Check out my shots from the Maxwell show at Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater this past Thursday, July 30. Apparently the neo-soul singer is bashful; the handful of photographers were granted access to shoot the first three songs, but only from the very back of the auditorium.
Less than a year after their last appearance at Clearwater’s stately Ruth Eckerd Hall, New York-based blues rockers The Black Crowes return for another round on Wednesday, October 7, with Truth & Salvage Co. to open. Tickets are $40.50 and $68, and sales begin at noon this Friday, July 24.
The tour will come after the release of the band’s eighth studio effort, Before the Frost…Until the Freeze, a different sort of double album out September 1. The first album, Before the Frost…, features 11 new unreleased Crowes’ studio songs distributed via the band’s own Silver Arrow label and Megaforce Records. The second album, …Until The Freeze, includes 8 original Crowes’ songs and a cover of Stephen Stills’ classic “So Many Times,” and it’s given away via a download code included with Before The Frost… Limited-edition vinyl copies of Before The Frost…Until The Freeze with all 20 tracks will also be available.
The Allman Brothers Band brings their 40th Anniversary Tour to Clearwater’s Ruth Eckerd Hall on Wednesday, October 21. Because of the classic jam rockers’ longtime popularity and legion of loyal fans, the show will most likely sell out. (The Allmans haven’t played a headlining date in the Bay area since their 2005 stop at the Ford Amphitheatre, likely because the annual Wanee appearances draw enough fans not to warrant an actual Florida tour.) So, if you can afford to pay $131, $101.50, $81.50 or $61.50 per ticket to see the Allmans at Ruth Eckerd, get your tickets when they go on sale, this Friday, July 10, at noon.
This week, R&B artist Maxwell releases his fourth studio album and first new effort in eight years years, BLACKsummers’night, on Columbia. The release is available as a two-disc CD/DVD deluxe set that includes 5DAYSofBLACK, a film inspired by the making of the album. Maxwell recently released a series of excerpts from the film that take a rather interesting behind-the-scenes peek at the way he put it together. The featured tracks are “Cold,” (which features long-time Maxwell collaborator, producer/songwriter Hod David), “Pretty Wings,” “Stop the World” and “Help Somebody.” Check out all four previews after the jump; Maxwell plays Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater Thursday, July 30. Read the rest of this entry »
Most pop singers from the ’60s and ’70s who are fortunate enough to still be touring resort to what I call vocal cheats. That’s when they get to a point in an old hit that has a particularly high note they can’t hit — a note that especially resonates with the baby-boomer audience — so they either drop it an octave or turn it over to the background singers.
There’s nothing really shameful about these vocal cheats — it would be worse, for instance, if Daryl Hall tried to hit that big release note in “She’s Gone” and failed miserably. Or if Roger Daltrey attempted to render the big scream in “Won’t Get Fooled Again” and sounded like a frog.
I tell you all this because I saw Boz Scaggs last night at Ruth Eckerd Hall and he didn’t resort to any vocal cheats. He’s 65 years old. Very impressive. When, on “Lido Shuffle,” it came time for the “Lido, whoa, whoa” part, he was right on it — with the backup singers helping, yes, but not drowning him out and thus protecting him. Scaggs came up a little short or a little thin on some of the high notes, but he went for them all.
It wasn’t just the lack of vocal cheats that made Scaggs’ 75-minute set in front of a near-sold-out crowd a success. His voice still has that full, creamy texture of the old days, and his delivery and phrasing brimmed with nuance. (more photos below; all are by Tracy May)
It’s a holiday weekend, which means one extra day of partying down and supporting the local music scene without fear of a hangover-filled workday to follow. Here’s a quick breakdown of your best live music bets. For a more comprehensive schedule of concerts, check out our Upcoming Events page.
