Weekend forecast: Buddy Guy, Herbie Hancock
Reigning blues legend and regular bay area visitor Buddy Guy returns Saturday; he and his band are at Ruth Eckerd Hall. Bobby Rush and Tom Hambridge open the 7:30 show.
Guy canceled part of his fall 2023 tour (including a scheduled date at the Baycare Sound amphitheater), citing health reasons.
The 87-year-old singer/guitarist recently declared this to be his last-ever tour: “I want to go out in good style,” Guy told Forbes. “I don’t want to disappoint somebody who done paid to see me. If I ain’t able to give them their money’s worth? Well, I’m thinking about that now while I’m in my right mind. I want to leave in good standing.” Tickets are here.
Herbie Hancock, one of the most commercially successful jazz keyboard artists in history, brings his band to the Mahaffey Theater Sunday. Winner of an astonishing 14 Grammy Awards (he has an Oscar, too), Hancock got famous as a member of the Miles Davis Quintet in the 1960s.
He went on to pioneer jazz/funk fusion and led the way in jazz’s exploration into the world of electronic music-making. He is a gifted composer and arranger, and at 84 one of the last of his generation.
Tickets for the Hancock performance are here.
Vodkaman
Jason Momoa. Image: Wiki Commons.
Aquaman actor Jason Momoa is in St. Petersburg Saturday night, as the bass player in the rock ‘n’ roll power trio ÖOF Tatatá. The all-covers band has a gig at Jannus Live (tickets here).
Momoa and his buds are on the road promoting his Meila vodka brand, and will be signing bottles (only) Saturday from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at Lueken’s Wine & Spirits, 236 N. Dale Mabry in Tampa.
Tickets to get your bottles signed ($50 general admission, $150 VIP, bottles included) are available here.
More concerts
The dizzily ambitious alt-metal band Korn plays Mid-Florida Credit Union Amphitheatre tonight, with Gojira and Spiritbox; according to the Korn website, the show (first night of the tour) is sold out, although the venue’s ticket page shows a few tickets remaining.
Friday at the Straz Center’s Jaeb Theatre, it’s comedian Eric D’Alessandro. Tickets.
Tampa Bay jazz saxophonist Trace Zacur and band play the Palladium Theater’s Side Door Cabaret Saturday. Tickets for Future Sounds – Jazz in the Neon City are here.
Country music sensation Luke Bryan is at Mid-Florida Credit Union Amphitheatre Saturday. The Georgia-born singer/songwriter has sold some 75 million records, and is in American living rooms every week as one of the judges on TV’s American Idol.
Let’s rattle off a few Luke Bryan hits, OK? “I Don’t Want This Night to End,” “Drink a Beer,” “Play it Again,” “Kick the Dust Up,” “Most People Are Good,” “Knockin’ Boots,” etc. Dude has hit No. 1 more than 20 times and has six platinum albums (his latest, Mind of a Country Boy, drops Sept. 24). Find tickets here.
Neo-soul R&B crooner Maxwell (“Fortunate,” “Pretty Wings”) is at Amalie Arena Sunday. Find tickets here.
The classics
Friday at 11 a.m., St. Petersburg Opera Company’s Mark Sforzini directs a guided tour of the organization’s upcoming production of Samson & Delilah at Opera Central, 2145 1st Avenue S. Principal cast members will perform selections from the opera for Sforzini’s “Mornings With the Maestro” program. Find tickets here.
The Florida Orchestra makes an early, pre-season appearance Saturday (2 and 7 p.m.) at the Mahaffey Theater, performing the music from How To Train Your Dragon live as the 2010 animated family film screens overhead in high definition. Lawrence Loh conducts. Find tickets here.
On theater stages
There’s a “Behind the Scenes” look Sunday at the upcoming American Stage mainstage production, Ring of Fire: The Music of Johnny Cash (it opens Sept. 27). Steven Mitchell and Jo Averill-Snell, scenic and lighting designers, respectively, will pull back the curtain on their processes. Admission to the 2 p.m. event is free, but reservations are requested here.
Theater lovers have an abundance of riches from which to choose this weekend. The Off-Central (just 42 seats) is the ideal place to see (and feel) the unsettling drama Blackbird (running through Sunday). Read all about it here (the story includes ticket link); the similarly ultra-dramatic PER is continuing this weekend (and into next) at LAB Theatre Project in Ybor City (story with link here); and the riotous, door-slamming political farce POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive continues through Sept. 29 at Jobsite Theatre in the Straz Center. (find tickets here).
POTUS cast member Noa Friedman is Friday’s guest on our Arts Alive! podcast.
In New Tampa
Today through Sunday at the New Tampa Performing Arts Center, the 2024 Fall Festival introduces numerous local groups and organizations with performances and more, for all ages. The Florida Orchestra and the Gasparilla Music Festival have Instrument Petting Zoos for young people to learn what various musical instruments do. Admission is free; check the schedule here.
Your weekend arts forecast appears every Thursday in the Catalyst.
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