Sunset Music Festival expands EDM lineup for year 2

If a first-year music festival draws 8,000 people to an NFL stadium in the sweltering heat of late May in Tampa, how on earth does it grow? At that point, is there really any room to get bigger?

The organizers of Saturday's Sunset Music Festival believe so. In bringing some of the biggest names in electronic dance music (EDM) to Raymond James Stadium, the fest expects to double, maybe even triple its attendance in year two....

Everclear's Summerland Tour peddles more than just '90s nostalgia

My first car had a tape deck. If I wanted to listen to music on my way to and from high school, I had to (A) create a mixtape of songs in my CD collection, or (B) pull out one of the few albums I actually had on cassette.

One such tape was Sparkle and Fade, the breakthrough 1995 album by Portland, Ore., rock trio Everclear. Equal parts grunge, punk and power-pop, Sparkle and Fade chronicled in confessional detail the broken homes and drugged-out loves of rust-throated frontman Art Alexakis. Sparkle and Fade went platinum thanks to the MTV hit Santa Monica, but cruising along with my cassette, listening to sides A and B front to back, I could sing along to almost every cut — the searing Heroin Girl, the beachy burnout ballad Strawberry, the wistful, hopeful Summerland. ...

Sunset Music Festival: Set Times, after parties, can't-miss acts and more

On Saturday, up to 20,000 people will descend on a parking lot at Raymond James Stadium for the second annual Sunset Music Festival, featuring David Guetta, Steve Aoki, Knife Party, Krewella (above) and many more. If that many show up, it'll be a huge step up from last year's tally, and could mean this electronic fest has a permanent place on Tampa's concert calendar....

Gatorland: Panther siblings join the sights in Orlando

By Jay Cridlin

Times Staff Writer

Danielle Lucas cautions Gatorland visitors to temper their expectations when visiting the park's new 2,000-square-foot habitat Panther Springs habitat.

"Just like typical cats, they're lazy and love to sleep all day," said Lucas, the park's lead animal care specialist. And you won't hear them roar; their squeaks and purrs sound more like those of the tabby you left at home....

Beach Boys coming to Hard Rock in Tampa

Tampa's Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino has booked a big name for July 18: The Beach Boys.

Before you get too excited, keep in mind that this is NOT the same Beach Boys that reunited in full last year. Brian Wilson, Al Jardine and David Marks are absent from this lineup; instead you'll get Mike Love, Bruce Johnston and some others. Still, the Hard Rock can be a surprisingly intimate place to see a show, so if you've only seen any incarnation of the Beach Boys at Tropicana Field or Ruth Eckerd Hall, it might be worth checking out....

Tampa amphitheatre's new name: MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre at the Florida State Fairgrounds

Why, oh why, can't Tampa's largest outdoor concert venue pick a name that won't make local music fans cringe in abject horror?

The Ford Amphitheatre was a fine name. The 1-800-Ask-Gary Amphitheatre was an abomination. Recently, it's gone by the generic but non-offensive (and at least somewhat musical) name Live Nation Amphitheatre at the Florida State Fairgrounds.

The venue's new name, unveiled Wednesday, is the MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre at the Florida State Fairgrounds, which is not quite as ridiculous as the 1-800-Ask-Gary Amphitheatre, but boy, is it a mouthful -- not to mention it sounds about as cool as, well, filling out a small business loan application at MidFlorida Credit Union....

Vegas rockers Imagine Dragons coming to Tampa

Imagine Dragons is finally coming back to Tampa.

The Las Vegas rockers behind huge hits It's Time and Radioactive are coming to the USF Sun Dome in Tampa on Sept. 24, the venue announced Monday. Tickets are $34.50-$39.50, and they go on sale Friday.

It's a big deal for a number of reasons. Imagine Dragons' set at last year's 97X Backyard BBQ made Soundcheck's list of 2012's best concerts not just once, but twice. Then they played a sold-out show at the Ritz Ybor alongside Awolnation. And they were all set to be one of the biggest acts at last year's 97X Next Big Thing ... that is, before singer Dan Reynolds came down with a throat infection and had to cancel....

