whatever You Like). The album’s requisite polka medley – Polka Face – features accordion-driven versions of songs by the biggest artists of the day, including Justin Bieber, Ke$ha, Britney Spears, P!nk, Lady Antebellum, Katy Perry and of course, Lady Gaga.
 
The album also features a fine assortment of Al originals, including the Doors homage Craigslist (with keyboards by original Doors member Ray Manzarek), the twisted love song If That Isn’t Love (with
Taylor Hanson on piano) and the provocatively-titled magnum opus Stop Forwarding That Crap To
Me.
 
For a complete list of tour dates please visit weirdal.com.
 
Be forewarned – the Alpocalypse is coming. October 6, 2011.

k.d. lang & The Siss Boom Bang 2011 World Tour

October 7, 2011  |  8:00 PM  |  $52.50, $88.00  |  Ruth Eckerd Hall  |  727.791.7400

k. d. lang and The Siss Boom Bang have announced their 2011 world tour in conjunction with the worldwide album release of Sing it Loud.  The tour includes a stop at Ruth Eckerd Hall on Friday, October 7, 2011 at 8 pm.  Special guest Teddy Thompson will open the show. Tickets go on sale this Friday, May 20 at noon.

Sing it Loud is k.d. lang’s first studio album since 2008’s Watershed, and her first record made entirely with a band of her own since the pair of albums with the Reclines that launched her groundbreaking career more than 20 years ago. The chemistry between lang and her new band, The Siss Boom Bang, is apparent on Sing it Loud, reflecting the organic, collaborative nature of the sessions, which took place at Joe Pisapia’s Middletree Studios in Nashville. lang and Pisapia produced the album and co-wrote five of its songs.

I Confess, the lead single, is one of three tracks lang penned with keyboardist Daniel Clarke and Joshua Grange, who plays baritone guitar and dobro. Pisapia (Guster), who plays numerous instruments and serves as the band’s musical director, contributed the title track. Bassist Lex Price (Mindy Smith, Peter Bradley Adams) and drummer/percussionist Fred Eltringham (The Wallflowers) complete the lineup. In addition to the original material, Sing it Loud includes a striking version of Talking Heads’ Heaven.

k.d. lang is that rare performer who has matured before our very ears. The Western Canada native launched her career with a blend of country-rock styling’s and playfully punk-like attitude, by turns whimsical and subversive; back then, she practically put the alternative in alt-country. But from the very beginning, her bravura singing belied her kitschy cowgirl outfits and spiky hair; anyone lucky enough to attend very first appearance in the United States, on a triple bill of unsigned artists at New York City's Bottom Line, could hear that she was marked for greatness.
In 2010, lang marked the 25th anniversary of her recording debut with Recollection, a career retrospective. She has won four GRAMMY® awards, eight Juno Awards, a BRIT, an AMA, a VMA, and four awards from GLAAD. In 1996, she received Canada’s highest civilian honor, the Order of Canada. She has appeared alongside such musical luminaries as Roy Orbison, Bonnie Raitt, Elton John, Loretta Lynn, and Tony Bennett. “She’s the best singer of her generation,” observed Bennett, who has frequently toured with lang since their 2002 Wonderful World duets album. lang has also contributed to numerous soundtracks, and has appeared in films.

She is renowned for her live shows, prompting the New York Times’ Stephen Holden to observe: “Few singers command such perfection of pitch. Her voice, at once beautiful and unadorned and softened with a veil of smoke, invariably hits the middle of a note and remains there.”

She is joined by singer-songwriter Teddy Thompson.

An Evening with Ween

October 8, 2011  |  7:00 PM  |  $26.00 - $29.00  |  Jannus Live  |  727.565.0551

Ween was the ultimate cosmic goof of the alternative rock era, a prodigiously talented and deliriously odd duo whose work traveled far beyond the constraints of parody and novelty into the heart of surrealist ecstasy. Despite a mastery for seemingly every mutation of the musical spectrum, the group refused to play it straight; in essence, Ween was bratty deconstructionists, kicking dirt on the pop world around them with demented glee. Along with the occasional frat-boy lapses into misogyny, racism, and homophobia, the band's razor-sharp satire cut to the inherently silly heart of rock & roll with hilariously acute savagery; fueled by psilocybin mushrooms and an all-consuming craving for hot meals, Ween created their own self-contained universe, a parallel dimension where the only sacred cow was their own demon god, the Boognish.

