Tampa’s Gasparilla Music Festival held what turned out to be probably the last festival of 2020 – in March. Literally days after, everything shut down, leaving those memories extra-special. For this year, it’s moved to the fall, but might just be the only festival not to have skipped a year, but returns Friday-Sunday, October 1st-3rd:
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 1st
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JW Marriot Stage |
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Sofi Tukker, 9:30 PM Sophie Hawley-Weld and Tucker Halpern form house duo Sofi Tukker (QRO photos outdoors). They’re a favorite for team-ups (QRO team-up single review) and commercials, and bring their jungle-pop to Gasparilla (QRO photos at a festival). |
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MOD SUN, 8:15 PM Minnesota’s Derek Ryan Smith came up playing drums in pop-punk & post-hardcore bands, but in 2009 started his own rap career as MOD SUN, and is four albums deep with this year’s Internet Killed the Rockstar. |
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Also: Babyjake, 7:00 PM Cade, 6:00 PM DJ Casper, 5:00 PM |
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Morgan Automotive Stage |
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Young MC, 8:45 PM “Bust a Move” to the Camp the Park After Party for the iconic O.G. rapper Young MC. |
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SATURDAY, OCTOBER 2nd
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JW Marriot Stage |
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Nas, 9:00 PM One of the most consistently strong rappers for more years than you realize has been Nas (QRO photos at a festival). His 1994 debut Illmatic has been consistently ranked as one of the greatest hip-hop albums of all time, and follow-up It Was Written made him internationally famous (as did a ten-year feud with Jay-Z). More recently, he and Damien Marley of reggae fame & family collaborated both on record & live (QRO photos together at a festival), donating all the royalties to African charities, and in last year’s King’s Disease finally won his first Grammy, for Best Rap Album, and is already out this year with King’s Disease II. |
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Sylvan Esso, 7:00 PM Durham, North Carolina indie-pop duo Sylvan Esso (QRO photos outdoors) moved up very fast (QRO photos at a festival) since the release in 2014 of their eponymous debut full-length, with well-titled follow-up What Now (QRO review) out 2017 and Free Love (QRO review) this year. They come to Gasparilla (QRO photos at a festival), because they never stop starting! |
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Parquet Courts, 5:15 PM Bringing grunge back has been the active Parquet Courts (QRO photos at a festival), who come to Tampa for Gasparilla (QRO photos at a festival) after this year’s release of Sympathy for Life. |
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Preservation Hall Jazz Band, 3:30 PM New Orleans’ Preservation Hall has been preserving the iconic city’s jazz tradition not just in the Big Easy but also around the world thanks to the Preservation Hall Jazz Band (QRO photos), who having been bringing Dixieland to other lands since the founding of the hall back in the sixties. |
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Also: The Wildmans, 2:15 PM Gospel Choir, 1:15 PM |
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Morgan Automotive Stage |
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Matt & Kim, 8:15 PM Serious, long-time ‘Friends of the Q’ (QRO spotlight on), it’s been great watching Matt & Kim (QRO photos at a festival) blow up so seriously – without losing their infectious cheer (QRO live review). Singer/keyboardist Matt Johnson (QRO interview) and drummer Kim Schifino (QRO interview) bring a self-described ‘onstage pizza party’ with their sugar-filled hyper-pop/rock on stage (QRO live review). Known for spreading their giant, ever-present grins (QRO photos) to every crowd they play for (QRO live review), large, outdoor stages (QRO live review outdoors) don’t faze them, and neither do massive festivals (QRO photos at a festival), foreign crowds (QRO live review overseas), beer launch celebrations (QRO live review at brewing party), or playing on holidays like New Year’s Eve (QRO live review on New Year’s Eve) or Halloween (QRO live review on Halloween). They also stepped up their musical game on 2009’s Grand (QRO review – QRO live anniversary review), with Sidewalks (QRO review) the following year, 2012’s Lightning (QRO review), 2015’s New Glow (QRO review), 2016’s We Were the Weirdoes EP (QRO review), and 2018’s Almost Everyday (QRO review) . So expect them to rock the crowd (QRO photos), from old tracks like “Silver Tiles” (QRO video) and “Yea Yeah” (QRO video) to Grand ones like “Good Old-Fashioned Nightmare” (QRO video) and “Daylight” (QRO video) to Sidewalks’ “Good For Great” (QRO video), Lightning‘s “Let’s Go” (QRO video) and even a cover of Biz Markie’s “Just a Friend” (QRO video) – as the kids go nuts (QRO photos at a festival), and so do Matt & Kim (QRO live review). The hard-working duo (QRO live review) are coming going offline & back online during the pandemic, and come to Asbury Park (QRO photos at a festival) to rock Gasparilla (QRO live review at a festival). And those up front better be ready for when Matt (QRO interview) sends Kim out to do her ‘booty shakin’ crowd surf’ (QRO photos at a festival)… |
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Also: The Hip Abduction, 6:15 PM 99 Neighbors, 4:45 PM Glove, 3:15 PM Artikal Sound System, 1:45 PM |
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Replay Guitar Exchange Stage |
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Perception with Katara, 7:30 PM Badcameo, 5:45 PM Oxford Noland, 4:15 PM The Drain Outs, 2:45 PM Harp & Cello, 1:15 PM |
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Ferman Amphitheatre Stage |
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Speak Easy, 7:30 PM Pusha Preme, 5:45 PM Row Jomah, 4:15 PM Noan Partly, 2:45 PM |
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SUNDAY, OCTOBER 3rd
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JW Marriot Stage |
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Gov’t Mule, 7:00 PM Many festival jam bands draw their lineage back to sixties hippie bands like The Grateful Dead, but few as directly as Gov’t Mule (QRO photos). Originally begun as a side-project to the reformed Allman Brothers Band in the early nineties, Gov’t Mule right at the cusp of breaking out on their own in 2000 when bassist Allen Woody died. But guitarist Warren Haynes and drummer Matt Abts recovered to become a festival mainstay, featuring a rotating cast of guest members and being guest members, like Haynes’ work in The Dead. They (QRO photos outdoors) come to Gasparilla (QRO photos at a festival) behind this year’s Heavy Load Blues. |
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Keller Williams’ Grateful Gospel, 5:15 PM Skilled multi-instrumentalist Keller Williams (QRO photos at a festival) makes The Dead holy with his special ‘Grateful Gospel’ (QRO Grateful Gospel photos at a festival). |
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The Motet, 3:30 PM The sprawling Motet (QRO photos at a festival) crisscrosses genres as they crisscross the country.
Also: Cedric Burnside, 2:00 PM |
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Morgan Automotive Stage |
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Mondo Cozmo, 5:45 PM In the 2017 festival season, one of the most ubiquitous performers was Josh Ostrander, a.k.a. Mondo Cozmo (QRO photos at a 2017 festival). He’d previously run in acts Laguardia and Eastern Conference Champions, but now is operating solo (QRO photos), and returns to Gasparilla. |
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The Bright Light Social Hour, 4:15 PM Austin’s Bright Light Social Hour (QRO spotlight on) swept the Austin Music Awards in 2011 at SXSW (QRO recap), and have just kept on going since (QRO live review in Austin), most recently with last year’s Jude Vol. II. |
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Also: Vella, 3:00 PM Bears & Lions, 1:45 PM |
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Replay Guitar Exchange Stage |
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Mike Mass & Wave Theory, 5:15 PM Ella Jet, 3:45 PM Visit Neptune, 2:30 PM Yoga with Camp Tampa, 1:00 PM |
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Ferman Amphitheatre Stage |
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Ivy Alex, 5:15 PM Someday River, 3:45 PM Leon Majcen, 2:30 PM Stillhouse Shakers, 1:30 PM |
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