On Friday night, the Timucua Arts Foundation hosted Songwriters in the Round, where local singer-songwriters collaborated with both each other and the 15-strong Mudita Orchestra live on that storied stage. It was an evening of breathtaking and intimate performances from three of the area’s best singer troubadours — host Hannah Stokes, Patrick Hagerman and Hannah Harber Wynn — but given the full flight of orchestral accompaniment.
The Band Camino brought their NeverAlways tour to Orlando on Monday, with massive hooks and cinematic gestures to spare. Oh, and a Justin Bieber cover.
Chameleonic but icy-cool L.A. electro duo Phantogram are back on the road and returning to Orlando this fall, buoyed by bold new sounds and styles.
Case in point: new single “In My Head,” written in collaboration with Charli XCX ally Whethan. This is a band that can tour with the Deftones, casually drop Krautrock references in interviews and then tease a collab with Big Boi, sunglasses still firmly in place.
7 p.m., Sunday,, Oct. 19, House of Blues, Disney Springs, orlando.houseofblues.com, $49-$147.
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This article appears in Oct. 15-21, 2025.
Does absence truly make the heart grow fonder? If you’re a Minus the Bear fan, apparently the quote holds the actual weight of a bear. The Seattle-based alternative rock band will be making their first appearance in the City Beautiful since 2018 when they return to Beacham on Tuesday.
The band broke up in 2018, but this past winter they announced their triumphant return to the stage. Minus the Bear will bring the nostalgia to Orlando, playing their fan-favorite 2005 album Menos El Oso in its entirety. Hearing David Knudson’s distinct style of guitar-tapping never gets old, and the sold-out crowd will be deep in their feels hearing the opening lines to “Pachuca Sunrise” live after such a long hiatus.
Emo legends Bayonne are the opening act for the Orlando show, rounding out the bill for a perfect night of elder emo millennial escapism.
6 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 21, The Beacham, 46 N. Orange Ave., foundation-presents.com, $44.50.
This article appears in Oct. 15-21, 2025.
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.
6 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 19, Orlando Amphitheater, 4603 W. Colonial Drive, orlandoamphitheater.com, $109-$271.
This article appears in Oct. 15-21, 2025.
In the history of Orlando indie clubs, much-missed downtown spot Backbooth is, without question, in the hall of fame. Among the many reasons, one was its double duty as both concert venue and dance club.
Well, this weekend Will’s Pub will, in effect, become Backbooth for a night. First, erstwhile local legends Gasoline Heart will return to bring back those glory days of the 2000s with their triumphant rock anthems.
But because it’s also a celebration of Gasoline Heart bassist John Fortson’s 50th birthday, the concert will be followed by a reunion of iconic Backbooth indie dance night Midnight Mass spun by DJ Zouain. Indie-rock cover band New Eagles opens. This one will be a greatest-hits parade all night long.
8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 18, Will’s Pub, $10.
This article appears in Oct. 15-21, 2025.
Growing up on a dirt road in small town Palm Coast, Bea McDonald didn’t have much access to the world at large. Jacksonville is a long drive up I-95, and you have a better chance of the Lombardi Trophy going to the Jags than you would of seeing McDonald at Epcot eating and drinking around the world.
That all changed when a teenaged McDonald was introduced to something better than overpriced drinks and gift shops. The songs of Bob Dylan came into the hands of McDonald and a new world rose from the Flagler County dirt road. Dylan and the Stooges would lay the foundation for what would later become Home Is Where, an indie-folk band that McDonald fronts.
“I grew up on a dirt road,” explains McDonald on the phone from Grand Rapids. “I had a lot of time to myself. I was really into movies and books for a while. I wasn’t really into music until I listened to Bob Dylan at 13 and I was like, ‘Wow this is what I always wanted to hear.’ Around the same time I got into Bob Dylan I got into the Stooges, and I wanted to the mix the two together. The poetry of Bob Dylan and the energy of punk music.”
This music gave McDonald a roadmap for the sounds she wanted to make, and she was able to find unicorns on a similar wavelength. It also helped McDonald make sense of the world around her, and that perspective would be crucial for the songs to come. McDonald learned about labor struggles and civil rights through Bob Dylan’s music.