The duo formed in suburban New Hope, PA, in 1984, when 14-year-olds Mickey Melchiondo and Aaron Freeman adopted their respective fraternal aliases, Dean and Gene Ween, and cut the first of literally thousands of home recordings. At about the same time Freeman -- working under the name Synthetic Socks -- issued an eponymous 1987 solo cassette on the fledgling TeenBeat label, Ween released their own debut tape, The Crucial Squeegie Lip, on their own Bird O' Pray imprint. After a pair of 1988 self-releases, titled Axis: Bold as Boognish and The Live Brain Wedgie/WAD LP, Ween signed to the Minneapolis-based independent label Twin/Tone, which in 1990 issued the double album GodWeenSatan: The Oneness, a sprawling, often brilliant release which careened from the headlong hardcore rush of the opening "You Fucked Up" to the helium pop of "Don't Laugh I Love You" to the Prince-Xeroxed funk of "L.M.L.Y.P."

A move to the Shimmy Disc label followed prior to the release of 1991's The Pod, another masterpiece of dementia recorded on four-track under the influence of inhaled Scotchgard; darker and more deranged than its predecessor, The Pod expanded the Ween palette to include Beatlesque pop (the sublime "Pork Roll Egg and Cheese"), oddball folk ("Oh My Dear [Falling in Love]"), and mystic hard rock ("Captain Fantasy"). Against all odds, the record won the Weens a deal with major label Elektra; against even greater odds, the leap to the big leagues did nothing to alter the duo's mindset. 1992's Pure Guava, their Elektra debut, was their most consistently weird and wonderful outing to date. Highlighted by the disturbingly infectious single "Push th' Little Daisies" (a Top Ten hit in Australia), Pure Guava found the group as snarky as ever on self-explanatory workouts like "Reggaejunkiejew," "Hey Fat Boy (Asshole)," and "Flies on My Dick"; "Springtheme" mocked love songs at their queasiest; while the climactic "Don't Get 2 Close (2 My Fantasy)" distilled the overblown excesses of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" and Queensrÿche's "Silent Lucidity" into an epic art rock portrait of child molestation.

Dedicated to the late comedic actor John Candy, 1994's Chocolate and Cheese -- its title a perfect summation of the duo's blend of R&B and schlock -- upped the ante yet again. Widening the net to ensnare cowboy songs ("Drifter in the Dark"), Philly soul ("Freedom of '76"), Afro-Caribbean funk ("Voodoo Lady"), and Sergio Leone-inspired spaghetti Western epics ("Buenas Tardes Amigo"), Chocolate and Cheese also featured "Spinal Meningitis (Got Me Down)" and "Mister Would You Please Help My Pony," two of the creepiest tales of childhood trauma ever committed to vinyl. Having taken their anything-goes aesthetic to its logical extreme, Ween took a sharp left turn for 1996's 12 Golden Country Greats, a ten-track concept album recorded in Nashville with Music City session luminaries including the Jordanaires, Bobby Ogdin, Russ Hicks, Hargus "Pig" Robbins, and Charlie McCoy. While the song titles alone -- among them "Japanese Cowboy," "Mister Richard Smoker," and "Help Me Scrape the Mucus Off My Brain" -- served notice that the group's lyrical attitude had not altered one whit, the music was remarkably evocative of Nashville's golden era, and performed with skill and affection.

A tour with Ogdin and a backing unit dubbed the Shit Creek Boys (which included steel guitarist Stuart Basore, guitarist Danny Parks, fiddler Hank Singer, and bassist Matt Kohut) followed prior to the release of 1997's The Mollusk, a concise, mock-progressive semi-concept album that proved to be one of Ween's strongest efforts. The follow-up was a double-disc concert compilation, Paintin' the Town Brown: Ween Live '90-'98, issued in 1999. In the spring of 2000, the duo resurfaced with White Pepper, their first new studio effort in three years; it peaked at 121 on the Billboard charts, their highest placing to date.

