Gasparilla Music Festival 2016: Local Flavor Meets National Acts
Amazing tunes, savory eats, and even a proposal or two. This is what we got this year at the Gasparilla Music Festival. Now in its 5th year, GMF just refuses to slow down. What started as a one-day concert in the park has grown to a multi-day event that all but takes over downtown Tampa, Florida, with some of the best acts in the country.
This year the festival fell on the weekend after the inaugural Okeechobee Music and Arts Festival: a formidable opponent in the festival space, even as a first-year fest. But you wouldn’t have been able to tell, as GMF was packed to the brim with some of the best genre-spanning acts in the country.
Aside from the phenomenal national (and international!) acts this mighty little festival brings, one of my favorite aspects is the attention that it brings to the local scene. GMF makes a point to book some of the best artists the Tampa Bay area has to offer, in addition to amazing art and performances from local favorites. Familiar faces and friends such as Resinated, Displace, Serotonic, Samauri Shotgun, DieAlps!, Poetry N’ Lotion, The Ries Brothers, Ella Jet and many others were there, not to mention the plethora of amazing local restaurants that were serving great eats all weekend. It is this attention to local flair that has continued to make GMF a success year after year.
But for those who aren’t so local, it is the lineup and beautiful Florida spring weather that bring people down to Curtis Hixon Park. This year alongside the great local options we got (many of which played on a brand new stage, bringing the grand total to five stages!), we were also treated to an eclectic lineup of acts that spread across multiple genres. From the slow folk of Blitzen Trapper to the fusion punk of Lucero, electro-pop duo MS MR and upbeat tunes from Houndmouth, classic reggae royalty from Steven Marley, basically ALL THE HORNS from a variety of performers, and of course, the best of hip-hop and R&B from Talib Kweli and Erykah Badu. Even though she was late hitting the stage, she gave it everything she had, and the crowd ate it up!
There really was no better way to hear a variety of music in such a beautiful setting on the Hillsborough River. We can’t wait to see how this festival continues to grow next year! Check out our pictures from the event, and stay tuned for info on what they have in store coming up.
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