The top concerts taking place in Sarasota and Charlotte counties this week.
Jimmy GeurtsSarasota Herald-Tribune
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This week marks the start of March, which looks to be the busiest month of the year so far for events in the Sarasota area, including live music, which is evident in this concert picks installment. For instance, Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall will feature not one, not two, but three Rock & Roll Hall of Fame-inducted R&B legends, each with multiple Grammy Hall of Fame recordings to their names.
It'll also be a busy week at another Sarasota venue, Big Top Live, comprising half of this concert picks installment with performers ranging from a Grammy-nominated rap group to a power-pop act that earned a hit (and the ire of certain phone users) with one of their songs in the '80s. Here are this week's highlights. Event details are subject to change.
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Betty Fox Band
Big Top Live's busy week of live music will kick off with a show featuring soul-blues singer Betty Fox and her band. Though she now lives in Georgia, Fox hails from the Tampa Bay area and still regularly performs there, including another show at Big Top Live last year as part of its Sunday Blues & Brews concert series. Fox earned a Best Emerging Artist Album Blues Music Award nomination for her 2020 full-length "Peace in Pieces" — recorded at the historic FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama — but previously released albums while still a Tampa Bay resident such as 2015's "Slow Burn" and 2012's "Too Far Gone." 7 p.m. Friday; Big Top Live, 975 Cattlemen Road, Sarasota; free, $15 reserved table seat; 941-371-2939;bigtoplive.com
Nappy Roots
Big Top Live's concert lineup this week will also include Kentucky rap group Nappy Roots. The group rose to fame with their 2002 platinum-selling debut studio album "Watermelon, Chicken & Gritz" and singles such as "Po' Folks" featuring Anthony Hamilton, which reached No. 21 on the Billboard Hot 100 and earned a Grammy nomination for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration. Over time, however, their most popular song has become 2007's "Good Day," which has appeared on TV shows and movies ranging from the 2016 children's animated film "The Secret Life of Pets" to 2022's slightly less kid-friendly "Jackass Forever." DJ Shizm from 106.5 and 102.9 The Beat also performs. 7 p.m. Saturday; Big Top Live, 975 Cattlemen Road, Sarasota; $25; 941-371-2939;bigtoplive.com
Richard Smith
Nashville-based fingerpicking guitarist Richard Smith will visit Venice's Troll Music on Saturday for both a concert and a guitar workshop. Smith has earned multiple accolades, including being named Thumbpicker of the Year in 2021 and 2008 by the National Thumbpickers Hall of Fame, which inducted him in 2009.Along with his own releases, Smith operates Tunesmith Studio, where numerous artists have recorded including Sarasota roots-rockers The Divebombers (who play Troll Music themselves Sunday) for their album "The Nashville Sessions." 3-4:30 p.m. workshop, 8-10 p.m. concert Saturday; Troll Music, 628 E. Venice Ave., Venice; $30 each event; 941-484-8765;trollmusic.com
Sean Chambers
Fort Myers blues-rock guitarist and singer-songwriter Sean Chambers will release the live album "Live from Daryl's House Club" on Friday, with shows at Celtic Ray and Big Top Live the following days. The album was recorded at Daryl Hall's venue of the same name in Pawling, New York, and features him backed by Savoy Brown Rhythm Section — bassist Pat DeSalvo and drummer Garnet Grimm — who Chambers has been playing with since Savoy Brown's founding member Kim Simmonds died in 2022. Chambers himself was formerly a guitarist and bandleader for the late blues great Hubert Sumlin, paying tribute to him on his 2021 album "That's What I'm Talkin About." 8 p.m. Saturday; Celtic Ray Public House, 145 E. Marion Ave., Punta Gorda; 941-916-9115;celticray.net; 4 p.m. Sunday; Big Top Live, 975 Cattlemen Road, Sarasota; free, $15 reserved table seat; 941-371-2939;bigtoplive.com
The Temptations and Four Tops