In 2001, Ween began releasing a series of live albums through their Internet-based independent label, Chocodog. The first of these, Live in Toronto Canada, captured a show with the Shit Creek Boys. Around this time, the band and Elektra parted ways, and Ween was without a record label as they worked on their eighth studio album. After a wait of two years -- during which time they released another live album, the triple-disc Live at Stubb's -- they signed with Sanctuary Records in 2003, releasing Quebec in August of that year. It was the first Ween album to crack the Top 100, peaking at 81. A few months after the release of Quebec, another independent live album followed (Live by Request), and then in the spring of 2004 they released Live in Chicago, a combination DVD/CD set, on Sanctuary, heading back into the studio to work on their ninth studio album. The resulting Cucaracha arrived in October 2007 and was prefaced by the Friends EP earlier in the year. Jason Ankeny, Rovi

Peter Frampton Frampton Comes Alive! Anniversary Tour

October 8, 2011  |  8:00 PM  |  $39.50, $49.50, $59.50, $79.50  |  Ruth Eckerd Hall  |  727.791.7400

Following his critically acclaimed new album Thank You Mr Churchill, Grammy®-winning guitarist and songwriter Peter Frampton will embark on a world tour this June celebrating the 35th anniversary of his multi-platinum-selling live album Frampton Comes Alive!, performing the legendary album in its entirety across the U.S., Canada, Europe, South America, Asia, Australia and New Zealand. The tour makes an exclusive Tampa Bay area stop at Ruth Eckerd Hall Saturday, October 8 at 8 pm.  Tickets go on sale this Friday, June 3 at noon.  This will be Frampton’s first concert at Ruth Eckerd Hall since his sold-out show in June 2010.
 
The three-hour show will feature a complete performance of Frampton Comes Alive! along with highlights from Frampton’s catalog, including his Grammy® Award-winning instrumental album, 2006’s Fingerprints. To commemorate the anniversary of the landmark album, Universal Music Enterprises will be making a limited edition offer exclusively through www.PeterFrampton.com. The offer will feature a unique autographed scrapbook containing rare photos and personal reflections from Peter. The scrapbook will be accompanied by Frampton Comes Alive Deluxe Edition, Frampton Comes Alive II Special Edition and other memorabilia.
 
Frampton remains one of the most celebrated artists and guitarists in rock history. At 16, he was lead singer and guitarist for British teen band the Herd. At 18, he co-founded one of the first super groups, seminal rock act Humble Pie. His fifth solo album, the electrifying Frampton Comes Alive!, is one of the top-selling live records of all time.

Arctic Monkeys with Smith Westerns

October 9, 2011  |  7:00 PM  |  $28.00 - $29.00  |  The Ritz Ybor  |  813.247.2555

Arctic Monkeys are pleased to announce a tour of North America in September & October 2011. Beginning at the Orpheum in Vancouver on 28th September, the band will be joined by Smith Westerns on this run of dates which wraps up at Stafe AE in Pittsburgh, PA on 18th October 2011.

The English indie rock band, formed in 2002 in High Green, a suburb of Sheffield, England, consists of Alex Turner (lead vocals, lead guitar), Jamie Cook (rhythm guitar, backing vocals), Nick O'Malley (bass guitar, backing vocals) and Matt Helders (drums, percussion, backing vocals). Former members include Andy Nicholson (bass guitar, backing vocals) and Glyn Jones (lead vocals, rhythm guitar).

Their latest album, 'Suck It and See,' was recorded in Sound City Studios in Los Angeles in 2010 and 2011. On March 4, 2011 they premièred a new track called "Brick by Brick" on their website. Helders explained that this is not a single, just a tease of what is coming and that is definitely going to be in the fourth album. On March 10, 2011 the band revealed the album is to be called 'Suck It and See' and was officially released on June 6, 2011.

Opening will be Smith Westerns, an indie rock band from Chicago, Illinois. Their musical influences include David Bowie, Marc Bolan, T. Rex and Brit Pop. Members are Cullen Omori, Cameron Omori and Max Kakacek.