Thursday, July 2
Mike Dunn & the Kings of New England (pictured at right)/Will Quinlan/King of Spain Winter Park singer/songwriter Mike Dunn makes music that evokes freedom and wind in your face. His grabby, anthemic tunes send out a whiff of Americana, but at core they are pure, pop-infused rock ’n’ roll. Dunn pulls from a list of 11 confederates to make up his backing band, the Kings of New England, on any given night. No word on how many will show up at New World for this gig, but the safe bet is it won’t be all 11. Atlanta’s Rick Brantley was formerly on the bill but has been replaced by local one-man experimental rocker, King of Spain (Matt Slate). And Quinlan, well, we all know Quinlan, the dour dean of Tampa Bay’s Americana scene. Thurs., July 2, 9 p.m., New World Brewery, Ybor City, $7. —ES
Michael McDonald + Boz Scaggs Two of the most popular vocalists of the 1970s join together in a co-bill at Ruth Eckerd. My strong preference is Scaggs, with his round, throaty soul croon. His Silk Degrees 
(’76) is an unmitigated classic. Lately, Scaggs’ has added standards from the American Songbook to his repertoire, so his show will be a compendium of material over several decades. (Concertgoer alert: He’s going on first; to read more about him, check out the CL feature here.) When McDonald joined the Doobie Brothers in 1975, they went from a guitar-oriented bar band (albeit a slick one) to a Grammy-winning pop outfit dominated by McDonald’s keyboards and syrupy voice. He had a solid solo career in the 1980s, despite the blemish known as “Yah Mo B There.” Thurs., July 02, 7:30 p.m., Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater, $62.50-$103. —Eric Snider
Friday, July 03
Starlight Mints/Evangelicals (pictured at left, photo by Sarah Cass) You might want to take a break from the Hot Dog show and stroll up the street for Starlight Mints, a band out of Norman, Okla. (home of Flaming Lips) that would make a proper co-bill with Sunbears!. The quartet of “pop mutants” brings plenty of whimsy and weirdness to their sound, but never strays from tried-and-true rock verities: hooks, tuneful vocals, muscular rhythms. The band is backboned by synthesizers, but adds playful twists — like the cartoon horns on “Zoomba” from their new album Change Remains. Evangelicals are also from Norman, and sound as if they might’ve been to a few barbecues at Coyne’s house. Fri., July 3, 9 p.m., New World Brewery, Ybor City, $8. —ES
Read the rest of this entry »
Boz Scaggs performs at Ruth Eckerd Hall Thurs., July 2
To casual music fans, Boz Scaggs is that smooth dude from the ’70s with those disco-ey hits “Lowdown” and “Lido Shuffle.” They might even know about his 1976 smash album Silk Degrees, which included those tunes as well as “Georgia,” “What Can I Say” and “Harbor Lights.”
Although Scaggs’ days as a major hitmaker ended in the early 1980s — in large part because he took a self-imposed hiatus for most of the decade — he has made estimable music in the 1990s and, especially, this decade. And he’s done so by turning to a familiar riff for recovering rock stars: singing old standards.
That news might cause eyes to roll — especially if you think Rod Stewart — but it would absolutely not apply in the case of Boz Scaggs. His But Beautiful (2003) and last year’s Speak Low are among the best examples of a veteran pop star delving into such old chestnuts as “What’s New?” “Sophisticated Lady,” “Easy Living,” “I’ll Remember April” and “Speak Low.”
He sings the material in a supple, torchy style, burrowing into the lyrics, caressing phrases with his round, throaty tenor. Scaggs has a natural knack for seducing you into these literate, urbane numbers culled from the legendary writers of the American Songbook. Read the rest of this entry »
This just in from our friends at Ruth Eckerd Hall. Congrats.
Entertainment industry trade publication Venues Today announced that Ruth Eckerd Hall ranked #10 in the world in venues having 5,000 seats or less. With that same ranking, Ruth Eckerd Hall is #2 in venues having 2,500 seats or less.
