Feeble Little Horse, Parrotfish and a Chulismo Record: Your Mid-July in the Rooms
The stadiums have their weekend — Post Malone hauled Jelly Roll into Raymond James on Wednesday, J. Cole hits the arena the following week — but the good stuff, as ever, is smaller and closer to the floor. Here's where the Bay-area faithful should point themselves July 10 through 15.
Chulismo, album release — Saturday, July 11, The Nest at St. Pete Brewing Co. The most exciting entry on the board is a hometown one: Chulismo drops a new record with a stacked local bill — Car Bomb Dave, Tiger 54 and The Son of James filling out the night at St. Pete Brewing's intimate back room. Album-release shows are where a scene tells you what it's proud of, and St. Pete is loud about this one. Get there early; The Nest is not a big place.
Dunedin Brewery's 30th Anniversary — Saturday, July 11, Dunedin Brewery & Moon Tower. Florida's oldest microbrewery turns 30, and it's throwing the kind of party a 30-year-old institution should: jam-scene favorite MiniM headlining, with No Standards and Brock Butler (of Perpetual Groove renown) rounding out a day that spills across the brewery and the adjacent Moon Tower. Three decades of a family brewery in a state that eats its small businesses alive is worth a toast.
Parrotfish — Saturday, July 11, Crowbar. Every show at Crowbar between now and July 31 is a countdown. Parrotfish takes the Ybor stage on a Saturday night in the club's final month — one of the last chances to stand in that room while it's still doing the only thing it's ever done.
Feeble Little Horse w/ Computer Wife — Wednesday, July 15, Crowbar. The buzziest touring bill of the week lands, fittingly, in the room that's about to go dark. Pittsburgh's Feeble Little Horse — one of indie rock's most talked-about young bands — brings its fuzzed-out, whip-smart noise-pop to Crowbar with Computer Wife opening. If you only make one Crowbar pilgrimage before the doors close, a packed midweek indie show is a pretty perfect way to say goodbye.
A few more worth your gas money: Trouble Man's Marvin Gaye tribute plays the New Tampa Performing Arts Center on Friday the 11th for the soul crowd; Billy Bob Thornton & The Boxmasters — yes, that Billy Bob — bring their roadhouse rock to Clearwater's Bilheimer Capitol Theatre on Sunday the 12th; and if arena-scale is your thing, Ne-Yo and Akon share the MidFlorida amphitheater stage Tuesday.
But the real assignment this week is Ybor. Crowbar's calendar is a ticking clock now, and the club is spending its last weeks doing exactly what made it matter — handing the stage to touring indie acts and Bay-area lifers alike, one loud night at a time. The George release, the Talib Kweli finale and the rest of the closing run are still to come, but July 11 and 15 are two more entries in a farewell that the whole scene is writing together, show by show.
Bring cash, bring earplugs, bring a friend who's never been. Some of these rooms won't be here next summer. This one definitely won't.
Sources: Tampa Bay's best live music happening July 10-15 — Creative Loafing Tampa; Talib Kweli will headline the final concert at famed Ybor City venue Crowbar — Creative Loafing Tampa