Category: Concert Announcements

The bitch is coming back.

During a live event in New York City, Rock and Roll Hall Of Famer Elton John announced that he will retire touring after 50 years. He denied the same rumor last year, but the Tiny Dancer performer must have changed his mind. The Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour (referencing his legendary Goodbye Yellow Brick Road album) is scheduled to travel the globe until 2021. Yep, a three year tour.

Elton’s starting it in the United States, and Floridians have five chances to see him.

Elton John will play Amalie Arena for what may turn out to be his last ever Florida show on November 28, 2018. Tickets go on sale February 2 and will start at $55.75.

The other four chances to see him are in Miami, Sunrise, and Orlando this year, and Jacksonville in 2019. Seeing him is a once in a lifetime chance. There isn’t anybody who stays current the way Elton does. Even rap loving millennials know who he is. After a few years touring face to face with Billy Joel, doing the soundtrack to The Lion King, (probably what youngsters know him for) and selling millions and millions of records, he said himself today that he had a great run.

Radio pop? Check. Florida frequents? Check. Co-headlining at a sports arena?

…What?

Legendary 80s duo Daryl Hall and John Oates haven’t fallen apart since their coming together in 1970. With hits such as Maneater, Rich Girl, and Kiss On My List, these two college mates have topped the charts a number of times. Usually, they’re in smaller venues. But knowing the act coming along with them, there’s no way that Ruth Eckerd Hall wouldn’t sell out almost immediately.

Train, another small (ish) venue group, have been in Florida as recently as last May. Original lead singer Pat Monahan may be the only original member left, but the Calling All Angels sensations tour almost non-stop. And it doesn’t look like they’ll be stopping anytime soon, knowing their youth.

So, let’s do something crazy, they thought. Let’s team up with a fellow pop group.

Hall & Oates and Train, along with another unannounced guest, have just announced their 2018 tour dates, and one stop is in Tampa. They will rock Amalie Arena on June 22, 2018. Tickets go on sale next week, primarily on LiveNation, with prices starting at a whopping $15.

Even if you’re not a pop fan, you likely won’t regret going to this show. And whomever that third guest may be, this will probably be one of those concerts you’ll reminisce about for years to come.

October 2, 2017 is a day that will remain in infamy. Not only was it the day that there was a mass shooting at a concert in Las Vegas, killing 58 people. It was also the day Tom Petty unexpectedly died, exactly a week after he finished his 40th anniversary tour, perhaps the biggest tour of his career.

Some fans have speculated that The Heartbreakers, Petty’s longtime backing band, would continue to play without him. While they most likely won’t tour together anymore, that doesn’t mean that they’re going to stop playing music, together or solo. Keyboardist Benmont Tench III has played a few very intimate shows in New York and California since Petty’s passing. Lead guitarist Mike Campbell has also scheduled some shows with his band, The Dirty Knobs, mainly in California.

All the rest of the guys are taking a break to recuperate from both the tour, and the loss of their fearless leader. But the music will never die.

It was announced today that at Stephen Stills’ annual Light Up The Blues autism benefit concert at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles, on April 21 2018, Campbell, Tench, and drummer Steve Ferrone will be the house band. It is unknown if they will actually stop and play together as “Tom Petty’s Heartbreakers,” or simply The Heartbreakers. But either way, it’s satisfying to know that the music that Tom Petty gifted us will be honored by his band, even if it turns out to be a one-off event.

Stephen Stills will reunite with his former partner Neil Young at the show as well. This is bound to be quite the historical event.

Last year, Brian Wilson announced that his band, fellow original Beach Boy Al Jardine, and himself would tour the world to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the legendary Pet Sounds album from 1966. But there would be something different about these shows: These would be the last shows that played the album in its entirety. Earlier this year, a homecoming concert in California was made out to be the final Pet Sounds show ever. Or so we thought.

Brian and the guys spoil Florida rotten with their music. Playing at least one show a year here since 2015, Brian’s last two stops in this area have been at St. Pete’s Mahaffey Theater for Pet Sounds in 2016 and in 2015 promoting his new album No Pier Pressure. But now, he’s mixing it up.

Brian Wilson’s Pet Sounds: The Final Performances Tour with Al Jardine and Blondie Chaplin, will play Ruth Eckerd Hall on May 18, 2018 at 8:00pm. Tickets go on sale this weekend, and will start at $58.75. This will be Wilson’s first show in Clearwater since his 2013 stop on tour with Yardbird Jeff Beck.

If you’re really into The Beach Boys, Mike Love’s edition of the band will also be playing the Hall next year in February. But though Mike’s show will be full of energy, Brian and Al’s will be full of nostalgia, lead by the true genius behind the band.

2016 got off to a rough start. Exactly a week after David Bowie’s death was announced, one of the Eagles‘ co-founders Glenn Frey passed away of arthritis. After only a full band performance of Take It Easy in tribute to him on the Grammys that year, original frontman and drummer Don Henley claimed that the band would never play again. So as bassist Timothy B. Schmit went off the grid, guitarist Joe Walsh toured with Bad Company and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and Henley toured alone, it looked like the Eagles were indeed history.

