DanTDM greets his sold out crowd of Clearwater kids
A YouTube star on tour? On a real-life stage? Get outta town.
Clearwater’s Ruth Eckerd Hall has been hosting acts from YouTube stars since Dan and Phil brought The Amazing Tour Is Not On Fire to Clearwater last year. It was a sold out show that had the energy of a Beatles concert at the height of Beatlemania. Just about every teenage girl in the Tampa Bay area was there. But what if there was a YouTube act that the younger kids could enjoy? Specifically the gamer kids?
Enter DanTDM.
DanTDM played his acoustic guitar at Ruth Eckerd Hall
British gamer Dan Middleton (aka The Diamond Minecart) has been a YouTube sensation since he first created the The Diamond Minecart YouTube channel in 2012. Since then, he has accomplished over 10 billion views and over 15 million subscribers, mainly consisting of kids ages 5-13. Dan is currently on the second leg of his first ever US tour, and he decided to stop in Florida for four shows, two of which were in Orlando.
Clearwater was his final Florida stop. I only attended because my younger brother is a huge fan. I, personally, prefer live shows from longtime musicians and bands, but you know what? Almost all of the non-fans in the venue underestimated Dan’s showmanship skills.
Starting ten minutes before showtime, just about every kid in the venue chanted “We want Dan!” from 10 minutes before the show began, to when Dan actually ran down the right side aisle of Ruth Eckerd Hall to greet the sold out crowd of kids ages 5-14, many of them having dyed their hair blue to imitate their hero. After a brief intro from Dan, the story began: An “Evil Dan” kidnaps Dan’s beloved pet pug Ellie, and it’s up to him and his science – – and cellphone – – crazed friend, Eve, to get through Evil Dan’s challenge to get his pug back. And how else?
Through video games, of course.
DanTDM gets in on a science experiment with touring mate, Eve
He selected a number of kids from the audience to take on each other, and play solo on the games Dan was challenged with. And these weren’t VIP kids. While they were all much closer than I was, these were just normal audience members who likely didn’t buy the meet and greet pass, which sold out within days.
At the end of it all, Dan and Eve made us promise that we’d keep all that we saw a secret. So while I can’t say much more, I’ll say for sure that even though my brother had a better time than I did, it was a much better show than I expected. And if you have kids who love DanTDM, or if you are a kid who loves DanTDM, this show is a blast.
But just remember to scream loud and bring your diamond sword, and maybe, you’ll get picked to come onstage.
Paul Simon playing for a sold-out crowd of old and young at the St. Augustine Amphitheater.
Paul Simon hasn’t played Florida since his 2014 tour with Sting, and he hasn’t been as a solo artist since late 2011. It seems like an eternity ago to some fans such as myself. Last year when he announced that there would be a massive US tour promoting a new album Stranger To Stranger, he totally snubbed Florida. The lowest in the southeast Paul played in was Atlanta. I would have gone, and still would go to Georgia for certain artists, Paul Simon topping that list, had my leg not been cooped up in a cast.
But in March, we Floridians learned of a miracle: The Kodachrome singer would be doing a summer tour, and where else would he start but St. Augustine, FL?
On Thursday night, the St. Augustine Amphitheater doors opened at promptly 6:00, and members of the sold-out crowd began to worry that one of Florida’s famous rainstorms from a few hours prior would start up again. The worst that happened was the show being postponed by ten minutes. “The rain came, and the rain…cooled us off!” Paul observed early on.
The turnout was enormous, quite like a class act you see at a sports stadium or arena. And this was not just a bunch of old folks who were fans of Simon’s days recording with his former partner, Art Garfunkel: There were actually quite a lot of fans who enjoyed his solo works, like his 1986 Grammy Album Of The Year winner, the South-African inspired “Graceland.” Most of those fans were in their thirties or forties. I’m fifteen, which is a bit young to have Paul Simon in your top 10, top 5, and top 3 these days, and I saw other people there that were my age – Most of them had been dragged there by their parents because they were just trying to be totally awesome parents. I mean, how many of today’s children will get the chance to say that they experienced this man live? But no matter, I was probably the only much younger fan who actually understood that this was Paul Simon for God’s sake, a twice Rock and Roll Hall Of Famer, a Songwriter’s Hall Of Famer, and the first recipient of the Gershwin Prize For Popular Song.
The theater itself filled relatively quickly with over 4,000 fans, and at 7:40, Paul’s backing band came out and played a breathtaking instrumental version of Gumboots off of Graceland. Three minutes later, their boss walked out onstage waving in a grey t-shirt with a dark blue overcoat. His ecstatic audience had an unusual but great amount of energy; more people were cheering than just plain applauding. Within seconds, he picked up one of his many acoustic guitars and ripped into Graceland’s exhilarating opening track, The Boy in the Bubble. Through the night, Paul really mixed up some of the songs by either changing their keys, giving them new rhythms during certain parts, or simply adding in more time for his band to play solos. He gave his fans two and a half hours of almost the entire first side of Graceland, some of his greatest hits old and new, and some deep cuts, including One Man’s Ceiling Is Another Man’s Floor.