This ranking is based on concert and event gross from April 16 to May 15 2009, with 11 performances during that period. Ruth Eckerd Hall ranked higher than such prestigious venues as the Arie Crown Theater in Chicago, the Bob Carr Performing Arts Center in Orlando and The Balboa Theatre in San Diego, California. Read the rest of this entry »
This weekend, I determined that the quality of your back-up singers determines the cheese factor of your show. Steely Dan’s were a trio of lovely ladies straight out of 1989, whose vocals were overshadowed by bad 
hair and fashion, and badly choreographed dance hands. Yes, I said it — dance hands, those theatric gestures all the drama club kids make when singing in musicals, the ones that don’t really express anything but keep your arms from hanging down at your sides like wet noodles. So, yes, I was distracted by the trio, but I was also just not that into the music, either. (Photos by Phil Bardi taken from the soundboard.)
Full disclosure: I am not among the loyal legion of Dan fans. I can understand and appreciate the influence of the progressive jazz-rockers, and I like some songs from their catalog, although they are guilty of recording one of my least favorite songs, ever, “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number.” (I’m a hater on “Deacon Blues,” too.) There’s just something about the Steely Dan sound — its slick production quality, Donald Fagen’s vocal tone — that rubs me wrong. But my mind has been changed by greater things and music is oftentimes different when consumed in a live setting, and since my husband is a devotee and has never seen them live, and since I’ve never seen them perform live, either, I took us both to the show at Ruth Eckerd Hall this past Friday, June 12. The Florida leg of the “Rent Party ‘09″ tour was a sort of warm-up for the upcoming series of special bigger-city bills where the band will play one of each of their classic albums in its entirety at each show. Read the rest of this entry »
Dozens and dozens of acts will make it onto Tampa Bay area concert stages this summer. Here’s our best bets, in a wide range of genres.
Stanton Moore The bespectacled founder of NOLA funk purveyors Galactic is widely regarded as one of the best drummers currently drawing air. This show has him in a trio setting with estimable guitarist Will Bernard and keyboardist Robert Walter. The small ensemble allows room for Moore to strut his Crescent City-honed skills. Expect expansive jamming and finely honed interplay. (Video: Stanton Moore Trio performing at Emerald Lounge in Asheville, N.C., Sept. 10, 2008.) (May 28, Crowbar, Ybor City) —Eric Snider
Sunday, May 31 WMNF Jazz Jam feat. Sam Rivers/PBS/World Afro-Cuban Ensemble/Infinite Groove Orchestra/Impromptu/Trio Vibe/others TBA Tampa Bay’s community radio station has been putting together more jazz events of late — thank you for that — this being one of the more ambitious. Saxophonist Sam Rivers, 83, was once a front-rank player on the New York (and thus international) avant-garde scene. He’s settled into legendhood well, living in Orlando and taking gigs as he pleases. A potpourri of locally-based acts rounds out the bill. (May 31, Skipper’s Smokehouse, Tampa) —ES Read the rest of this entry »
CL’s choice picks for this weekend in music.
Friday, May 08
What was it that Deiter said on Sprockets? Oh yeah … “Your story has grown tiresome.” I can see this gimmicky show — Unwigged & Unplugged: An evening with Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer, which features the three now-silver-haired comedians who made up Spinal Tap performing acoustic — as getting real old real fast. Let’s hope the trio doesn’t think that just the songs can carry the day; they’d better have some funny shtick in there, or I could see this thing being a waste of time. Then again, I could be wrong. Still, one wonders: What happens when you run an acoustic guitar through an amp and turn the amp up to 11? Fri., May 8, 8 p.m., Mahaffey Theater, St. Petersburg, $36.50-$49.50. —ES
Post rock meets experimental electronica by instrumental Los Angeles duo El Ten Eleven (pictured). Made up of Kristian Dunn (fretless bass, guitar/bass doubleneck) and Tim Fogarty (electric drums, acoustic drums, synthesizers), El Ten Eleven employs heavy looping and much effects pedal-pushing to create its fuzzified, lively brand of dance music. Also performing: Surly, The Tape Delay and Ghost of Gloria. Fri., May 8, 8 p.m., Orpheum, Ybor City, $8 in advance/$10 DOS. —LP
It’s only fitting that Nashville’s Kings of Leon have graduated to playing arenas — although the Sun Dome is pretty small in that regard — because their sound has morphed from a garage-y immediacy to, yup, more of an arena-style bombast. “Sex on Fire,” the first single from KoL’s current album, Only by the Night, casts a U2-ish hue. The shift must be working: Only by the Night ascended to No. 5 on the Billboard 200, besting 2007’s Because of the Times by 20 slots. For more, read CL’s interview with guitarist Matthew Followill here. Fri., May 8, 8 p.m., USF Sun Dome, Tampa, $35.50 and $43. —ES Read the rest of this entry »
I’m pretty sure I was a sophomore in college when this happened.
