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Soundcheck: Coral Skies Music Festival among top live music picks

 
IRVINE, CA - MAY 31:  Musician Jack Antonoff of Bleachers performs onstage during the 22nd Annual KROQ Weenie Roast at Verizon Wireless Music Center on May 31, 2014 in Irvine, California.  (Photo by Christopher Polk/Getty Images for CBS Radio Inc.)
IRVINE, CA - MAY 31: Musician Jack Antonoff of Bleachers performs onstage during the 22nd Annual KROQ Weenie Roast at Verizon Wireless Music Center on May 31, 2014 in Irvine, California. (Photo by Christopher Polk/Getty Images for CBS Radio Inc.)
Published Oct. 21, 2014

Coral Skies Music Festival

With Cage the Elephant, Julian Casablancas and the Voidz, Bleachers, City and Colour, Manchester Orchestra, the Hold Steady, Bombay Bicycle Club, Tokyo Police Club, Wild Cub, Benjamin Booker, Junior Prom, Good Graeff

Details: Saturday noon. MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre, 4802 U.S. 301 N, Tampa. $45-$55 (parking is $10). For full details, see coralskiesfest.com.

Live Nation's burgeoning music festival may have switched its name since launching last year as the Coastline Festival, but little else has changed. You'll still get a familiar mix of food trucks, craft beer vendors, crafters and visual artists and, of course, indie rock. This year's headliners are Ain't No Rest for the Wicked rockers Cage the Elephant. But several other acts are better known for their work in other projects. Strokes singer Julian Casablancas makes his first appearance in Tampa with new art-punk crew the Voidz. Jack Antonoff — the guitarist for Fun. and cowriter of Taylor Swift's new single Out of the Woods — brings his alternate pop project Bleachers. And then there's emo-folk project City and Colour, whose mastermind, Dallas Green, is scoring big buzz with You + Me, his new folk duo with Pink. Three acts will sound familiar to local fans: Brooklyn indie rock group (and longtime Ybor City fanatics) the Hold Steady; Sarasota twin-sister duo Good Graeff; and former Tampa resident Benjamin Booker, who has spent the summer touring with Jack White and appearing on national TV. — Jay Cridlin, Times staff writer

Big Pre-Fest in Little Ybor

With Less Than Jake, Screaming Females, the Menzingers, Cheap Girls, Tim Barry, Strike Anywhere, A Wilhelm Scream, Franz Nicolay, Mikey Erg, PUP, Laura Stevenson, Kaiju Big Battel, many more

Details: Wednesday 5:30 p.m. and Oct. 30 at noon. Venues across Ybor City. Two-day passes $40-$60; individual venue tickets $10-$25. For full schedule, see thefestfl.com/prefest.

Gainesville's annual punk festival known only as Fest had so much fun during a side trip to Ybor City last year, they're coming back for round two. Big Pre-Fest in Little Ybor will feature more than 70 local, national and international punk bands at stages including Crowbar, Orpheum, New World Brewery and Tequilas. Among the countless highlights: bands performing unique Pre-Fest sets (such as Less Than Jake doing 1996's Losing Streak in its entirety, or A Wilhelm Scream doing an all-Twitter request set); a standup comedy showcase at the Market on 7th; a performance by "live monster wrestling" ensemble Kaiju Big Battel at the Orpheum; and a free stage outside Tequilas with live sets by Franz Nicolay, PJ Bond, Matt Woods and others. It's a full and varied two-day extravaganza, so check thefestfl.com/prefest for a full schedule of events. — Jay Cridlin

Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band

Details: Tonight at 8. Ruth Eckerd Hall, 1111 N McMullen-Booth Road, Clearwater. $56-$175. (727) 791-7400.

Ringo Starr is widely considered the least-talented Beatle, but we don't know anyone who wouldn't trade their liver to switch places with the "weakest" Fab. Real fans know the 74-year-old's worth, though, and Ringo's bandmate George Harrison once called him the best "backbeat in the business." What's more is that Ringo penned White Album standout Don't Pass Me By and even sang lead on Yellow Submarine. This stop finds him flanked by his six-piece All-Starr Band. Toto's Steve Lukather, Todd Rundgren and Santana's Gregg Rolie are just three players in that unit, and they'll surely work in their own hits (think Africa and Black Magic Woman). That said, the night's highlight will no doubt be singing along to With a Little Help From My Friends.

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Brendan James

Details: Monday 7:30 p.m. Club Jaeb at David A. Straz Jr. Center for the Performing Arts, 1010 N MacInnes Place, Tampa. $28.50. (813) 229-7827.

With its not-quite-coffeehouse, more-intimate-than-a-theater feel, the Straz Center's Club Jaeb is a great place to catch quieter sets from acoustic guitar-pickers who set poetry to song. The room should get a boost when Brendan James stops in: The 35-year-old New Hampshire-born singer-songwriter does the bulk of his work seated at a piano stool. Hero's Song and Green from 2008 debut The Day Is Brave still stand tallest in his discography, but the whole of James' output is marked by a quiet gift for placing clever melodies on top of mellow piano arrangements. A newish LP, Simplify, is one of the most revealing efforts he's released.

Contact Times correspondent Ray Roa at suburbanapologist.com.