Summertime blues? Check. South Florida venues have it, along with summertime folk-rock, glam-rock, comedy-rock, classic rock, jazz/fusion, and modern rock and pop.
As tourist season ends, locals get a chance to turn up the heat, especially at open-air venues such as Coral Sky Ampitheatre in West Palm Beach, Mizner Park Ampitheater in Boca Raton, and Bayfront Park Ampitheatre in Miami. For those more inclined toward air conditioning, there are multiple indoor concert halls and nightclubs beckoning people to get out of the kitchen.
He may have literally tried to use his celebrity as a get-out-of-jail card after a drug bust in the past, but 77-year-old singer, guitarist and songwriter David Crosby remains one of the signature remaining voices from the Woodstock era. Crosby has a handful of solo recordings since 1971, the latest being last year’s Here If You Listen, but the Los Angeles native is best-known as a founding member of groups The Byrds and Crosby, Stills & Nash, each of which he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with. After appearing on The Byrds’ first five albums, Crosby appeared onstage with Buffalo Springfield (which included singer/guitarist Stephen Stills) for the first time at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967, hastening the formation of CSN. That group became even more of a force after fellow singer/guitarist Neil Young made it CSN&Y in 1969, resulting in classic releases like Déjà Vu and Four Way Street. 7:30 p.m. May 21, Parker Playhouse, 707 N.E. 8th St., Fort Lauderdale (833-215-5121, $74 and up).
Clown? Cover artist? Goofball? The gift of California-born singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and satirist Alfred Matthew “Weird Al” Yankovic is that he doesn’t ever appear to try to take himself seriously enough to attempt to avoid any of those tags. As a child, choosing accordion rather than guitar lessons charted Yankovic’s left-of-center musical course, and earning a bachelor’s degree in architecture fueled one of his more popular recent parodies, the autobiographical “White & Nerdy,” inspired by the Charmillionaire & Krayzie Bone hip-hop hit “Ridin.’” Yankovic’s rise to fame started with such video mashups of 1970s and 1980s hits like The Knack’s “My Sharona” (“My Bologna”), Michael Jackson’s “Bad” (“Fat”), and The Police’s “King of Pain” (“King of Suede”). His latest release, the 15-album set Squeeze Box, earned Yankovic his fifth Grammy Award for Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package this year. 8 p.m. June 6, Au-Rene Theater at Broward Center for the Performing Arts, 201 S.W. 5th Ave., Fort Lauderdale (866-820-4553, $73 and up).
Modern Family may be one of the most popular network TV series in recent memory, but it has nothing on the modern family that is blues juggernaut the Tedeschi Trucks Band. Singer/guitarist Susan Tedeschi and lead guitarist Derek Trucks, married since 1999, each simultaneously led their own successful self-titled groups and raised their children before combining forces in this 12-piece ensemble a decade ago. The group earned a Grammy Award for Best Blues Album for its 2011 debut Revelator, but as with all families, hardships followed. Trucks, also a member of the Allman Brothers Band from 1999-2014, has lost former bandmates Gregg Allman and his uncle, Butch Trucks, since 2017. And on the day the new TTB album, Signs, was released in February, its gifted keyboardist/flutist Kofi Burbridge died at age 57 during heart surgery. Nashville-based keyboardist/vocalist Gabe Dixon has filled his slot on the 2019 tour. 7 p.m. June 29 at Mizner Park Ampitheater, 590 Plaza Real, Boca Raton (800-877-7575, $39.50 and up).
If it seems like the Dave Matthews Band appears at Coral Sky Ampitheatre in West Palm Beach every summer, it’s because it practically does. Which isn’t a bad thing, since the group has been one of the top touring acts since forming in Charlottesville, Va., in 1991. Matthews’ impassioned lead vocals and complex, underrated acoustic guitar playing are always a highlight, and the founding rhythm section consists of rock-solid bassist Stefan Lessard and fiery drummer/vocalist Carter Beauford. Scene-stealing saxophonist Jeff Coffin, previously with Bela Fleck & the Flecktones, replaced founding saxophonist LeRoi Moore (1961-2008) around the same time that lead guitarist Tim Reynolds joined. Trumpeter/vocalist Rashawn Ross and keyboardist/vocalist Buddy Strong round out the lineup, certain to play material from gems like Crash (1996) and Before These Crowded Streets (1998) as well as last year’s Come Tomorrow. 7 p.m. July 26 and 8 p.m. July 27, Coral Sky Ampitheatre, 601-7 Sansburys Way, West Palm Beach (800-854-2196, $65 and up).
