Turnstile go big in Orlando Credit: Gold Theory Artists
The last time Turnstile touched down in Orlando, a sold-out House of Blues briefly became the sweatiest place in the city. We’re expecting no less passion or perspiration when the hardcore punk favorites return this week, this time on an even bigger stage.
The tour is in support of Never Enough, the band’s latest release since 2021’s widely well-received Glow On. The Never Enough tour launched in Nashville and finishes up in Orlando on Sunday at the Orlando Amphitheater. It’s one of only two Florida shows, the other at Miami’s III Points Music Festival.
Support for the Orlando show comes courtesy of Amyl & the Sniffers, Speed and Jane Remover.
Above & Beyond go bigger in Orlando Credit: Amelia Troubridge
The British dance-music trio of Jono Grant, Tony McGuinness and Paavo Siljamäki are celebrating their 25th anniversary of making music as Above & Beyond with a tour that is a glorification of music and community. And they’ll be reacquainting themselves with the Orlando music community this week with a big show at the Orlando Amphitheater.
It’s not all just work for the band, though. After a seven-year hiatus, Above & Beyond released Bigger Than All of Us. This fifth album for the band marks a new chapter in their story, blending sonic evolution with a nod to their roots.
“Tony and I looked back at Tri-State because it was the first album we did. We sat down and listened to it, which we hadn’t done in years. We sort of worked out what it was we liked about it and tried to impart some of that into the album to give the album a bit more space compared to the other albums we have done. So that was kind of different, but it was also going back,” Grant says.
Bigger Than All of Us was shaped by years of personal growth, burnout and solo creative exploration. During the band’s quieter years, all three members tried their hand at solo projects.
“It’s very easy in a collective to lose your individuality and your understanding of what you stand for,” Siljamäki says. “The solo projects gave each of us a chance to explore outside the box and find our own unique sound.”
Those individual outings, ironically, helped bring the trio closer, as did the involvement of DJ and producer Dave Dresden as a fourth collaborator. Dresden acted as what Siljamäki calls “glue” between the three core members, offering encouragement and cohesion.
“Sometimes you need a little push from someone outside. Otherwise, you make all these ideas and don’t finish them, and you know, they never get done,” Grant says.
During their lengthy break, the band took plenty of time to tend to their mental and emotional health, addressing creative burnout and finding balance in their personal lives with the neverending demands of the music industry.
“Time is a healer, you know, life hurts, life heals. Without some of those struggles, we wouldn’t be as creative as we are. The difficulties that we have each gone through in our personal lives, we’ve written songs about and in a way, I think, that keeps us grounded and connected and hopefully makes the music relatable as well,” Siljamäki, who has been open about his own struggles since 2018, says.
For Grant, the pause lent by the pandemic in particular provided essential clarity on the need for balance in his life. “It is almost like an addiction, touring or music. On one hand, it is a great form of therapy, but on the other hand, it is work and it is important to have other things in your life to balance it out,” Grant explains.
This tour also marks a change in the Above & Beyond live experience, with a new customized stage design aiming to create an immersive live experience. This new stage ditches the DJ booth and is circular, built to draw in fans “in the round” rather than tower above them.
“We wanted to give the people a feeling of being surrounded by the production,” Siljamäki says.
This is especially fitting, as an essential aspect of Above & Beyond is the relationship they’ve built with their fans.
“People have been married to some of our songs, but also funerals. It’s very touching that they consider our music a part of it. That stuff pulls you through the downs. It provides a lot of comfort and value,” Grant says.
For Above & Beyond, it’s not just about the relationship between the band and their fans, but how the fans help each other out as a wider community.
“It’s a humbling thing, we started something, but now it’s got a life of its own and it’s beautiful,” Siljamäk says.
And these connections are exactly what Bigger Than All of Us (album and tour alike) aims to honor — a reminder that Above & Beyond was never just about three musicians behind the decks, but the community that’s grown up with them over two and a half decades.
As the Orlando show approaches, Above & Beyond relishes these moments of connection now more than ever.
“Whatever is happening in the world around us, what we get to do is we have just two hours, just really connecting with the music, the moment and each other,” Siljamäki says.