Two R&B groups that've been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and named among the greatest artists of all time by Rolling Stone will share the stage when the Temptations and the Four Tops visit Van Wezel. Several of the best Motown recordings come from the two groups, including the Temptations' "My Girl" and "Papa was a Rollin' Stone" and the Four Tops' "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)" and "Reach Out I'll Be There," all of which were No. 1 hits and inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. Though the Four Tops no longer features any founding members following Abdul "Duke" Fakir's retirement and subsequent death last year, the Temptations still features original member Otis Williams. 7:30 p.m. Monday; Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, 777 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota; $65-$115; 941-263-6799;vanwezel.org
Gladys Knight
Van Wezel will welcome another Rock & Roll Hall of Fame-inducted R&B legend this week with the return of Gladys Knight. The singer was inducted into the Hall of Fame for fronting Gladys Knight & the Pips, who also have two Grammy Hall of Fame recordings for their renditions of "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" and "Midnight Train to Georgia." Other accolades Knight has earned, both with the Pips and as a solo artist, include a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award last year (as well as seven competitive Grammys), a National Medal of Arts in 2021, Kennedy Center Honors in 2022, and being named one of the best singers of all time by Rolling Stone in 2023. 7:30 p.m. Wednesday; Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, 777 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota; $85-$130; 941-263-6799; vanwezel.org
SIRSY
Upstate New York pop-rock group SIRSY is also set to play shows at Big Top Live and Celtic Ray this week. The band comprises the wife-and-husband duo of singer and drummer Melanie Krahmer and guitarist Rich Libutti, who can both also play bass, among other instruments. Their song "Cannonball," the opening track off of their 2013 album "Coming Into Frame," appeared on the Showtime series "Shameless," and they most recently released this year's single "Stupid Little Heart." 6:30 p.m. Wednesday; Big Top Live, 975 Cattlemen Road, Sarasota; free; 941-371-2939; bigtoplive.com; 7 p.m. Thursday, March 6; Celtic Ray Public House, 145 E. Marion Ave., Punta Gorda; free; 941-916-9115; celticray.net
Tommy Tutone
Big Top Live finishes out the week with power-pop group Tommy Tutone, still featuring founding frontman Tommy Heath. Tommy Tutone's 1980 self-titled debut album scored a minor hit with the song "Angel Say No" and a slot opening for Gainesville native Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers on tour in support of "Damn the Torpedoes." Yet they found their greatest success with the 1981 follow-up "Tommy Tutone 2" and its single "867-5309/Jenny," which became a No. 4 hit (and the bane of many people with that phone number.) Bobby Schneck's Shaky Pudding, featuring the guitarist who's played with such acts as Slash and Weezer, also performs. 7 p.m. Thursday; Big Top Live, 975 Cattlemen Road, Sarasota; $25; 941-371-2939;bigtoplive.com
Ringling Underground
Ringling Underground, the concert series held in The Ringling's courtyard featuring up-and-coming artists and free admission for students, returns for its latest installment, with Nashville-by-way-of-Florida indie-rock act Laney Jones headlining. Jones' fans include Lucinda Williams, who once proclaimed her "everything that’s good about rock and roll," and Kurt Vile and Heartless Bastards, who Jones has opened for, along with her own spot on South by Southwest's music lineup last year. Tampa indie-rockers Hot Honey, who cite Alanis Morissette, Lucy Dacus and Paramore as inspirations, and hip-hop duo Optimystic! and Ananda Rose will also perform. 8 p.m. Thursday; The Ringling, 5401 Bay Shore Road, Sarasota; $15, free students with ID/members; 941-359-5700;ringling.org
Wayne Baker Brooks Band
Sarasota County restaurant and venue Englewoods on Dearborn, one of the best places to see nationally touring blues musicians live locally, will feature a return visit by Chicago bluesman Wayne Baker Brooks. He hails from a musical family that includes his father, blues legend Lonnie Brooks, and his brother, Ronnie Baker Brooks. His own career accolades include induction into the Chicago Blues Hall of Fame, performing at a send-off ceremony for Buddy Guy before he headed to D.C. to receive Kennedy Center Honors, and a cameo in "Blues Brothers 2000," which his father appeared in. Can't make this show? He's also set to play Cottonmouth in Bradenton the following night. 6:30 p.m. Thursday; Englewoods on Dearborn, 362 W. Dearborn St., Englewood; $10; 941-475-7501; englewoodsondearborn.com
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Email entertainment reporter Jimmy Geurts at jimmy.geurts@heraldtribune.com. Support local journalism bysubscribing.
