Colin Lane

The sheer amount of music that makes its way to Florida every fall is almost overwhelming. This month is particularly jammed, commonly referred to as “Rocktober” since something noteworthy lands in town nearly every day and festival season kick-starts in earnest. So earnest, in fact, that trying to determine which fests to attend and which to forgo strikes fear in the hearts of many a Bay area music fan. For the most zealous enthusiasts, it’s even more horrifying figuring out how many fests you can possibly fit into your schedule without dropping dead from sheer physical exhaustion, frying your brain from music overload, rupturing your eardrums or downright hurting yourself from too much getting down (or slamming around). The next seven days prove particularly challenging, with four significant festivals hitting at once. Make it a marathon or cherry-pick the one that most suits you — just don’t let the fear of not knowing which to choose paralyze you from choosing any at all…



Coral Skies Music Festival Taking its cue from previous successful events (Big Guava, Coastline), Coral Skies delivers a solid lineup of national acts on two stages along with bountiful beer selections (crafts included), a ‘Foodtruck Topia’ featuring seven mobile food purveyors, and booths featuring Florida-area artisans. “Come a Little Closer” rock outfit Cage the Elephant takes on fest-closing duties with a spirited, ear-wormy blend of garage, psychedelia, blues and noise. Strokes frontman Julian Casablancas croons velvety blasé vocals or raw, jagged howls over a magnetic, grunge-and-noise-flavored dissonance that also evokes darkwave, punk and even some ominous psychedelia in his solo project, The Voidz. The most obvious highlight on this day, however, is greasy, soulful punk-bluesman Benjamin Booker, who returns to his former hometown triumphant, riding the giant wave of buzz from his eponymous ATO debut. Also performing: City and Colour, Manchester Orchestra, Bombay Bicycle Club, Bleachers, Tokyo Police Club, The Hold Steady, Wild Cub, Junior Prom, Good Graeff. Sat., Oct. 25, Noon-11 p.m. MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre, Tampa, $30 & $55 advance, coralskiesfest.com.

Fantasma Music Festival Guavaween may have scaled back to a Voodoo Carnival at a single multi-stage venue, but Fantasma (presented by the Ybor Merchants Association) just keeps growing. This year the programming is spread over several days, including this Saturday-night music fest, which brings a dozen or so bands to three key Ybor venues. Driving pop-punk outfit This Legend — formed by onetime Yellowcard members Longineu Parsons III and Ben Harper — leads the fray; among other acts, Ft. Myers foursome Supros brings hooting, heartening world-seasoned dance rock, and The Dull Blades from Melbourne deliver a guitar-fuzzing, drums-crashing two-man garage-rock attack. Also performing: GreyMarket, Elliott Cohn & Cosmic Sweat Society, Michael Parallax, The Delta Swamp Rats, Hotel Oscar, Soulbotz, and Empire Cinema, with more TBA. Sat., Oct. 25, 9 p.m. Crowbar, New World Brewery, Market on 7th, Ybor City, $10, Ybornow.com.

FolkFest St. Pete The annual street fair/roots music festival to raise funds for Creative Clay sets up on the 1100 block of Central Avenue and offers food, craft beer, art and live music over two days. Saturday headliners Humming House serve up a blend of Nashville-brewed dirt-road folk and vintage Americana imbued with gospel/soul-hued flavor and marked by tuneful masculine-feminine vocal harmonies. Atlanta’s synthesizer-banging, lushly orchestrated alt-folk group Von Grey closes out the festivities on Sunday afternoon, their unexpectedly dynamic sounds and cooing vocal harmonies delivered by four classically-trained sisters: lead singer-songwriters Annika (violin, banjo, guitar, keys) and Fiona (guitar, violin, percussion); Petra (keys, lap steel guitar, electro percussion, backing vox); and Kathryn (cello, bass pedals, mandolin, keys, baking vox). Also performing: Ella Jet, Dean Johanesen, Kenny Beers Band, Genghis Flan, JazzPulse, The Urban Pioneers, Blackbird Morning, A Fragile Tomorrow, Rebekah Pulley & The Reluctant Prophets, The Wholetones. Oct. 25-26: Sat., 10 a.m.-9 p.m.; Sun., 10 a.m.-4 p.m. 1114 Central Ave., St. Petersburg, free admission (weekend VIP passes $50), folkfeststpete.org.

Big Pre-Fest in Little Ybor 2 Last year’s lead-in to Gainesville’s venerable and beloved punk-stuffed Fest was such a success that organizers decided on a redux, whetting the appetites of music fans headed north and serving the rest who just can’t make the trek. We don’t have enough space here to list all the acts performing — there are upwards of 75 spread over seven stages — but there are plenty of highlights: folk-punk favorite Tim Barry, former Hold Steady multi-instrumentalist Franz Nicolay, Midwestern punk-rock vets Banner Pilot, Gainesville’s favored ska-punk kickers Less Than Jake, and indie power-pop rockers Cheap Girls are among them. Wed.-Thurs., Oct. 29-30, 5 p.m. daily.Crowbar, Market on 7th, New World Brewery, Orpheum, Tequilas, Ybor City, $50 two-day pass (single-day and single-venue passes also available), thefestfl.com/prefest.