(Above & Beyond: 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 12; Orlando Amphitheater, Central Florida Fairgrounds, 4603 W. Colonial Drive; 407-295-3247; $60-$200)
Don’t miss the Canadian punk group Sum 41 on the Orlando stop of their farewell “Tour of the Setting Sum.” Hit up the Orlando Amphitheater Tuesday and travel back to a time of catchy pop-punk melodies and chain wallets.
The electric performance of the nearly three-decades-old group is sure to feature high-energy stage antics and notable hits like “In Too Deep” and “Still Waiting” from the group’s early years.
A guaranteed crowd-pleaser for Tuesday’s show is “Fat Lip,” the biggest early hit (making them an MTV mainstay) from the trio. But Sum 41 isn’t stuck in the past. On the setlist are deep cuts and new tracks from Sum 41’s ambitious new record, Heaven :x: Hell, continuing their heady hybrid of soaring pop melodies with punk undertones.
Bedroom-pop artist Still Woozy is bringing his latest clutch of alternative psychedelic sounds to Orlando in a few days.
Still Woozy is the solo project of Portland-based singer-songwriter-producer Sven Gamsky, who’s been delivering a mix of homespun sounds since his first single, “Vacation,” in 2017.
His latest album, Loveseat, released earlier this year, falls in line with the artist’s unique brand of sonic psychedelia. Michelle opens the show.
7 p.m. Monday, Aug. 19, Orlando Amphitheater, $49-$150.
Karl Marx once proclaimed that “religion is the opium of the masses.” Twenty-four-year old Atlanta rapper Ken Carson, meanwhile, is bringing his Opium record label roster to the masses in the form of his “A Great Chaos” tour.
The “Fighting My Demons” rapper, whose relationship with Orlando includes being arrested outside the Grand Bohemian Hotel in 2021 and performing with fellow Opium artist Destroy Lonely in 2022, is kicking off his tour at the Orlando Amphitheater on Monday.
Fans still waiting on Playboi Carti’s MUSIC album and disappointed in their scrapped “Antagonist” tour will certainly vamp together like it’s prime Project X time all over again.
7 p.m. Monday, July 8, Orlando Amphitheater, $49.50.
Alkaline Trio headline Punk in the Park this summer
Traveling music festival Punk in the Park promises plenty of punk and hardcore legends, along with craft beer, in Orlando for the first time late summer.
Set for mid-September and happening at the fairgrounds, Punk in the Park’s lineup includes Alkaline Trio, The Vandals, Dead Kennedys, Black Flag, T.S.O.L., The Dwarves [OK, sold] and Swingin’ Utters, with plenty more bands to be announced. Bands will be sprawled over two separate stages.
The day is also billed as a “Craft Beer Tasting Festival” so put down your cider and lager [olddddd punk reference that will fall flat].
Punk in the Park happens at the Orlando Amphitheater on Saturday, Sept. 14. Tickets are already on sale through the Festival’s website.
Trick Daddy plays Orlando as part of Music Fest ORL
Despite its decidedly bare-bones name, the minimalist moniker of Music Fest ORL conceals a top-shelf roster of hip-hop and R&B heavyweights.
How about the likes of Keith Sweat, Trick Daddy, Trina, Levelle, Sunshine Anderson, Naomi Joy, Carmen Harrell, Tyesha Williams and Tank, just for starters? Taking place outdoors at the Orlando Amphitheater — don’t sleep on this venue — and, barring unforeseen rain, this should be a perfectly soundtracked way to while away a weekend.
If you need that extra helping of kicks, Tricky Daddy is hosting the official afterparty at XPerience on Colonial Drive later that same evening.
Get ready to rock out this summer with Lamb of God and Mastodon as they bring their Ashes of Leviathan Tour to Orlando.
The heavy twosome tour is a co-headlining trek named after and marking the 20th anniversary of their albums Ashes of the Wake and Leviathan. Both bands promise to play full-album sets.
The tour kicks off in mid-July in Texas, before heading to Florida for two shows — Jacksonville on July 23 and Orlando on July 24.
Hailing from Richmond, Virginia, Lamb of God applies an extreme metal makeover to their heavenly name with songs like “Walk With Me in Hell” and “Laid to Rest.”
Tourmates Mastodon, from Atlanta, are far from extinct, with a discography of 14 albums stacked with heavy anthems like “Blood and Thunder” and “Oblivion.”
The two bands bring their co-headlining tour to the Orlando Amphitheater, accompanied by special guests Kerry King and Malevolence on Wednesday, July 24.
