Tropical Heatwave set for Saturday in Tampa's Ybor City

Every year since the early 1980s,Tropical Heatwave has been the biggest live music event in Tampa, featuring dozens of non-mainstream music acts and a street party atmosphere.

This year's Heatwave has a promising lineup, with more than 50 acts playing in venues around Ybor City. The venues range from bars and clubs to a coffee shop to the Italian Club, a huge old Ybor landmark with two stages.

The music spans genres from folk to rockabilly to jazz, and since everyone has different tastes it's difficult to recommend which bands to check out. But some worth considering are great Tampa bands Acme Jazz Garage and Barely Pink (performing David Bowie's "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars" album), Heatwave veteran Chuck Prophet and Mission Express, the phenomenal indie band Ra Ra Riot, the Peterson Brothers, a fiery young blues band from Texas, wordsmith rocker James McMurtry, post-punk icon Wreckless Eric and venerable roots rock band Dash Rip Rock.

You can go see the band you know and love, but the real kick of Tropical Heatwave is wandering around and stopping in different places to discover bands you've never heard of. You just buy a wristband and it gets you into all the venues

This year's venues are the Ritz Ybor, the Tropical Breeze Stage (at Seventh Avenue and 14th Street), the Italian Club, Crowbar, Tequilas, New World Brewery, Joffrey's Coffee, Cigar City Cider & Mead, and First Chance Last Chance Bar.

Tropical Heatwave is organized by WMNF, Tampa's community radio station.

Details: 5 p.m.- 2 a.m. April 30, locations around Ybor City, Tampa. Tickets: $35. Information: 813-239-8663, tropicalheatwave.org.

-- Marty Clear

This story was originally published April 27, 2016 at 6:08 PM with the headline "Tropical Heatwave set for Saturday in Tampa's Ybor City ."