Biggest concerts, comedians coming to Tampa, Sarasota from October to December
We officially enter fall on Sunday, followed by winter in December, yet even as we leave the summer blockbuster tour season, that doesn't mean we'll have any shortage of famous performers visiting our area over the next three months.
Those performers will range from young stars in pop, hip-hop and country music to veterans on what they claim are their farewell tours, as well as some of the biggest names in stand-up comedy. As we enter December, we'll also start seeing Christmas shows — including by two bands originating from Tampa, among numerous local connections on this list of performers.
Here are our choices for the biggest concerts and comedians set to visit the greater Tampa Bay area, including Sarasota, from October to December, listed in chronological order. Event details are subject to change.
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Morgan Wallen
Oct. 4; Raymond James Stadium, Tampa; raymondjamesstadium.com
The controversial yet still hugely popular country musician performs the second of two shows at Tampa's Raymond James Stadium, with this show being a rescheduled date after he postponed a July concert hours before it was supposed to take place. (Ticketholders did get a nice consolation prize when opener Jelly Roll played a club show at the Dallas Bull that night.) Cole Swindell, Nate Smith and Lauren Watkins open on this new date.
The Marley Brothers
Oct. 4; MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre, Tampa; midflorida.com/about-us/amphitheatre
After this year's biopic "Bob Marley: One Love" brought even more attention to the already wildly popular reggae icon, Marley's musician sons set out on tour together. Those include Ziggy, Stephen, Julian, Ky-Mani and Damien Marley, all of whom are either Grammy winners (with Ziggy and Stephen both eight-time winners) or nominees, almost entirely in the Best Reggae Album category.
Nicki Minaj
Oct. 5; Amalie Arena, Tampa; amaliearena.com
The rapper visits Tampa on tour while supporting last year's "Pink Friday 2," a sequel to her 2010 debut studio album. While Nicki Minaj has become a divisive figure in recent years thanks in large part to her tendency of feuding with other musicians, including releasing the Megan Thee Stallion diss track "Big Foot," she still has a huge fanbase, with the Pink Friday 2 tour currently the highest-grossing one ever by a woman rapper.
Ms. Pat
Oct. 6; Tampa Theatre, Tampa; tampatheatre.org
Comedian Ms. Pat first gained prominence for her stand-up and comedy podcast appearances detailing her upbringing and drug-dealing past. Since then, she's starred in the Emmy-nominated sitcom "The Ms. Pat Show," hosted the courthouse comedy show "Ms. Pat Settles It," and acted in this year's film remake of "Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead."
Teddy Swims
Oct. 10; Seminole Hard Rock Tampa Event Center, Tampa; casino.hardrock.com/tampa
After playing last year's Jingle Ball at Amalie Arena, genre-bending soul singer Teddy Swims will headline Seminole Hard Rock Tampa Event Center in a sold-out show. He also recently appeared at this year's MTV Video Music Awards, where he earned nominations including Song of the Year for his No. 1 hit "Lose Control."
Clearwater Jazz Holiday
Oct. 17-20; Coachman Park, Clearwater; clearwaterjazz.com
The annual, multi-day music festival returns, with this year's headliners including saxophonist Boney James, guitarist Cory Wong, "The Way It Is" pianist Bruce Hornsby with his band the Noisemakers, and soul group St. Paul and the Broken Bones. Along with St. Paul and the Broken Bones, the festival's final day features gospel singer legend Mavis Staples, Bradenton alt-Americana group Have Gun, Will Travel and Allman Brothers Band tribute Steeln' Peaches.
Andrew Dice Clay
Oct. 23-24; Side Splitters Comedy Club, Tampa; sidesplitterscomedy.com; Oct. 25-26; McCurdy's Comedy Theatre, Sarasota; mccurdyscomedy.com
The comedian rose to fame with his deliberately offensive "The Diceman" persona in the '80s and '90s, becoming the first stand-up comic to sell out Madison Square Garden two nights in a row. He still performs stand-up today, as well as acting, appearing recently in the Oscar-winning film "A Star is Born" and Emmy-nominated miniseries "Pam & Tommy."
