Gasparilla Music Festival Initial Lineup Promises Wild Ride Through Music’s Landscape
Boom! The Gasparilla Music Festival is coming in hot again in 2018 with an initial lineup headed up by the coolest cats in contemporary music and progressive hip hop – The Roots. Also on a bill chock-full of diverse acts are indie, experimental rockers Spoon, the electronic-rock duo Break Science, alternative rocker Mondo Cozmo, singer-songwriter Father John Misty and more.
Set to go off March 10-11 in downtown Tampa, the two-day festival promises 40 bands performing across five stages including Eric Tessmer, Imagination Movers, Kolars, The Cave Singers and The War And Treaty, with more to be announced.
Founded in Philadelphia by Tariq Trotter and Questlove, The Roots have been smashing musical and social barriers since 1987. Much of the world knows them better as The Tonight Show’s house band, but these cats are so much more. Weaving rap, jazz, gospel, hip hop, blues, country, rock ‘n’ roll, R&B, alternative, trance, house and new age, they’ve spent years coaxing the conscience of America toward social justice while simultaneously inciting the world to dance. They’ll be sure to fill the main stage at Gasparilla with some seriously righteous grooves.
Spoon often gets heaped into the indie-rock bucket, but they are quite simply a really, really good rock band whose raw, alt-experimental tunes, including “Don’t You Evah” and “The Underdog,” have been all over the airwaves and on TV and film over the course of nearly two decades. Fans know their work from TV shows like The Simpsons, House and Scrubs and movies such as Horrible Bosses and Spider-Man: Homecoming. Festival-goers are sure to count themselves lucky to experience the raw energy of this critically acclaimed but under-recognized band.
Okay freaky-folky types, Gasparilla has your number. Singer-song writer Father John Misty (a.k.a Josh Tillman) will be taking you on a viscerally beautiful journey through his dark and sometimes comedic ruminations on life. Fiercely uncensored, Tillman’s breakthrough album in 2015, I Love You, Honeybear, reaches back into the lush soundscapes of 1970s Los Angeles and drew critical comparisons to Leonard Cohen. This milestone was surpassed by the release of his latest album Pure Comedy, which he will be playing with his heart pouring onto the stage in Tampa.
A little further down that singer-songwriter path is Mondo Cozmo (called Joshua Keith Ostrander by his mom), whose soaring single “Shine” off his debut album Plastic Soul shot to number one on the alternative charts earlier this year.
The festival meanders into Seattle’s indie music scene with The Cave Singers and veers sharply off into jamtronica with Borahm Lee and Adam Deitch of Break Science and space blues with the Glam-A-Billy duo Kolars, made up of guitarist Rob Kolar and drummer Lauren Brown.
Continuing down the road of musical diversity is blues guitarist Eric Tessmer, and gospel and R&B is well represented by the soulful voices of husband and wife duo The War And Treaty.
And lest we forget the littlest fans of music, Gasparilla will feature the kid-rock band, Disney Channel stars and “Juice Box Heroes” Imagination Movers.
If this teaser of a stellar initial line up is just the start, then Tampa better buckle up. You’re in for a wild ride. For more information and for tickets click on the links below.
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