The one thing that McDonald couldn’t learn from Bob? How to make it as a Florida band. The roadmap to being a band in Florida is never linear, and it’s even harder when the area code you reside in isn’t 407, 305, 954, 561, 904 or 813. Home Is Where made the 386 work, and were an active part in the Flagler County music scene.
“We didn’t really have any idea of what we were doing, and we didn’t have any ambitions other than to make music that meant something to us,” says McDonald. “So we would go anywhere that would let us play. I mean we played some strange bills with folks that didn’t even remotely sound like us or what we were doing. But in Florida, there are scenes, but it’s so scattered and varied that a weird band like us took on anything. We played empty rooms to rooms packed with maybe 50 people on a good night “
Florida is buried deep in the DNA of Home Is Where, from their folksy-country style of indie-rock to the band members, who are all Flo-Grown. Home Is Where’s latest album, Hunting Season, is dedicated to people from the Sunshine State who are in love with a state that sometimes doesn’t love them back.
Hunting Season, however, was written in New York. Even though many Floridians move up to New York by choice, it was a decision that McDonald made out of necessity. The culture war pushed by Gov. Ron DeSantis attacking members of LGBTQ+ community, and in particular trans people, was the deciding factor. Being homesick for a place that you can’t come back to weighed heavily on McDonald’s mind.
“I wrote the album when I was living in New York, and I was pretty miserable,” says McDonald. ‘I didn’t want to leave Florida, but a few of the band members ended up leaving because of the anti-trans legislation. Politicians around 2020/2021 started using trans people as a scapegoat and a few of us got a little paranoid about it, so we decided for safety reasons to leave and get out of the state for a while.”
“I escaped into writing these songs that were homesick songs about Florida, and the South in general, but definitely Florida,” she adds. “We wanted to make a record for people who felt like they had to leave their homes for that kind of reason. Florida’s always been a big influence on all of our music. We really wanted to make that the centerpoint. I haven’t heard or seen anything really like that about Florida except maybe The Florida Project.”
Home Is Where joins bands and artists over the years such as Chappell Roan and Jason Isbell who are reminding people that there’s more to country music than just guys on private jets talking about going to god’s country. There’s more to country, and Home Is Where proves that on Hunting Season. While the last record, The Whaler, was more emo, the band wanted to have more of a country and folksier sound on this record.
“The country stuff is something we always wanted to do, but we all had this notion to jump, scream and crash onstage for the past couple of years,” said McDonald. “I think we have gotten that out of our system. We wanted to see if we could make a record that implies that, and isn’t directly telling you to mosh or dance. It’s more of a record you could grill to and put on at a barbecue.”
One of the songs that fits the country and folk sound on the record is “Everyone Won the Lotto,” which is about McDonald’s experiences working at a gas station and being a merchant for a warped version of the American Dream.
“I worked at a lot of gas stations, and I see so many people wasting money on this lotto crap that they’re never going to win,” explains McDonald. “It’s a song about how weird hope can be and how money won’t fix everything. It’s about the American Dream and how weird it is, and how unobtainable it is, but they advertise it.”
McDonald still has faith that one day she will be able to return to Florida and live freely, but in the meantime their Saturday show at the Abbey will be a homecoming of sorts for the band.
“Yeah I like Orlando, and I like Central Florida a lot,” says McDonald. “It’s my kind of trash and I understand it. Even the dilapidated parts fall apart in an interesting way compared to everywhere else in the country. I like Orlando. I hate Disney and Mickey Mouse and all that crap. We’ve played some good shows down there too. I’ve had a lot of good times in Orlando. The very last show we played on the first half of The Whaler tour, and we had all of our friends and family come out to support us, and it was really nice.”
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Indie poppers Peach Pit returned to the House of Blues Monday to play a show that was reminiscent of their past but indicative of their musical growth.
The Canadian quartet of Neil Smith (singer), Chris Vanderkooy (guitarist), Peter Wilton (bassist) and Mikey Pascuzzi (drummer) hadn’t played a show in Orlando since 2022. While they still played some tunes from their past albums, they made sure to set the standard that this 2025 tour was distinct from any previous. See, tonight was all about their latest album, Maggie.
