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Your weekend arts forecast: Gottfried and Clapton … together at last
Important note: That headline was meant as a joke. They are NOT actually performing together.
Quite a diverse weekend in the performing arts.
Eric Clapton plays Tampa’s Amalie Arena Saturday. PR photo.
Eric Clapton may not be the most popular guy in the world right now because of his arch anti-vaccination stance, but he’s still Eric Damn Clapton, and lots of tickets have been sold for his concert Saturday at Tampa’s Amalie Arena.
It’s kind of a rare treat, this show: The 76-year-old British guitar legend is blowing through just a handful of American dates this month, and won’t return to the road until May 22, according to his website, for a European tour.
As always, he’s got a crackerjack band behind him for these U.S. stops: Clapton’s band will include Doyle Bramhall II, Paul Carrack, Nathan East, Sonny Emory, Steve Gadd and Chris Stainton – with Sharon White and Katie Kissoon on backing vocals.
Tickets and info are here.
Actor/comedian Gilbert Gottfried, who’s done lots of stuff but is probably best remembered as “the guy with the annoying voice” (he was the original Aflac duck, the one with the annoyting voice, and he was the parrot with the annoying voice in Disney’s animated Aladdin), is onstage Friday at the Central Park Performing Arts Center in Largo.
These days, Gottfried’s Gilbert Gottfried’s Amazing Colossal Podcast! is downloaded one million times per month. Check it out here; tickets for the Largo appearance are here.
The band’s back
The Florida Orchestra begins its first season of full concerts since 2020 with a weekend bonanza includng Beethoven’s 5th Symphony, Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons and a work called a la fenestra, commissioned by TFO from Florida composer Michael Ippolito. He’ll be in attendance at this weekend’s performances: Friday at the Straz Center, Saturday at the Mahaffey Theatre and Sunday at Ruth Eckerd Hall.
We spoke with musical director Michael Francis earlier this week. Here’s that story.
At the Palladium
Helen Keaney. Photo: HSN.
It’s a triple threat at the Palladium Theater – first, tonight’s Inside the Music special event and concert with the Florida Orchestra. Friday brings Girls Night Out, a laugh-a-minute standup comedy fest with Helen Keaney, Angela Nacca and Tara Zimmerman. In addition to her standup, sitcom and voiceover work, Keaney, a Tampa resident, is a regular show host on HSN. She appears semi-regularly at area comedy clubs, and will in be onstage at the Floridian Social Club Sept. 28. Girls Night Out tickets here.
Jazz saxophonist Valerie Gillespie, who happens to be an adjunct faculty member at The University of South Florida, Florida Southern College and Hillsborough Community College, is also a vocalist of renown. Saturday at the Palladium, Gillespie and her quartet – say hello to Jody Marsh (keyboard), Steve Boisen (bass) and Dave Rudolph (drums) perform a tribute to the music of Cole Porter and Nat “King” Cole. Tickets are here.
And these, too
Following last Tuesday’s surprisingly well-attended Daryl Hall and John Oates show (what decade is this again?), the Mid-Florida Credit Union crackles to life again with Maroon 5 (Friday, Sept. 24) and 311 (Saturday the 25th).
Tampa Repertory Theatre is onstage at HCC Ybor with a dynamic pairing of one-acts: Open and Every Brilliant Thing, while American Stage’s big return-t0-the-mainstage show, The People Downstairs, enters its second weekend.
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