Toby Keith with Eric Church

October 15, 2011  |  8:00 PM  |  Call for Ticket Prices  |  1-800-ASK-GARY Amphitheatre  |  813.740.2446

Toby Keith Covel is an American country music singer-songwriter born in 1961. His fame was assured with the release of the patriotic "boot in the ass" song -- "Courtesy of the Red, White, & Blue (The Angry American)" (2001) -- whose inflammatory lyrics sparked a media scrum. However, he had been recording songs for almost a decade prior to this episode.

Toby Keith initially earned his living in the Oklahoma oil fields, playing in the Easy Money Band in his spare time. When the oil industry suffered a downturn he turned to football for a while, but after two years he decided to make music his focus. By 1993 he had released his major label debut Toby Keith and struck success immediately with the hit singles "Should've Been a Cowboy", "A Little Less Talk and a Lot More Action" and "He Ain't Worth Missing". Virtually all of his subsequent albums continued the platinum selling streak, with his latter albums from 2001 onwards hitting the Top 10 in both the country music and main Billboard charts.

His most recent albums have been Big Dog Daddy and the Yuletide flavoured A Classic Christmas, both released in 2007. (SoundUnwound)

Dolly Parton Better Day World Tour

October 15, 2011  |  8:00 PM  |  $65.00, $85.00, $135.00, $175.00  |  Ruth Eckerd Hall  |  727.791.7400

The most honored female country performer of all time, Dolly Parton has won multiple GRAMMY®s, CMA Awards, Academy of Country Music Awards and American Music Awards. She has received CMA’s Entertainer of the Year Award, the National Medal of Arts, a GRAMMY Lifetime Achievement Award and more. She has had 25 #1 hits, 41 Top Ten country albums and has charted 110 singles. Dolly penned Jolene, Coat of Many Colors and I Will Always Love You, has enjoyed success in films and on television, founded Dollywood, and has had many other successful business ventures. Now the irrepressible Dolly returns to us.

Béla Fleck & The Flecktones

October 20, 2011  |  8:00 PM  |  $35.00  |  Jannus Live  |  727.565.0551

Béla Fleck is often considered the premier banjo player in the world.  A New York City native, he picked up the banjo at age 15 after being awed by the bluegrass music of Flatt & Scruggs.  While still in high school he began experimenting with playing bebop jazz on his banjo, mentored by fellow banjo renegade Tony Trischka.  In 1980, he released his first solo album, Crossing the Tracks, with material that ranged from straight ahead bluegrass to Chick Corea’s “Spain.”  In 1982, Fleck joined the progressive bluegrass band New Grass Revival, making a name for himself on countless solo and ensemble projects ever since as a virtuoso instrumentalist.  In 1989 he formed the genre-busting Flecktones, with members equally talented and adventurous as himself.

Throw Down Your Heart, the third volume in Béla’s renowned Tales From the Acoustic Planet series, is his most ambitious project to date.  In on-location collaborations with musicians from Uganda, Tanzania, Senegal, Mali, South Africa and Madagascar, Béla Fleck explores the African origins of the banjo, the prototype of which was brought to American shores by African slaves.  Throw Down Your Heart is a companion to the award-winning film of the same name, which Béla and director Sascha Paladino are currently premiering at festivals nationwide.  Transcending barriers of language and culture, Fleck finds common ground with musicians ranging from local villagers to international superstars such as the Malian diva Oumou Sangare to create some of the most meaningful music of his career.

The music on the album is as adventurous and varied as anything we’ve come to expect from Béla, ranging from the tradition-based opening track, performed with a group of Kenyan women singers, to the exquisite title track, performed with the Haruna Samake Trio and Bassekou Kouate from Mali. Basseko, who comes from a long line of Griot musicians, is an incredible improvising player who plays the n’goni, the Malian banjo.  The music he and Béla make together is gentle and melodic.  Equally modern is his duet with South African guitarist Vusi Mahlasela, who is simply known as ‘the voice’ (and what an awesome and expressive voice he has).  His music connects South Africa’s Apartheid-scarred past with its promise for a better future.

Nothing can quite prepare the listener for the sound of the giant marimba played by the Muwewesu Xylophone Group in Uganda.  Says Béla, “The marimba is reassembled every day, and it seems to be played by a set group of men.  Each one plays a certain musical part in the group.  I think there are other people who know each of the parts in case someone is unable, or unavailable to play.  Also there seemed to be kids who were being taught parts.  But a spot in the primary team seemed to be a very coveted spot, and the men who played in this group were very serious and very good.  The village did join in – in large numbers, singing and playing flutes and fiddles and percussion instruments.  They also danced.”  It’s a sound of pure joy.

