Peter Frampton
Details: Saturday 8 p.m. Ruth Eckerd Hall, 1111 McMullen-Booth Road, Clearwater. $39.50-$79.50. (727) 791-7400.
Do you feel like . . . Frampton!? The talking guitar god and '70s rock icon plays a three-hour set Saturday. Frampton's long list of achievements includes playing "Homerpalooza" and saving Peter Griffin's marriage. But this year, he'll celebrate a "real-life" milestone, the 35th anniversary of bestselling live album Frampton Comes Alive! (Baby, I Love Your Way, Do You Feel Like We Do), by performing the album in its entirety.
Chris Brown
With Bow Wow, T-Pain, Tyga
Details: Friday 7 p.m. 1-800-ASK-GARY Amphitheatre, 4802 U.S. 301 N, Tampa. $32.75-$144.25. (813) 740-2446.
The headlines haven't been kind to Chris Brown since that fateful night in February 2009. But if there's one place C. Breezy has eluded even the worst critiques, it's on the stage. Brown is making a case for comeback this year on the F.A.M.E tour, singing passionately and stepping slyly like a hero of his — one who endured personal battles of his own— the King of Pop. Opening the show are T-Pain, the papa of pitch correction (Buy U a Drank, Church), Bow Wow, who now at age 24 has dropped the "Lil," and Tyga, the self-proclaimed "hottest export out of Compton since NWA" (Coconut Juice).
m
Arctic Monkeys
With Smith Westerns
Details: Sunday 8 p.m. Ritz Ybor, 1503 E Seventh Ave., Ybor City. $31.50. (813) 247-2555.
With Artic Monkeys back on the scene, all our memories of the loud, grubby Brit rock pack came crashing back. In 2006 you might recall the impudent, vintage rockers were waist-deep in hype as Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not became the fastest-selling debut album in British music history. While the album fizzled in the United States by comparison, the Monkeys power on in 2011 with a large, loyal American following. Because after all, matted hair, black jeans and seedy bar stories cross all borders, don't they?
K.D. Lang and the Siss Boom Bang
With Teddy Thompson
Details: Friday 8 p.m. Ruth Eckerd Hall, 1111 McMullen-Booth Road, Clearwater. $52.50-$88. (727) 791-7400.
A lowercase lady with sultry pitch-perfection on the mind and Patsy Cline in the heart, K.D. Lang continues to flirt with a wide range of styles, most notably an extra-alternative brand of country music. Most recent Sing It Loud (with new band the Siss Boom Bang) finds K.D. in more raucous form (for her, anyway). Fans might also expect set staples Constant Craving, Pullin' Back the Reins and Roy Orbison cover Crying.
Mates of State
With Yawn, Y Los Dos Pistoles
Details: Saturday 7 p.m. Orpheum, 1915 E Seventh Ave., Ybor City. $15-$18. www.theorpheum.com.
An astute listener once likened seeing a Mates of State show to getting pelted with candy. We'd agree. Far more Matt and Kim than John and Yoko, real mates Kori Gardner and Jason Hammel gush about marital bliss over infectiously sweet indie-pop. The duo even tours with its two children and a nanny in tow. And while latest album Mountaintops adds horns, guitar and some new elements to the Mates' simplistic, signature keyboard-drums sound, the sugar stays.
Yuck
With Porcelain Raft, Palantine
Details: Friday 7 p.m. Crowbar, 1812 17th St. N, Ybor City. $10-$13. (813) 241-8600.
When pondering the worst band names of the last couple of decades, Chumbawamba and Hoobastank are frontrunners. Yuck might have made the list, too, until we realized the title was actually perfect for its brand of rotten, unkempt garage rock. The fuzzy, poorly recorded tunes call to mind our favorite slacker stuff of the '90s. In fact, check out Get Away, potentially the best song Dinosaur Jr. never wrote.
Dirty Heads and Gym Class Heroes
With Outasight
Details: Wednesday 7:30 p.m. Jannus Live, 16 Second St. N, St. Petersburg. $22 and up. (727) 565-0551.
Stoney reggae-rock bands from Cali are a dime a dozen these days. But sun-loving pacifists Dirty Heads broke the mold when they released Lay Me Down, a reggae-hop love story drowned in Corona. The group earned extra street cred when Rolling Stone named them one of the Best New Bands of 2010 and when Slash lent his screaming six-string to the track Check the Level. Frisky pop-rock act Gym Class Heroes and frontman Travie McCoy co-headline the show with a Warped Tour-meets-the-shore vibe.
Das Racist
With Danny Brown, Despot
Details: Tonight at 7. State Theatre, 687 Central Ave., St. Petersburg. $15 and up. (727) 895-3045.
We appreciate when rappers can go off on a tangent about Gruyere and Roquefort cheeses. Das Racist offers dairy curveballs and then some, dishing out references to everyone from Ernest Hemingway to Coretta Scott King (Rainbow in the Dark). Like LMFAO for the underground, the multicultural trio has officially transcended comedy act status this year. Not that the riotously repetitive Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell would convince you of that. The group's 2008 online hit finds the Brooklyn dudes tediously reciting the names of the two fast-food chains until you're ready to punch a wall, or conversely, call them your new favorite act.
Times correspondent Carole Liparoto can be reached at carole.liparoto@gmail.com.
Loading...