Six songs from his days in Simon & Garfunkel were played as well, most notably an instrumental edition of El Condor Pasa (If I Could), Mrs. Robinson, a song that has been played only once per tour since 2009, and a tear jerking version of The Boxer. And that wasn’t an exaggeration. I never cry at concerts, but when Paul strummed the first chord of The Boxer, I just lost my goddamn mind. I bawled my eyes out for the first time in a very long time.
Early on, Paul gave a brief but amped up cover of Mystery Train, and later, during Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard, the entire audience actually got up and danced, clapped, or at least sang along, because apparently, it is a much bigger hit than most of the songs he played before. Paul’s backing band was much larger than a typical rock and roll backing band. It was about the size of Brian Wilson’s backing band – about eight other gentlemen onstage, one of which performed on Graceland in 1986. Guitarist Vincent Nguini even stepped up to Paul’s microphone to introduce The Cool, Cool River, “a very powerful tune that we haven’t done in a very, very long time,” of which they actually started playing again on the 2016 tour.
He wrapped up his main set with back to back songs from Graceland, starting with a beautiful rendition of Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes, and ending with a frenetic ride through You Can Call Me Al, which also had everybody standing up and dancing. After his band took a bow, they came back out for two generous encores, and then after everybody was offstage and it was just Paul and his guitar, he strummed the recognizable chords, and sang the magic words:
“Hello, darkness my old friend.”
Paul mentioned many times how all of the profits from this tour would be donated to the E.O Wilson Biodiversity Foundation, which is involved in saving the Earth and the human species. In fact, he’s so dedicated to it, the book that inspired him to do it was for sale at his merchandise stands, entitled Half-Earth: Our Planet’s Fight For Life by Edward Wilson.
But you know, regardless of what charity Paul chose, he sure as heck would continue to save at least the music world, long as he keeps playing those sold out shows for years to come.
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers play a show in Tampa on their 40th Anniversary Tour, their first time in Tampa since 2014.
How many big name bands originated in Florida? Not very many, with the exception of The Doors’ Jim Morrison being born in Melbourne. But one band that originated in Gainesville announced in December that they would embark on a 40th anniversary tour. Yes, it’s really been 40 years since Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers released their self-titled debut album.
A lot of shows’ opening acts are artists who are trying to get out there. But when the lights went down at promptly 8:00, who else walks out to open but Joe Walsh of The Eagles? “Good morning!” He rasped before beginning his electric 45 minute setlist. He played songs from his own successful solo career (Meadows; Rocky Mountain Way) and two songs from The Eagles (Take It To The Limit; In The City), the first one being dedicated to his “brother and fellow bandmate, Glenn Frey,” who passed away last year.
The Eagles’ Joe Walsh opens for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers at Amalie Arena
Walsh left the stage around 8:45, and the roadies began to set up for Tom Petty. People went out to mingle with fellow fans, and to buy t-shirts and beer. Then, at 9:47, the lights went down, and the almost-sold out crowd of over 20,000 fans brought the house down as Tom Petty and his dearly beloved Heartbreakers entered the stage for their second Florida show, their first being the night before in West Palm Beach.
“We’re bringing you 100 percent natural rock and roll, no artificial sweeteners!” he announced as the Heartbreakers prepared their instruments for the best night that Tampa Bay has had in months. The band started out with “the first track from [their] first album,” which was Rockin‘ Around (With You). Petty then went onto his famous sing-along, Mary Jane’s Last Dance, which had the young and old in the audience singing along the whole way through.
Through the rest of the night, Amalie Arena heard mainly greatest hits: The acoustic guitars of Free Fallin‘ and Learning To Fly, and also some deep cuts from Petty’s second solo album, “Wildflowers.” After ending their main set with the frenetic Running Down A Dream, Petty and the guys walked offstage for about two and a half minutes as the ecstatic audience chanted “Petty” until they came back out. The group finished up the show with an encore of You Wreck Me from “Wildflowers,” and American Girl, which was their first album’s closing track.
Petty stated many times through the night how pleased he was to be back home in Florida, and how he “felt the mojo in this room,” to which the roar of the audience was the response he received. At that point in the show, he turned towards the people up in the nosebleeds on each side of the dome.
With Tom onstage were old and new members of the Heartbreakers, including his old buddy and original guitarist Mike Campbell, and alsotwo new members on backing vocals. The Webb Sisters, Charley and Hattie, who were also backup singers in Leonard Cohen’s band from his latter days, are touring with the group for the first, and possibly last time.
In an interview with Rolling Stone from last year, Petty stated how he’s thinking about making this tour “the last big one” with the Heartbreakers, due to the fact that he has a granddaughter he wants to spend time with, and that they’re getting older. That being stated, last night was the perfect opportunity for Petty fans old and young to either relive the old days, or to discover something new.
“Before we leave, I want to hold the world record for the loudest sound ever made in this building,” was his final request to his hyped audience before ripping into his final song of the night.
Josh Bradley Live 