Apart from a setlist that heavily favored this latest album, the stage design felt very apropos for the band’s sonic reintroduction to Orlando, all bold colors and imposing angles. The background was a wall of retro-circular lamps that constantly changed color and brightness. The stage also featured several imposing platforms that allowed Peach Pit to tower over the stage and audience.
The band even made some switches between past and present obvious, with Smith jokingly introducing an old banger by saying, “All right, now let’s play some shit you guys actually want to hear.”
A special moment was when Peach Pit took a break from their own discography to pay tribute to Her’s, an indie-rock duo from England who were both killed when a drunk driver hit their tour vehicle in 2019. The tribute included a cover of the popular song “What Once Was” and a change in lighting that reflected the purple and pink color scheme of that band’s pivotal Songs of Her’s album.
Accompanying Peach Pit that evening at House of Blues was Miya Folick, bringing soft indie-pop from Los Angeles.
The Central Florida Jazz Society and Blue Bamboo present RoSaWay live this week, bringing a Parisian disco-jazz fusion to the City Beautiful.
The ensemble features Rachel Ombredane on flute and vocals and Stéphane Avellaneda on drums. After meeting in Paris and discovering their onstage chemistry, the two not only fell in love but launched RoSaWay, merging art and life harmoniously.
Since then, they’ve built a reputation across Europe and the U.S. as a can’t-miss live proposition. The Bamboo v.2 should be a great fit.
8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 4, Blue Bamboo Center for the Arts, 460 E. New England Ave., bluebambooartcenter.com, $35.
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Less split, more symbiotic
‘CliffsNotes hip-hop’ or arena-rock genius?
The rapper is touring behind the audacious sequel to fan-favorite album ‘Alfredo’
This article appears in Oct. 1-7, 2025.
Scottish post-punk crossover stars Franz Ferdinand played Orlando for the first time in over 20 years Wednesday night and the packed house was ready for it.
First up, young post-everything openers Master Peace warmed up the crowd to the point of getting up close and personal with said crowd. An auspicious beginning.
Franz Ferdinand then played a hard-charging set that pulled equally from newest album The Human Fear and their self-titled debut, now over two decades old. Moment of the night was when Franz frontman Alex Kapranos convinced the crowd to ditch their phones collectively during “Take Me Out” and a good old-fashioned millennial dance party ensued.
Rock hogs the spotlight when it comes to guitar heroes, for obvious reasons. But Americana has its greats, too. And without question, Molly Tuttle is a young god with dazzling bluegrass virtuosity that could, yes, hang with even the best tech-death and neoclassical metal axmen out there.
Unlike those wankers, however, her music is much more than technical self-indulgence. She’s been knocking everyone out in recent years with an award-winning blend of modern folk, indie taste and pop flair.
What’s more, Tuttle will be showing off her new all-female, post-Golden Highway band. Oh, that sound? It’s the glass ceiling cracking. Opening will be talented and true Dallas artist Joshua Ray Walker, whose music is pure country gold.
7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 1, Plaza Live, $44.69-$73.98.
This article appears in Sept. 24-30, 2025.
Teen Suicide are already well-known as the breakout Baltimore band formed by noted indie artist Sam Ray. Somewhat less known is that they’re now Orlando-based.
Between their national touring schedule and their drummer living out of state, the shapeshifting indie rockers don’t actually play here that often. That of course makes this hometown show automatically notable.
Making it even more imperative is that Teen Suicide will come packing some good fresh songs, their first new material in several years. Opening will be Orlando’s Please Be Kind and Sunday Morning Revival.
7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 1, Will’s Pub, $25..
We were all, indeed, taken out
Joshua Ray Walker opens the night
‘Now That’s What I Call Ambient’ and ‘DJ Smokeshop’ hit streaming this week.
This article appears in Sept. 24-30, 2025.
Touting their first new album in nearly a decade, Olustee, JJ Grey & Mofro are hitting the road. The band’s next stop? House of Blues, alongside supporting act and local Americana power couple Harber Wynn.