Seattle-spawned band Heart returns to touring in 2019, a few years after founding sisters Ann Wilson (vocals) and Nancy Wilson (guitar/vocals) split up in what seemed like a soap opera script. Riding high after an overdue 2013 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame — complete with a ceremony performance with seminal former bandmates Roger Fisher (guitar), Howard Leese (keyboards/guitar), Steve Fossen (bass) and Michael Derosier (drums) — Heart derailed in 2016. While on tour in Washington, Nancy’s then 16-year-old twin sons got permission from Ann’s husband, Dean Wetter, to look through her new tour bus providing they close the door so her dogs couldn’t escape. When they didn’t, Wetter assaulted them and was arrested, avoiding jail time through a guilty plea agreement. After performing separately through last year, the Wilson sisters are now back where they belong, co-fronting Heart, one of rock’s all-time great live acts. 7 p.m. August 16, Coral Sky Ampitheatre (877-582-9297, $45 and up).
Veteran rockers Queen couldn’t have asked for a better career booster than Bohemian Rhapsody, last year’s biopic of the band with an emphasis on vocalist/keyboardist Freddie Mercury (1946-1991), portrayed by Best Actor Oscar-winner Rami Malek. After floundering in the years leading up to and following Mercury’s death from complications with AIDS, Queen practically went on hiatus. Bassist/vocalist John Deacon left the band in 1997, leaving only guitarist/vocalist Brian May and drummer/vocalist Roger Taylor, who let it lie dormant until 2004, when they recruited former Free and Bad Company vocalist Paul Rodgers through 2009. Current vocalist Adam Lambert rose to fame by finishing second that year on American Idol, and joined forces with the royal rockers in 2011. Bassist/vocalist Neil Fairclough, keyboardist/guitarist/vocalist Spike Edney, and percussionist/vocalist Tyler Warren round out the current touring lineup. 8 p.m. August 17, BB&T Center, 1 Panther Parkway, Sunrise (866-820-4553, $300 and up).
There may be no more enigmatic of a figure in popular music over the past 30 years than Los Angeles-born singer, songwriter, keyboardist and guitarist Bek David Hansen, who now goes by the name Beck Hansen, but is best-known as simply Beck. The 48-year-old’s stage name, for example, is only the last name of one of rock’s greatest guitarists, Jeff Beck, and the singular Beck was first known as an acoustic performer within Greenwich Village’s anti-folk scene in the late 1980s and early 1990s. After moving back to L.A., he decided to experiment by recording hip-hop — much like the Beastie Boys did — and released the 12-inch vinyl single “Loser” in 1993. To Beck’s surprise, it created a bidding war among major recording labels, and he’s never had to look back since, also traversing country, jazz, funk and blues through his latest release, Colors (2017). Opening is popular Kentucky indie-rock band Cage the Elephant. 8 p.m. August 30, Coral Sky Ampitheatre (888-456-8499, $29 and up).
“Moving On!” is the theme of the current, and possibly last, tour by British rock icons The Who, as expressed by guitarist/vocalist Pete Townshend (set to turn 73 years old) and vocalist Roger Daltrey (75). And those two certainly know a thing or two about moving on. When hyper-kinetic drummer/vocalist Keith Moon (1946-1978) died of a drug overdose, they replaced him with Kenney Jones from 1978-1988. When signature bassist/vocalist John Entwistle (1944-2002) died of a heart attack, he was replaced on tour by Pino Palladino for the next 15 years. Still, the group was a sonic force from 1965-1975, appearing at Woodstock and releasing two stellar rock operas (Tommy, Quadrophenia) and one of the great concert albums, Live at Leeds. Current personnel includes bassist Jon Button, keyboardist/vocalist Loren Gold, drummer Zak Starkey (Ringo Starr’s son) and guitarist/vocalist Simon Townshend (Pete’s brother). 7:30 p.m. September 20, BB&T Center (800-854-2196, $51 and up).
One of the greatest jazz/fusion drummers of all-time, Billy Cobham celebrates his 75th birthday (May 16) by including a rare South Florida nightclub appearance by his all-star Crosswinds Project — with trumpeter Randy Brecker, guitarist Fareed Haque, bassist Tim Landers, keyboardist Scott Tibbs and bassoonist Paul Hanson. A native of Panama who moved to Brooklyn, N.Y., with his family at age 3, Cobham’s militaristic playing style was honed as a member of the United States Army band from 1965-1968. Groundbreaking recording sessions from Miles Davis and Milt Jackson to James Brown and George Benson followed, and Cobham became a star by matching guitarist John McLaughlin beat-for-note in the incendiary fusion act Mahavishnu Orchestra in the early 1970s. The drummer’s 1973 solo debut Spectrum, and 1974 follow-up Crosswinds, are also examples of his amazing ambidexterity, speed, and precision. 8:30 p.m. Sept. 22, Funky Biscuit, 303 S.E. Mizner Blvd., Boca Raton (561-465-3946, $50-$80).