But earlier this year, it was announced that they would reunite to headline Classic East and Classic West, two two-day stadium concerts held in New York and California with major names performing. Following the group headlining Steely Dan and The Doobie Brothers, the Eagles embarked on a four date tour across the eastern United States. Atlanta was involved, but of course, no Florida.

However, for the first time since 2015, the surviving members of the Eagles, along with Frey’s son Deacon, country legend Vince Gill, and special guests Jimmy Buffett and the Coral Reefers, will return to the Sunshine State. On April 14 2018, the legends will rock Orlando’s Camping World Stadium. Tickets go on sale December 2.

This clearly looking like an exciting year for Florida concert wise. With Billy Joel, Taylor Swift, and Alice Cooper all on the way to the Tampa area, it looks like we will, just like last year, be showered with legends.

There aren’t many early and original rock legends still standing, let alone performing. With the deaths of rockabilly giants Fats Domino and Chuck Berry this year, that leaves only two. Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis are the only members of the first Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction still alive. Little Richard announced his retirement in 2013, but while he may not tour anymore, he now openly focuses on his religious faith, and is back on the anti-homosexual side, of which he’s gone back and forth over the years. The Killer on the other hand, does not play back to back dates on back to back tours anymore, but he still plays a few shows a year.

The Whole Lotta Shakin’ Going On singer will headline during the Florida Strawberry Festival in Plant City. His date will be March 2, 2018 at 3:30pm. Tickets have not, to my knowledge, gone on sale yet, but will be priced at $30, plus admission to the festival. Lewis’ last time in Florida was six years ago in Naples, so even if you have to take a day off work, or leave early, now is the time to see the last of the rockabilly legends.

Billy Joel is one of the most prolific, talented, and iconic artists of all time, and there’s nothing that you can do about that. Even though I’m (sadly) biased, in my book, either you love his music, or you’ve never heard it. But in spite of that, Florida is spoiled rotten by his live music. He’s been on the Billy Joel In Concert Tour since early 2014, where the first three stops were arenas and stadiums in Sunrise, Tampa, and Jacksonville, all cities in Florida. Since then, Billy has stopped in Miami‘s American Airlines Center in 2015, Tampa’s Amalie Arena in 2016, and Orlando‘s Amway Center in 2017. Additionally, since December 2014, the Piano Man has rung in the New Year annually in Orlando and Sunrise.

I saw Billy in Tampa in 2016, and of all the class acts I’ve been to, this one could not be topped by anything. Because it was his first show since the deaths of David Bowie and Eagles co-founder Glenn Frey, he played tributes to them both: A snippet of Rebel, Rebel, and then Desperado without his backing band, and Take It Easy during the long pause in The River Of Dreams. But now, after what seems like ten years, he’s coming back, two years later.

Billy Joel will be playing Amalie Arena in Tampa on February 9, 2018 for the third time in 4 years. Tickets go on sale on TicketMaster.com October 27, starting at $49.50. If you’ve never seen Billy, please go. I can assure you that you will have the best night ever. And also bear in mind that Billy reserves the front row seats for the real fans who get the cheap seats. So if you’re a risk taker, (and a hot chick) maybe you can try your luck and buy a nosebleed seat.

Brought down about the cancellation of the Scorpions and Megadeth concert on Sunday? Well, here’s some good news. Another hard rock/heavy metal legend will be in the Bay area on his 2018 tour, and he just released a new album a few months ago.

Alice Cooper will give Ruth Eckerd Hall “a paranormal evening” on March 23, 2018. Tickets go on sale Friday at 10am on rutheckerdhall.com, and will start at $48.75. Or, perhaps you’re a big enough fan to pay $743.75 for the “front row insanity package,” which includes a post show meet and greet. Insanity indeed.

But that’s not all.

Only a few days before that, on March 18, Foreigner will also rock Ruth Eckerd with a Rock Symphony Orchestra. Tickets for that go on sale at a currently unknown time and date, as Ruth Eckerd has not officially announced the show yet, but it appeared in their 2017-18 season guide released today. However, when tickets go on sale, prices will start at $53.25. It seems like a lot, but if this show is anything like the breathtaking 40th Anniversary Tour stop in Tampa back in August, it will be worth every penny.

When it comes to prog rock, it’s been a good year for Florida. We’ve gotten Steve Howe’s version of Yes in February, Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters in July, and next week we will get Yes featuring Anderson, Rabin, & Wakeman. But another prog group released a legendary album that turned 50 this year. They embarked on a tour promoting its birthday, but went no further southeast than Georgia. But they have added another leg.

The Moody Blues, along with “a Rock Symphony Orchestra,” will play the entire Days Of Future Passed album at Ruth Eckerd Hall on January 13. Tickets go on sale this weekend, and start at $68.75. Though The Moody Blues are down to three original members, now’s your chance to see them. After what happened this week in the music world, I think it’s safe to say that we should go to any older musician/band’s concert that comes to town that we love. Who knows? This could be the last time The Blues ever tour.