I was sitting in a friend’s room in the dorm on a weekday afternoon when I heard this music from another room. The stereos, dorm stereos at my college at least, were shit, so the sound was faint. But the song captivated me. I tuned out the conversation, stood up, walked out the door, made a left, went down two, maybe three, rooms and turned right.
A medium tempo sort of folk-rock tune was playing on the shitty stereo. “Who is this?” I asked the guy playing it on the shitty stereo. Daryl Hall and John Oates, he told me. “Never heard of ‘em,” I said, and he handed me the LP cover of Abandoned Lunchonette.
“Ahh-oooo, uh-oooo, woo-ooo, it’ll be all right, when the morning comes,” the male tenor sang. It was Daryl Hall.
So began my long love affair with the music of Daryl Hall & John Oates. I followed them through the glam period, through the quasi-psychedelic period, through the quasi-disco period, through the superstar period of the 1980s, which turned into the set-the-drum-machine-so-it-sounds-like-a-baseball-bat-hitting-a-garbage-can period. I followed them through the “you like Hall & Oates?” jibes from my hipper-than-thou acquaintances, insisting that Hall & Oates were merely a pleasure, not a guilty one.
I’ve seen Hall & Oates six, seven, eight times, but I never heard them play “When the Morning Comes,” the song that first seduced me from another room.
They played it last night at Ruth Eckerd Hall. A lump-in-the-throat moment.
Last night, the Murray Studio Theater at Ruth Eckerd Hall hosted Karla Bonoff, a Ming vase wrapped in 18th century parchment flown in on gossamer wings. And here I thought she was just a singer/songwriter who had some middling success in the 1970s.
Bonoff put on an embarrassing display of petulance in the first of two sets in the intimate black-box space. The sound setup was not to her liking, so the capacity crowd was subjected to her running complaints about the stage monitors and other glitches. Her on-stage partner, singer/multi-instrumentalist Kenny Edwards, got into the act as well — both performers spent the better part of their show looking perplexed and vexed about the technical problems. Bonoff even stopped one song a couple of verses in to chastise the sound man.
Memo to Bonoff and Edwards: It’s a fucking ACOUSTIC SHOW, a couple of acoustic guitars, a couple of mics, a piano and a bass. Stop whining and play!
Ruth Eckerd Hall On The Road presents the entertainment for the Summer Concert Series for select Tampa Bay Rays home games. The schedule begins May 30 with the first concert of the series to be announced shortly. The remainder of the concert schedule continues Saturday, June 13 with Grammy Award-winner Ludacris and concludes Saturday, September 5 with the legendary group, The Beach Boys.
The B-52’s
All concerts are free with game ticket and will begin immediately following the baseball games. The following is the schedule:
Saturday, May 30: Tampa Bay Rays vs. Minnesota Twins, 4:10 pm with TBA.
Saturday, June 13: Tampa Bay Rays vs. Washington Nationals, 6:08 pm with Ludacris.
Saturday, June 27: Tampa Bay Rays vs. Florida Marlins, 7:08 pm with Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo.
Saturday, July 11: Tampa Bay Rays vs. Oakland Athletics, 6:08 pm with Smash Mouth.
Saturday, August 1: Tampa Bay Rays vs. Kansas City Royals, 6:08 pm with Daughtry.