Sabrina Carpenter
Oct. 25; Amalie Arena
In the debate over this year's song of the summer, one of the strongest contenders is pop star Sabrina Carpenter's song "Espresso," which currently has more than a billion Spotify streams and just won the MTV Video Music Award for Song of the Year. It was the lead single to her latest album "Short n' Sweet," which topped the Billboard 200 upon its release in August and also features the No. 1 hit "Please Please Please."
Latto
Oct. 25; Yuengling Center, Tampa; yuenglingcenter.com
Rapper Latto is having her breakout moment thanks to hits such as her Tom Tom Club's "Genius of Love"-sampling 2021 single "Big Energy" (also sampled on "Fantasy" by Mariah Carey, who appears on the "Big Energy" remix) and her feature on BTS member Jungkook's 2023 No. 1 hit "Seven," earning a Best New Artist Grammy nomination that same year. She tours in support of her latest album "Sugar Honey Iced Tea," which was released in August.
Cyndi Lauper
Nov. 6; Amalie Arena
The Grammy, Tony and Emmy-winning pop star is set to hit the road one more time on her Girls Just Wanna Have Fun farewell tour, named after the lead single off her 1983 debut studio album "She's So Unusual" and still one of her most popular tracks. Expect to hear that song and other hits of hers such as "Time After Time," "She Bop," "True Colors" and "Change of Heart."
Gabriel Iglesias
Nov. 9; Amalie Arena
One of the few stand-up comics who could legitimately be considered a stadium act — his 2022 Netflix special "Stadium Fluffy" was filmed at Los Angeles' Dodger Stadium in front of a sell-out crowd, becoming the first comedian to do so — returns to Tampa to headline Amalie Arena. Along with his multiple specials, Iglesias has acted in TV shows and films that include 2012's Tampa-set and shot male stripper movie "Magic Mike."
Patti Smith
Nov. 14; Marie Selby Botanical Gardens Historic Spanish Point Campus, Osprey; selby.org
The singer-songwriter and inaugural Selby Gardens artist in residence will once again perform at the gardens, this time surrounding the art exhibition "Patti Smith: A Book of Days." Smith's accolades include her 1975 album "Horses" being inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame and named the 26th greatest album of all time by Rolling Stone, which also named her the 47th best musical act of all time, and her Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction.
Leslie Jones
Nov. 22; Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, Sarasota; vanwezel.org
Many know Leslie Jones best for her work on TV shows such as her six-year, Emmy-nominated stint on "Saturday Night Live" or movies such as the 2016 "Ghostbusters" reboot. Before all that, though, she was a stand-up comic, with her 2010 Showtime special "Problem Child" coming out four years before she joined "SNL," and she remains one, releasing another special called "Time Machine" on Netflix in 2020.
Bonnie Raitt
Nov. 23; Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater; rutheckerdhall.com
The singer-songwriter visits Ruth Eckerd Hall while touring around her 2022 album "Just Like That...," with its title track winning the 2023 Song of the Year Grammy, and a few weeks before receiving Kennedy Center Honors. Raitt's long list of accolades also includes a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction and Rolling Stone naming her both one of the best singers and guitarists of all time
Kacey Musgraves
Nov. 29; Amalie Arena
The seven-time Grammy-winning country music singer-songwriter tours after releasing her latest album "Deeper Well" earlier this year, which also became her most commercially successful album after debuting at No. 2 just behind pop star Ariana Grande. Be sure to get there early to see the openers, indie-folk act Lord Huron and reunited bluegrass group Nickel Creek.
Pentatonix
Dec. 3; Amalie Arena
The Grammy-winning a cappella group has performed several genres of songs, but in recent years has become particularly well-known for Christmas music, with their recent releases including last year's "The Greatest Christmas Hits" and 2022's "Holidays Around the World." They visit Tampa in December just a few weeks ahead of Christmas while on their Hallelujah! It's A Christmas tour.
Brian Regan
Dec. 5; The Mahaffey Theater, St. Petersburg; themahaffey.com
The Miami-born Brian Regan is one of the rare stand-up comedians who became a big name without any major television or movie roles to his name, instead developing his fanbase through his live shows and stand-up specials, most recently 2021's "On the Rocks." In recent years, Regan did have a prominent role on Oscar-winning director Peter Farrelly's series "Loudermilk."