Another highlight is “Djorolen,” a duet with singer Oumou Sangare, who delivers a vocal that expresses heartbreaking beauty and sadness.  “As she points out in this song,” says Béla, “it is often the orphans, those who have lost their parents when they are young, who have the greatest problems in life.”

“D’Gary Jam” is a fascinating amalgam that exemplifies the spirit of the album.  Béla explains, “This track started its life in Nashville.  We had a great jam one day, which went for 22 minutes straight, the whole take was really cool.

This was in July, about 7 months before we went to Africa.  I decided to bring the track along, and add people to it as we went, and even after the trip, a kind of science project, if you will.  After things got added, I took some liberties with people’s parts and did a little audio sculpting.”  Along with the great acoustic guitarist D’Gary, the track features, among others, Oumou Sangare, the legendary kora player Toumani Diabate, and Bassekou Kouyate.

As to the origins of the banjo, Béla comments, “When I went to Africa I found instruments and players that gave me a better sense of where the thing started.  In Gambia and Mali in particular, I found what I was looking for!”  This is especially apparent on the traditional song medley “Ajula/Mbamba,” performed by Béla and The Jatta Family from the Gambia.  “The akonting could very well be the original banjo.  Everyone around Banjul certainly seems to think so!  Huge numbers of slaves came west from this area.  We were told that the musicians were allowed to play these instruments on the slave ships, and that many lives were saved due to it.”

Bassnectar with SuperDre and Amp Live

October 23, 2011  |  7:00 PM  |  $30.00  |  Jannus Live  |  727.565.0551

By combining sound and force with weight, the Bassnectar experience engulfs the senses. It is as physical as it is auditory; the adventure has no rules, no limitations, and no hesitation in fusing the familiar with the strange or the classic with the cutting edge.

Bassnectar is the brainchild of Lorin Ashton, and it exists as an open-sourced musical project that is as diverse as it is heavy, as raw as it is meticulous, and as fierce as it is imaginary. Spanning the spectrum of sonic style, the music covers every genre imaginable and smashes it all into a synthesis of intense, wobbling basslines and hypnotic soundscapes.

Whether remixing, collaborating, writing, DJing, performing live, or working on constant social networking, Bassnectar’s music is the lure and social impact is the sincere intention. According to Ashton, “We are so blessed, and so deeply fortunate to be alive and awake right now…it’s a basic truth, but it’s very powerful. I think privilege confers responsibility, and Bassnectar is a reflection of that opportunity to give back; the motion of my cells bouncing back at the world.”

Through his self-run Amorphous Music label and Bassnectar Labs studio, he has remixed/collaborated with the likes of KRS-One, Perry Farrel, Fever Ray, Spearhead, STS9, Buckethead, Tappa Zuki, and Zumbi of Zion I; as well as various remix projects with producers such as Z-trip, Diplo, BT, 6Blocc, DJ Vadim, and RJD2.

Along the way, the Bassnectar tour has headlined stops at some of the most noted venues in the country. After a long line of sell-out shows, Bassnectar never fails to gather monster crowds on the festival circuit. Some of his most celebrated sets took place at the nation’s top festivals including Coachella, Lollapalooza, ACL, Bonnaroo, and Ultra Music Festival.

Whether performing at an intimate club or at a major festival, Bassnectar energizes audiences with an experience unlike any other.

Kim Richey

October 24, 2011  |  7:30 PM  |  $28.50+  |  Straz Center for the Performing Arts   |  813.229.7827

"Richey entices you with sad and unembellished music that reveals an original spirit - and then she ensnares you for keeps by making you consider all the noiseless sensations that no songs can ever contain." – Timothy White, Billboard Magazine

Aside from her two Grammy (trademark symbol) nominations, Richey has released five critically acclaimed albums, been listed in the Top 10 Albums of 1999 in Time magazine for her album Glimmer, received four stars in Rolling Stone and named Alt Country Album Of The Year in People magazine for her album Rise. Her latest CD is Wreck Your Wheels, recorded with her touring band essentially live in the studio.

