After two weeks of Sarasota area concert picks dominated by blues music, this week will feature a wide-ranging variety of genres.
Those include country, tropical rock, metalcore, hip-hop, singer-songwriter, Beatles covers and Brazilian jazz, with the musicians including a Grammy nominee, a rising young star in country, and two acts that have earned positive write-ups from music website Pitchfork (with one of those two hailing from nearby in Tampa.) You’ll still find blues music in this week’s concert picks as well, including a free, three-day festival featuring Blues Music Award-winning and nominated artists. Here are this week’s highlights. Event details are subject to change.
Punta Gorda Spring Seafood & Music Festival
Lakewood Ranch-based Paragon Festivals, which put on Sarasota Seafood & Music Festival and similar festivals in Florida, will be in Punta Gorda this weekend. Performers will include Annika Chambers, a three-time Soul Blues Female Artist Blues Music Award winner nominated in the same category this year, and her husband Paul DesLauriers, a two-time Maple Blues Awards Entertainer of the Year, playing together Friday.
Other notable names include Damon Fowler, whose 2021 full-length “Alafia Moon” topped Billboard’s blues album chart and earned a Blues Rock Album Blues Music Award nomination, playing Sunday. 4-10 p.m. Friday, 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday; Laishley Park, 100 Nesbit St., Punta Gorda; free; 941-487-8061; paragonfestivals.com
Jon Langston
Country singer Jon Langston, who previously visited the Sarasota area for a show at the since-closed Big Top Live, will return to play Joyland. Langston is known for songs such as his gold-selling singles “All Eyes on Us” and “Forever Girl,” the latter appearing on his 2015 self-titled EP that topped Billboard’s Heatseekers Album chart for new and developing artists.
After multiple EPs, Langston released his debut full-length “Heart on Ice” in 2023, which he followed up this year with the album “Thing About Me.” 6 p.m. doors Saturday; Joyland, 8333 Lockwood Ridge Road, Sarasota; $25 advance, $30 day of, $99 meet-and-greet package (ages 18 and older); 941-210-4110; joylandsarasota.com
Coral Reefer Band
The assorted festivities at Sarasota Film Festival’s final weekend will include a free concert by tropical rockers the Coral Reefer Band. The group is best known for being the touring and recording band of the late Florida cultural icon Jimmy Buffett from 1975 to 2023 when Buffett died, and have continued to perform since, including shows in St. Pete and Key West earlier this year.
The band is also the subject of the documentary “Occupational Hazard: The First Coral Reefers” that screens at the festival, including Saturday before the concert. 2 p.m. Saturday; New College, 5800 Bay Shore Road, Sarasota; free (film tickets additional); sarasotafilmfestival.com
Melrose Avenue
Bradenton’s Oscura will welcome metalcore band Melrose Avenue all the way from Australia for a show Saturday. The Sydney group will visit the venue while on a U.S. tour that includes stops in Washington, D.C. and New York City a few days later, and after releasing the new single “Taste” earlier this year.
The band is currently signed to renowned heavy music label Hopeless Records, whose alumni include acts such as Sum 41 and Avenged Sevenfold. Fellow label signees Autumn Kings and Stray View will open the show. 7 p.m. doors, 7:30 p.m. show Saturday; Oscura, 816 Manatee Ave. E., Bradenton; $25 advance, $30 day of; oscura.live
Cleo Reed, They Hate Change
Oscura’s live music lineup this weekend will also include this Sunday show with a bill topped by Cleo Reed and They Hate Change. The New York-based Reed received a positive 7.9 review from Pitchfork (which also recently featured Reed in its Perfect 10 series, where artists name an album they would give a perfect 10, with Reed choosing “Give Your Hands to Struggle” by Bernice Johnson Reagon.)
Hip-hop duo They Hate Change hail from nearby Tampa, but have made a name for themselves nationally, including signing to Jagjaguwar and earning their own 8.0 rave review from Pitchfork for their 2022 album “Finally, New.” Pilot Jonezz, Fessi K and Ciggy City Superband will also perform. 7 p.m. doors, 7:30 p.m. show Sunday; Oscura, 816 Manatee Ave. E., Bradenton; $5 advance, $10 day of; oscura.live
Jonas Friddle and Anna Jacobson
North Carolina-raised, Chicago-based singer-songwriter and banjo player Jonas Friddle, joined by multi-instrumentalist Anna Jacobson, will return to Fogartyville in Sarasota on Sunday. Friddle’s accolades include winning the John Lennon Songwriting Contest in folk for the song “Belle de Louisville” in 2012, as well as the Great American Song Contest in the same field for the track “Man Was Made to Fly” in 2013.
Jacobson, meanwhile, plays violin, fiddle, horn and trumpet, including in Friddle’s band, and both teach at Chicago’s Old Town School of Folk Music. 6 p.m. doors, 7 p.m. show Sunday; Fogartyville Community Media and Arts Center, 525 Kumquat Court, Sarasota; $25, $20 members, $13 students ages 13 and up; 941-894-6469; fogartyville.org
The Martin Sexton Abbey Road Show
Downtown Sarasota comedy club McCurdy’s Comedy Theatre, which occasionally switches things up by hosting concerts, will welcome singer-songwriter Martin Sexton, who’ll perform one set of songs from the classic 1969 Beatles album “Abbey Road” and one set of his originals. That’ll likely include his track “Diner,” which name-drops Sarasota and was featured on an episode of the medical sitcom “Scrubs.”
Sexton was also signed to Atlantic Records at one point, releasing 1998’s “The American” and 2000’s “Wonder Bar” on the label. 7 p.m. Monday; McCurdy’s Comedy Theatre, 1923 Ringling Blvd., Sarasota; $87; 941-925-3869; mccurdyscomedy.com
Diego Figueiredo
Fogartyville’s live music lineup this week will also include a return from Grammy-nominated Brazilian jazz guitarist Diego Figueiredo. Area residents may already recognize Figueiredo from his previous performances at Sarasota Jazz Festival and other local venues, performing by himself or with other musicians, including Italian singer Chiara Izzi.
It was one such collaboration that earned Figueiredo his Grammy nomination, in the Best Arrangement, Instruments and Vocals category, for a rendition of “Marry Me a Little” with French singer Cyrille Aimée. 6 p.m. doors, 7 p.m. show Wednesday; Fogartyville Community Media and Arts Center, 525 Kumquat Court, Sarasota; $35, $30 members, $17 students ages 13 and up (sold out as of press time); 941-894-6469; fogartyville.org
Email entertainment reporter Jimmy Geurts at jimmy.geurts@heraldtribune.com. Support local journalism by subscribing.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Top 8 concerts this week in Sarasota, Bradenton, Punta Gorda
Reporting by Jimmy Geurts, Sarasota Herald-Tribune / Sarasota Herald-Tribune
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