Saturday, August 15: Tampa Bay Rays vs. Toronto Blue Jays, 7:08 pm with the B-52’s.
Saturday, August 22: Tampa Bay Rays vs. Texas Rangers, 7:08 pm with Big & Rich.
Saturday, September 5. Tampa Bay Rays vs. Detroit Tigers, 7:08 pm with The Beach Boys.
Tonight’s Todd Rundgren concert was supposed to be the grand unveiling of the new Capitol Theatre in downtown Clearwater, Ruth Eckerd Hall and the city of Clearwater joined forces to renovate the old Royalty Theatre and turn it into an intimate, 451-seat concert venue — but the overhaul is not sufficiently completed to host a show.
As a result, Rundgren and his four-piece backing band — guitarist Jesse Gress, drummer Prairie Prince, bassist Rachel Haden and keyboardist Kasim Sulton — will perform on a stage set up directly in front of the theater. The reserved-seating configuration will be adpated for outdoors, essentially set up right on Cleveland Street.
Rundgren is touring to support his latest album, Arena, his first patently rock record in many a year, and a pretty heavy one at that.
Tickets are $49.75.
This just in from Ruth Eckerd Hall:
It was announced today that due to illness, Willie Nelson has unfortunately postponed his concert in Clearwater at Ruth Eckerd Hall scheduled for tonight at 8 pm. The concert will be rescheduled for October, 2009. The exact show date will be announced soon. Willie regrets any inconvenience to his fans.
TV on the Radio’s serene guitarist-falsetto singer Kyp Malone had a pretty nice chat with Pitchfork last week. (Pitchfork writer Ryan Dombol likened him to “human chamomile tea.”) In the interview, he talked about TVOTR’s Saturday Night Live debut (”I was immediately told how shitty the sound was by people who were outside the room”), the Jonas Brothers’ performance on SNL last week (”The Jonas Brothers probably had Mickey Mouse standing in the control room with a gun. I’m sure it was a handgun, not an assault rifle.”), and being hand-picked by David Bowie to contribute a cover of “Heroes” to the War Child: Heroes album.
Another concert announcement that came down the pipelines last week: Hall & Oates. The duo plays Ruth Eckerd Hall Wed., April 15. Tickets are $49.50 to $79.50.
Also on the concert radar is a solo concert by Dresden Dolls songstress Amanda Palmer (pictured) at State Theatre March 26 ($16); Blue October plays Jannus Landing April 22 ($25); and Manchester Orchestra at State Theatre June 2 ($11).
If you missed it Friday night, the Whites Stripes played Conan O’Brien’s last Late Night show, marking their first live appearance since they canceled their 2007 Icky Thump tour due to Meg White’s anxiety problems. Read the rest of this entry »
Rick Nielsen and Robin Zander perform at a post-show jam. The guitar Nielsen is playing fetched $4,000 in an auction.
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Every note, sound and lyric of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band is so indelibly imprinted in people’s heads that the thought of performing it live must be a little daunting. If that was the case last night at Ruth Eckerd Hall, Cheap Trick did not let on.
They nailed it.
The band had help. A keyboardist and second guitarist augmented the group. Behind them on a riser, 24 members of the Florida Orchestra filled out the sound, playing the string and horn parts with accuracy and feeling. Just for good measure, an Indian sitarist and tabla player came in from Miami specifically for the George Harrison-penned raga “Within You Without You.”
The evening opened with some instrumental versions of Beatles songs by the orchestra, which was followed by a brief set by Donovan. The 62-year old Irishman brandished a kelly green acoustic guitar and performed “Catch the Wind,” “Sunshine Superman” and “Lalena,” followed by heartfelt turns at the Beatles “Dear Prudence” and “Blackbird.”
I thought “Hurdy Gurdy Man” would’ve been a nice choice; it’s Donovan’s most psychedelic tune, and he could’ve employed the orchestra for interesting effect.
After an intermission, Cheap Trick and company took the stage and launched into “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” with exuberance and just the right measure of rock ferocity.