For more information, visit kimrichey.com.

Hanson with Special Guest TBA

October 28, 2011  |  7:00 PM  |  $29.50  |  State Theatre  |  727.822.5665

Native sons of Tulsa, Oklahoma, Hanson has been making music together for nearly two decades. Thirteen years ago, their out-of-the-blue, soul-inspired brand of American pop-rock‘n’roll was introduced to the world. Unaffected by charts or fads, they’ve spent more than a decade building a community of fans connected to one another and fueled by the energy and craftsmanship of three brothers and their music. Their fifth studio album, Shout It Out, was released on June 8th 2010 on their label 3CG Records. They deliver a powerful group of soulful, melodic tunes that will leave you with a contagious sense of optimism for the future and welcomed reminiscence for American rock ‘n’ roll.

Shout It Out is a collection of finely crafted, R&B-flavored pop-rock, a homage to the music that inspired Hanson when they started out. The album produced and written exclusively by the band is augmented with special guests: Funk Brothers bassist Bob Babbitt, who played on some of Motown’s greatest hits, and horn arranger Jerry Hey, who worked with Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones, Earth, Wind and Fire and many more.

“The anatomy of our band is similar to a ‘70s rock band – white guys from the Midwest who grew up listening to ‘50s and ‘60s soul, who are mixing guitars, with vintage keys and melodic songs,” Taylor Hanson says. Adds Isaac, “We’ll always be a bit rootsy ‘cause it’s in the Oklahoma soil (the state is also home to artists like Bob Wills, Woody Guthrie and the versatile Leon Russell), but what we’ve never stopped aspiring to is the great songwriters and performers who struck a chord with us first, that early rock ‘n’ rock roll and soul music from Chuck Berry to Otis Redding. We’ve rediscovered that aspiration on this record. There’s a little more swing and a little more air.”

While Shout It Out looks back in time musically, it also represents forward movement for Hanson. “We love playing classic songs,” says Zac Hanson. “But we never sat down and wrote our version of what that sounds like until now.”

Hanson emotes such fresh energy on the new album that it’s easy to forget that this band has been around the block a few times. Multiple Grammy nominations (drummer Zac is the youngest nominated songwriter in history), years of headline shows everywhere from Carnegie Hall to the Hollywood Bowl and world-records for the loudest concert audience in history.

Josh Groban "Straight to You" World Tour

October 28, 2011  |  8:00 PM  |  $55.00 - $65.00  |  St. Pete Times Forum  |  813.301.2500

Live Nation is pleased to announce that Josh Groban’s “Straight To You” world tour will visit Tampa with an eagerly-awaited St. Pete Times Forum performance on Friday, October 28 at 8:00 p.m.
 
A ticket presale for members of Josh’s fanclub, Friends of Josh Groban, will begin Wednesday, March 2.  Visit joshgroban.com/join for access to presale tickets and a chance to meet Josh on his upcoming tour.
 
The “Straight To You” tour will bring the feel of a theater experience to an arena setting though stage design, lighting and projection, as well as through the spontaneity and interactivity Groban delighted his fans with during last year’s “Before We Begin” shows, in which he solicited feedback from the audience on which songs should be included in the set-list.  As a result, for the “Straight To You” shows, Groban will continue to interact with audiences and perform favorites from his best-selling albums, including his self-titled debut, Closer, and Awake, as well as songs from Illuminations.
 
Released by 143/Reprise Records on November 15, Illuminations debuted at No. 4 on Billboard's Top 200 chart (Groban's fourth consecutive Top 5 chart bow), selling 191,337 units in its first week. Entertainment Weekly declared that Illuminations might be Groban's handsomest effort yet."  USA Today raved: "Illuminations yields glowing music.  Sturdy, deeply personal statements, brimming with poignancy." The New York Times also praised the album, saying it "showcases Mr. Groban's songwriting" and "reflects the conviction that gallantry can also be pensive and uncertain."

Groban recently performed the National Anthem at the 60th Annual NBA All-Star Game in Los Angeles.  He will be a guest host on Live with Regis & Kelly on Friday, March 4.