For those unfamiliar with JJ Grey, this Jacksonville-based artist creates music summoning up his own experiences living in the swamplands of North Florida. The band’s raucous blend of soul, funk, gospel, folk and rock has netted them a wide audience over the past 20 years on the road.
Says Grey of his process: “The best songs I’ve ever written, I never wrote. They wrote themselves. The best show I ever played, played itself and had little to do with me or talent. To me, those things come from the power of an honest moment, and I guess I’m trying to live in that power and not force life to cough up what I want.” Get ready for more than a few honest moments Friday.
6:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 26, House of Blues, Disney Springs, Lake Buena Vista, orlando.houseofblues.com, $62.
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This article appears in Sept. 24-30, 2025.
“For this particular event, I wanted to keep things a bit more eclectic and not hyperfocus on one genre of music. All artists that are playing are approaching their music with a sense of exploration and not trying to ‘game a genre.’ … The vibe of Odd Harmonic should be expansion even at the cost of some risk.”
The last time Orlando Weekly spoke to Derek Morton (Berz3rkr, Salty Jazz Crabs, Circuit Church collective), it was about the inaugural ODrone drone-music festival in 2024 and his co-curatorial work on it. Now in the latter half of our cursed year 2025, ODrone is firmly in its terrible twos and Circuit Church is practically a local institution (even boasting a new offshoot, Uncontrolled Voltage), so it must be time for another show series.
So it is that this Wednesday, Sept. 24, Morton debuts the mad scientist-style genre-clash Odd Harmonic. Headquartered at Will’s Pub, the series will spotlight all flavors of the area’s avant-underground, mixed and matched for maximum pleasing confusion. Morton envisions it as a “gateway to the avant-garde” for curious attendees, to “showcase Orlando’s experimental community but also bring artists from out of town to share their work here.”
The lineup certainly fits the bill, featuring the electronic dreamscapes of Drujhn, the spy-versus-spy noise of Salty Jazz Crabs, Derek Dunn’s always serene electronic loops (or maybe guitar ambience, or perhaps even pedal steel — he ain’t saying) and jazz maestro Thomas Milovac’s improv-rock juggernaut Moon Rays all on one stage.
We feel duty-bound to point out that this freewheeling style of curating experimental music shows is not really a new phenomenon locally, with folks like Jonas Van den Bossche, the aforementioned Milovac, Dylan Houser, Will Bess and Dan Reaves doing it as much out of a sense of perverse adventurism as maximal noise show necessity. But Morton brings to the table his own lifetime of experience within alternative circles — “organizing shows, music series and various festivals in the D.C. area in the mid-’90s” — and an ambitious enthusiasm to present “experimental music of all genres” from all around the country. He spitballs bringing names like Fire-Toolz, Alessandro Cortini and Peter Evans to the area and maybe even collaborating with scene touchtones the Civic Minded 5 on a show or two down the line.
For shows like this, where it’s less a matter of putting together a lineup to match with a touring band to serve as local draw, there can be a sense of play in putting together musicians and finding hidden connective tissue between wildly different outsider sounds. For Morton, saxophonist and New York City underground fixture John Zorn is a curatorial inspiration.
“I was lucky enough to benefit from his support when I was living in NYC from 2005-2015. Not only did he release my Brown Wing Overdrive band on Tzadik, but his tireless and workaholic dedication to releasing all kinds of music on Tzadik and running the Stone proved to me that it can be done,” says Morton. “I love how all of his projects have a Zorn feel but can casually spend multiple genres. He networks with people he respects despite if they neatly fit into one genre.”
Morton will be both playing and running the show, always a challenge for even the most starry-eyed of promoters, playing as part of the tandem Salty Jazz Crabs with Stephen Connolly of Pothole Skinny. He says he’s ready for the double duty.
“In the past, there were some scenarios where I had to run the sound, collect door, perform, play stage manager and pay out artists at the end of the night or make up the difference out of my pocket if there were guarantees. Now that was stressful. It’s great to play a club where there is a staff to do most of the duties so these shows are relatively easy for me,” says Morton of running the show at Will’s. “My day job requires me to juggle a lot as I am a technical project manager in technology. There is always something going wrong and often the project manager is tasked with overseeing the solution. Running shows definitely presents their own unique challenges but the journey is extremely rewarding.”
