Once more, the bay area’s in for an embarrassment of guitar-playing riches. Here comes another weekend with a half dozen or more top-shelf guitarists onstage, in different cities and playing different genres, at virtually the same time.
Roll call:
The Catalyst spoke with rock/fusion pioneer Steve Vai earlier this week about his longstanding association with fellow six-string legend Joe Satriani. They’re performing together Friday at the BayCare Sound. Tickets.
Friday brings astonishing country blues guitarist Rory Block to the Safety Harbor Art & Music Center. She is a seven-time Blues Music Awards winner. Tickets are here.
Luther Dickinson is, in the minds of many (including this columnist) one of the best country blues slide guitarists in the world, plays Skipper’s Smokehouse Saturday with his band, North Mississippi All-Stars. Tickets.
Tonight at the Palladium Side Door Cabaret: Jazz guitarist Diego Figueiredo. This Brazilian finger-picking stringbender is a frequent and favorite area performer, for festival and theater dates. Find tickets here.
Dave Stryker plays electric jazz guitar, and has a pedigree that involves 10 years as Stanley Turrentine’s guitarist, among other prestige gigs. Styker performs Saturday at New Tampa Performing Arts Center; his band includes retired USF Director of Jazz Studies Jack Wilkins on tenor sax. You can find tickets at this link.
Friday brings Ottmar Liebert & Luna Negra to the Capitol Theatre. This is Latin music and melodies (aka “Nouveau Flamenco”) from a fleet-fingered German guitarist, playing a gut-string classical instrument. Tickets.
225,000 tickets sold
The South Korean boy band phenomenon BTS opens its world tour with three (nearly) consecutive concerts at Raymond James Stadium, Saturday through Tuesday (April 25-28). All three shows (75,000 seats each) are sold out. Tampa Bay Boulevard, which runs along the southern side of the stadium (connecting N. Dale Mabry Highway and Himes Avenue), was shut down Wednesday and will remain closed until April 29.
The entire road is now home to the K-pop septet’s merchandise tents. According to a notification from the City of Tampa, “on Thursday, April 23, thousands of fans are expected to start visiting the site daily to shop ahead of the band’s world tour performances.”
Where's the orchestra?
Concertmaster Jeffrey Multer leads The Florida Orchestra chamber music concerts this weekend. Here’s the program: Astor Piazzolla’s Four Seasons of Buenos Aires, Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 and Suite No. 1 and Golijov’s Last Round. Performances: Friday (7:30 p.m.) at Clearwater Church of the Ascencion; Saturday (7:30 p.m.) at Peter and Cynthia Zinober Concert Hall at USF Tampa; Sunday (2:30 p.m.) at the Palladium Theater. Find all details (and tickets) at this link.
Florida Orchestra musicians (conducted by Chelsea Gallo) will accompany Opera Tampa for performances of Verdi’s MacBeth in the Straz Center’s Ferguson Hall, at 8 p.m. Friday and 2 p.m. Sunday. Find tickets here.
On theater stages
Writer and performer Janice Creneti’s one-woman show My Year of Saying No is onstage at the Off-Central Saturday and Sunday, and again May 2 and 3. This “serio-comedy” is the opening salvo in the theater’s new “Think Inside the Box” initiative, delivering slightly out-of-the-mainstream productions to its 43-seat facility (the “box,” see?) The show “tracks one woman’s journey to confront all that isn’t working in the world, and in her life, to build a path back to herself.” Saturday performances at 5 p.m., while Sundays find Creneti onstage at 3. Find showtimes and tickets here.
Sunday’s 7:30 p.m. performance at Demens Landing Park will bring down the curtain on the American Stage production of the Stephen Sondheim musical Into the Woods. Find tickets at this link. Tickets.
Continuing at freeFall Theatre: The emotional Holocaust drama And Then They Came For Me: Remembering the World of Anne Frank. Showtimes and tickets are here.
Check out our interview at this link with the stars and director of Stageworks Theatre’s The Meeting, which imagines a conversation between Malcolm X and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The show is presented through May 3. Tickets and showtimes can be found here.
The Studio@620’s take on A Streetcar Named Desire closes with Sunday’s performance; in this Catalyst story, actress Debbie Yones discusses the classic drama. Showtimes and tickets are here.
LAB Theater Project’s X does not equal X, a drama by Steven Patrick, continues through May 3. Showtimes are at this link, along with details and tickets.
The Light Bringer, a one-man show written and performed by Laila Lee, is on the Stageworks Theatre stage Sunday at 7:30 p.m. The show reflects her experiences growing up Muslim in the American South. Tickets.
More concert calendar
Tonight at the Capitol Theatre: The indefatigable Graham Nash (he was also here Wednesday night). Tickets.
“Long Island Medium” Theresa Caputo is onstage tonight (at 7:30) at the Mahaffey Theater. Find tickets here.
Comedian and actor Chris Tucker is back in our midst tonight, for a Morsani Hall concert (at the Straz Center). Tickets.
You might be a redneck if you go to see and hear Jeff Foxworthy at Ruth Eckerd Hall Friday. Tickets are here.
Saturday brings culinary TV personality, writer and humorist Alton Brown to Ruth Eckerd Hall. Tickets.
Another frequent visitor to our fair region is former Moody Blue Justin Hayward; Mr. “Nights in White Satin” sings Saturday at the Capitol Theatre. Tickets.
Coming soon
April 27 Belinda Womack at Stageworks Theatre
April 28 Penn & Teller at the Mahaffey Theater
April 28 Florence + The Machine at Benchmark Arena
April 29 Nate Najar & Daniela Soledade at the Palladium Theater
April 30-May 3 Sunscreen Film Festival
May 1 The Kid Laroi at Yuengling Center
May 1 Rend Collective at the Capitol Theatre
May 2 6 Guitars at the Capitol Theatre
May 2 Steve Forbert at Jack Kerouac House
May 3 Steve Forbert at Bayboro Brewing
May 5 Laura Jane Grace at Bayboro Brewing
May 6 Devon Allman’s Blues Summit at the Capitol Theatre
May 7 10,000 Maniacs at the Capitol Theatre
May 8 Kid Cudi at Benchmark Arena
May 8-10 Country Thunder at Coachman Park
Your Weekend Spotlight appears every Thursday in the Catalyst’s CREATE section.
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