A weekend of festivals: Sunset Music Fest, 97X Barbecue, WMNF's US Festival tribute – Tampa Bay Times

THE BEATS GO ON: Sunset Music Festival

At last year’s Sunset Music Festival, the focus was all on crowd safety. After two fans died from drug overdoses at Tampa’s largest annual rave in 2016, organizers heightened security across the board, yielding a markedly safer event in 2017.
This year, all the drama is unfolding on stage. The Chainsmokers were initially announced as the headliners for this year’s event, which returns to Raymond James Stadium Saturday and Sunday. Hours later, they jumped off the bill due to what organizers called “unforeseen circumstances,” leaving this year’s SMF without a slam-dunk pop-crossover headliner.
Does that mean the lineup is bad? No, not at all. Saturday’s headliner Marshmello, right, has hits including Wolves with Selena Gomez and Friends with Anne-Marie, and that night’s undercard Rezz is one of the most buzzed-about women in all of EDM. Sprinkled throughout are big names like Excision, Illenium, NGHTMRE, Borgore, Hippie Sabotage, A-Trak, Yo Gotti, Zomboy, Alan Walker, San Holo and 3LAU. And for the first time, SMF is adding two additional stages for a total of five per day.
Tickets are $104.95 and up per day, $189.95 and up for the weekend. After each day, head to the Ritz Ybor, 1503 E Seventh Ave., for after-parties with Borgore on Saturday and Zomboy on Sunday. smftampa.com.

FIND THEM IN THE CLUB: Vanilla Ice, Krewella

The Sunset Music Festival isn’t the only Memorial Day hotspot this weekend. Shephard’s Beach Resort, 619 S Gulfview Blvd. in Clearwater Beach, is getting down with Vanilla Ice, right, DJ Skribble and Positive K at 9 p.m. Saturday; while explosive DJ duo Krewella will man the decks following a full day of EDM on Sunday. $15, or $25 for the weekend. eventbrite.com.

NAME GAME: 97X Barbecue Music and Arts Festival

First it was known as the 97X Backyard BBQ, then the 97X BBQ, then the 97X Barbecue, then the 97X BBQ again. Now, 10 years in, the alt-rock station’s annual spring festival has yet another name: the 97X Barbecue Music and Arts Festival. Yeah, that’s a mouthful (and not the good pulled-pork kind). But they are planning to make good on the “arts” part — muralists Michael Vahl and Sebastian Coolidge will create Instagrammable artwork on site, and other mixed-media artists and vendors will be there, too. And if you only care about the music, it’ll feel like a greatest hits of 97X events past, led by reggae-pop-rockers Dirty Heads, above, and alt-electronic band Awolnation, both familiar faces at previous BBQs and Next Big Things. Other 97X vets include AJR, Judah and the Lion, Robert DeLong and Sir Sly; newbies include Moon Taxi, Lovelytheband and the Young Something. 11 a.m. Saturday. Vinoy Park, St. Petersburg. $29 and up, with free passes available at ticket drop locations through Friday. See 97Xonline.com for details.
Click here for a Q&A with Dirty Heads’ Matt Ochoa and David Foral.

WOZ IT UP: US Too

Odds are we’ll never see U2, Van Halen or the Police perform at Jannus Live or Skipper’s Smokehouse. But you can get a taste of what it might be like this weekend at US Too, a sprawling tribute organized by WMNF-FM 88.5. The two-day show will celebrate the 35th anniversary of the US Festival, organizer Steve Wozniak’s star-studded imagining of a world run by music and technology (or something like that; honestly, all we remember is the killer lineup). Dozens of local artists and tribute acts will honor acts like David Bowie (Mark Alan’s Stardust Memories), the Clash (Ricky Wilcox and Moonsnakes), the Cars (Talk to Mark) and Talking Heads (Row Jomah). 6 p.m. Friday at Skipper’s Smokehouse, 910 Skipper Road, Tampa; and 5 p.m. Saturday at Jannus Live, 200 First Ave. N, St. Petersburg. $15 per day, $25 for both. wmnf.org.
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HIT THE WATER: Floating Sandbar Concert

It’s the ultimate popup show: a blues-rock concert that appears in the waters off St. Petersburg every Memorial Day and Labor Day, drawing thousands of boaters, kayakers and beach-bum hangers-on. For more than a dozen years, organizers Hal and Terri Hammer have organized the free Floating Sandbar Concert at a sandbar off “P” Channel in Riviera Bay, between Weedon Island and St. Pete’s Tanglewood neighborhood. Ken Keller and RedHawk, Hal Hammer Jr. and the Cross Creek Blues Band, Jimmmy Shelton and Vic Sherman and the Chicago Express will perform on a pontoon stage starting around noon Monday, “weather and tides permitting.” facebook.com/sandbarconcertpchannel.
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