Reunited Backstreet Boys coming to Tampa

Tampa's own Nick Carter and the rest of the Backstreet Boys — including Kevin Richardson, who's been mostly absent since 2006 — have announced a summer tour, and according to 93.3-FLZ, it will come to Tampa's Live Nation Amphitheatre on Aug. 23. Jesse McCartney and DJ Pauly D from Jersey Shore will open the show. Ticket prices are still forthcoming, but they could go on sale as early as Friday. ...

Tropical Heatwave evolves to keep pace with music festival culture

By Jay Cridlin

Times Staff Writer

With new music festivals sprouting up seemingly every weekend in Tampa Bay — Antiwarpt, Funshine Fest and the Gasparilla Music Festival, to name just a few — it begs the question: How is Tampa's original music festival, Tropical Heatwave, keeping pace?

Now in its 32nd year, WMNF-88.5's annual extravaganza of the eclectic will bring nearly 60 bands to 10 stages in and around Ybor City's Cuban Club on Saturday. And for the first time in years, the 2013 edition is a two-night affair, with more artists performing on two stages at the Cuban Club on Friday night....

Review: The Joy Formidable brings festival-sized energy to the State Theatre in St. Petersburg

Three times in the past two years, I’ve seen The Joy Formidable perform on a main stage at a huge music festival.

It’s not hard to see why festivals are so hot for the trio. Their music is a glorious Cat-5 hurricane of guitars and boot-stomping percussion. Music this massive practically demands a stage to match.

But a downside to today’s festival culture is that midsize acts like The Joy Formidable don’t always get to display their full range of power. Instead of a full set, you get 30 generic minutes of hits on a temporary outdoor stage — and once fans have seen that much, they may be less inclined to seek the band out a second time. As a result, each band is little more than one part of an all-you-can-eat musical buffet — which can be filling, but it’s rarely as memorable as a fully prepared, singularly delicious meal....

Josh Groban bringing 'in the round' tour to Tampa

Josh Groban, the delightful moppy-haired charmer who is funnier than anyone in his life station has any right to be, will bring his fall "In the Round" tour to the Tampa Bay Times Forum on Nov. 8.

Tickets are $36.75-$96.75, and they'll go on sale this Friday.

Performing in the round, Groban said in a statement, will allow him to get even closer to his fans than usual.

"I have always had moments during the show where I walked through the crowd and interacted with the fans," he said. "I felt that now was the time to bring it all together." In every city, his website says, he'll be joined by a local choir and orchestra....

Justin Timberlake coming to Orlando in December

Justin Timberlake is having himself quite the weekend.

Late last week, Variety reported Timberlake will produce and star in Spinning Gold, a biopic about record mogul Neil Bogart, who discovered Curtis Mayfield, Kiss, Donna Summer and the Village People, among others.

Over the weekend, Timberlake confirmed that he is, in fact, planning a second volume of his chart-topping album The 20/20 Experience, which will be released Sept. 30. And on Monday, Timberlake decided to announce a massive fall and winter North American tour. So far, there's only one Florida tour stop, and it's in Orlando, but c'mon, you know JT is worth driving an hour and a half up I-4....

Singer/songwriter Ben Taylor talks about having famous parents

Ben Taylor was tinkering with a song he'd written for his 12-year-old twin half-brothers, and having some trouble with the bridge. So he called the father the three of them share, and over the phone, he sang what he had so far.

"Aw, that's so beautiful!" said James Taylor. "I wish I had written that for Rufus and Henry."

The result is Oh Brother, the snappy second track on Ben Taylor's latest album, Listening. Written to counsel and encourage his young half-brothers, it also became one of Ben's most overt homages to his father. Not only does he sing of seeking "some of that good old time JT," his inflection on the lyric, "You can always call out my name" mirrors an almost identical line in James' 1971 hit You've Got a Friend....

'We Come Running' tops Youngblood Hawke's uplifting music

By Jay Cridlin

Times Staff Writer

These kids today. Why are they all so happy?

Bands bursting with day-glo positivity are a dime a dozen in modern music. Fun., Imagine Dragons, Passion Pit, Walk the Moon, Grouplove and Of Monsters and Men all sing scream-along anthems with fists-in-the-air abandon, and their young fans can't seem to get enough.

"Maybe it's just what's going on in the world — people are kind of sick of feeling down," said Sam Martin, singer of L.A. indie-pop startups Youngblood Hawke. "They want to find an outlet that makes them feel positive about everything, and music is a big part of that. It's a way to escape."...