Lewis Black
Dec. 6; Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall
The comedian embarks on his Goodbye Yeller Brick Road: The Final Tour (an amusing riff on Elton John's "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.") Lewis Black is known for his comedic rants fueled by righteous outrage, displayed on his "Back in Black" segments for "The Daily Show," Best Comedy Album Grammy-winning specials such as "Stark Raving Black," and voicing the embodiment of anger in Pixar's 2015 Oscar-winning animated film "Inside Out" and this year's hit sequel.
Sebastian Maniscalco
Dec. 7; Amalie Arena
Like Brian Regan (but unlike many other stand-up comedians), Maniscalco became a big name in the genre without any major movie or television roles to his name, leading the New York Times in 2019 to ask "How is the Hottest Comic in America Still Under the Radar?" He's only grown more popular since then, which has resulted in lead roles in the movie "About My Father" and the sitcom "Bookie."
Lakewood Ranch Blues Festival
Dec. 7; Waterside Park, Lakewood Ranch; lakewoodranch.com/bluesfest
It was announced earlier this year that Bradenton Blues Festival would not return for 2024, but luckily it didn't take long for the festival's artistic director (among others) to create Lakewood Ranch Blues Festival. The lineup, featuring Grammy-nominated and Blues Music Award-winning artists, includes Danielle Nicole, Vanessa Collier, Kat Riggins, Monster Mike Welch, Mitch Woods & His Rocket 88's, Dylan Triplett and Melody Angel.
The Outlaws
Dec. 12-13; Capitol Theatre, Clearwater; rutheckerdhall.com
After a string of tour dates with fellow Southern rockers ZZ Top and Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Tampa-formed Outlaws host their annual hometown holiday concert Green Grass and Yuletide Jam, which takes its name from one of the group's most popular songs, "Green Grass and High Tides." They'll be joined by John Cafferty & The Beaver Brown Band, best known as the band from the 1983 movie "Eddie and the Cruisers."
Jerry Seinfeld
Dec. 13-14; Ruth Eckerd Hall
Jerry Seinfeld visits Ruth Eckerd Hall for four stand-up shows over two nights. It's been a busy year for Seinfeld, who appeared on the series finale of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" (whose star Larry David co-created the sitcom "Seinfeld" that launched its namesake into superstardom) as well as directed, co-wrote and starred in the Netflix Pop-Tarts comedy "Unfrosted."
Underoath
Dec. 13-16; Jannus Live, St. Petersburg; jannuslive.com
Metalcore band Underoath is one of the most successful modern-day musical acts from Tampa, earning two gold albums with 2004's "They're Only Chasing Safety" and 2006's "Define the Great Line," which also reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200. They clearly still have a following, too — as of press time, two of their four Jannus Live shows marking the 20th anniversary of "They're Only Chasing Safety" were sold out, with the other two appearing not far off.
Trans-Siberian Orchestra
Dec. 15; Amalie Arena
Also hailing from Tampa is Trans-Siberian Orchestra, founded in 1996 by Jon Oliva and Al Pitrelli of heavy metal band Savatage, along with Robert Kinkel and the late producer Paul O'Neill, and their Amalie Arena shows have become arguably the biggest Christmas onstage production locally. The group has released multiple Christmas-themed albums that've gone multi-platinum, such as 1996's "Christmas Eve and Other Stories" and 2004's "The Lost Christmas Eve."
Martin Lawrence
Dec. 15; Seminole Hard Rock Tampa Event Center
Martin Lawrence starred in one of this summer movie season's biggest hits, "Bad Boys: Ride or Die," the fourth entry in the Miami-set buddy cop series co-starring Will Smith. He returns to Florida on his Y’all Know What It Is! comedy tour, a new one-hour stand-up set where he "brings the real talk and finds the funny in everything from family to culture as only he can."
Cheap Trick
Dec. 17; Seminole Hard Rock Tampa Event Center
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame-inducted power-pop group, known for records including the triple-platinum live album "At Budokan" and songs such as "Surrender," "I Want You to Want Me" and "The Flame," play Hard Rock Tampa in what's something of a hometown show for them: Frontman Robin Zander lives in the Pinellas County city of Safety Harbor.
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This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Biggest concerts, comedians Tampa, Sarasota October November December