Weekend forecast: Fins to the left …
It’s been a year since Clearwater’s tired old Coachman Park was transformed to include the Baycare Sound Amphitheatre, with 9,000 available seats. The venue, owned by the City and exclusively booked by the Ruth Eckerd Hall administration, is celebrating this week and next.
Wednesday’s Lindsey Stirling concert was the opening salvo of the birthday bash. Things continue tonight with a free concert from a Jimmy Buffett tribute band – hey, it’s free – and an after-dark screening of that summertime favorite Jaws (as in “fins to the left, fins to the right …”).
Friday brings Houston-area rock band Blue October (the platinum 2006 album Foiled), with the always-entertaining Switchfoot, and Matt Nathanson (tickets here); from the reggae nation comes Dirty Heads, Slightly Stoopid, the Elovaters and Common Kings Saturday (tickets here); the a cappella ground Straight No Chaser headlines Sunday, with the boy band O-Town and former N’sync member Chris Kirkpatrick (tickets).
The one-year celebration continues into early August; on last week’s Arts Alive! podcast, Ruth Eckerd Vice President of Entertainment Bobby Rossi discussed each show in detail.
And more concerts
Tonight at the Seminole Hard Rock Live Event Center: Comedian Russell Peters, who had the first-ever standup special on Netflix (2013). Rolling Stone named him one of the Top 50 comics of all time. Tickets are here.
Singer and guitarist Lzzy Hale (sic) is still the frontperson for the hard-rocking Halestorm, playing Mid-Florida Credit Union Amphitheatre tonight (with I Prevail). Her brother Arejay remains the quartet’s drummer. Tickets are here.
Seattle’s super-fine indie folk band The Head and the Heart has a show Friday at Jannus Live, with Phosphorescent. Taking Back Sunday and Citizen share the bill at Jannus Saturday. Find all tickets here.
Friday at the Side Door cabaret, downstairs at the Palladium Theater: An intimate performance from Canadian jazz singer Emilie-Claire Barlow and her band. The Juno Award-winning artist has just released her 13th album, Spark Bird. Tickets are here.
Saturday’s Side Door performance by local vocal artist Siobhan Monique is sold out.
“Orange” is new at the Off-Central. Image: Stage Photography of Tampa.
On theater stages
Opening tonight at the Off-Center is Orange, a drama by Aditi Kapil, directed by Troy Brooks. The story follows 17-year-old Leela, who is on the autism spectrum, on the last night of summer. Tickets are here.
The Rocky Horror Show has broken Jobsite Theater’s record for best-attended show, ever. It’s at the Jaeb Theatre through Aug. 9.
In its final weekend at American Stage, The Figs is a fractured fairy tale about a king whose obsession with the things causes all sorts of trouble. Actress Rita Cole, who plays “The King” and others, is Friday’s guest on the Arts Alive! podcast.
Your weekend arts forecast appears every Thursday in the Catalyst.
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