If he makes it through Wednesday, Morton already has the future arc of Odd Harmonic mapped out.
“My immediate plan is to work on three shows a year including a larger festival or a special presentation at a unique venue,” says Morton. “One of my goals is to bring more experimental music and avant jazz to the Orlando and Central Florida area.”
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This article appears in Sept. 24-30, 2025.
We came to the Kia Center, Sleep Token fandom’s house of worship this Wednesday night, not knowing if we belonged. We had of course heard whispers of Sleep Token on TikTok. These masked figures offered more than a concert. Initial plans to simply take in the spectacle and enjoy their viral songs were quickly abandoned. Instead, we were consumed.
There were no IMAG cameras, no Jumbotron glow to mediate the experience. For once, no one was watching a screen. We were watching Sleep Token in their world, and that was the point. The stage seemed visually like an altar that was somewhere between myth and temple ruins. With three towering levels of jagged stone and a central waterfall, it called to mind Legends of the Hidden Temple — if it had been designed for sacrifice instead of children’s games.
And then the lights spoke. They weren’t just fixtures, they were voices, characters, spirits summoned at the right moments. At times, the beams seemed to sing in unison with the band like divine warnings. At others, they bent low, soft and merciful, cradling the masked figures as lead singer Vessel commanded the crowd.
The band was faceless, hidden behind masks. No cameras. No banter. No “Hello Orlando!” No forced intimacy. And somehow, that anonymity pulled us closer. With no distractions, we had no choice but to confront the music. To let it pull at us. To worship?
We came to this show curious, not converted. But something about the way Sleep Token stands apart — turning away from overproduced broadcasts, refusing the hollow convenience of the digital spectacle — feels like an echo from another time. Nostalgic, almost. A reminder that music is meant to be lived, not streamed.
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Like a late-night drive, Australian musician G Flip’s latest chapter is a dazzling collision of 1980s-inspired beats and star-powered ambition. The acclaimed singer-songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist is revving the engine on their new musical Dream Ride era.
G Flip describes the new project as an “Bruce Springsteen fantasy,” with shimmering synths and irresistible hooks.
“I just think I’ve matured as an artist over the years — from my songwriting to my producing skills,” G Flip tells Orlando Weekly. “Songwriting for me is like an open diary. You know, just sharing your feelings and making melodies and production, making it definitely a cathartic experience.”
G Flip got their musical start as a drummer, and this percussive background shapes the way they craft melodies today. Before stepping out as a solo artist, G Flip spent years playing in bands, watching singers command the stage from behind the kit.
“I’d sit back there and study how different singers interacted with the crowd. I’d take notes on what I’d do differently, or what I’d keep the same,” G Flip says.
Now, with guitar solos, piano breaks and relentless energy, G Flip delivers a multi-instrumental live show that mirrors their fearless versatility.
“Younger me would be stoked,” G Flip says. “I always wanted to see someone like myself playing drums and singing. I’ve always wanted to be the person I wished existed when I was a kid.”
G Flip’s music isn’t just personal, it’s communal. Openly queer and non-binary, they’ve built a dedicated fanbase that finds strength and safety in their songs.
“I don’t know how to not be authentically myself,” G Flip says. “That naturally comes through in my songwriting, and it’s attracted a fanbase that’s very queer, very trans. I love that community, and I’m passionate about making our shows a safe space. It’s beautiful seeing that connection.”
That connection runs deep, with fans lining up hours before shows, singing every word in unison and, in some cases, even etching the music permanently into their skin.
“I’ve seen people get my lyrics tattooed, even my handwriting on their face,” G Flip laughs. “It’s wild, but I’m always so appreciative of that kind of dedication.”
When asked what they hope listeners decades from now will glean from their music, G Flip doesn’t hesitate: “I hope they take away the fun energy. I’m playing every instrument live on the record, and at the shows, I’m switching instruments constantly. It’s high energy, very ’80s, and I just want to make music that makes people sing or move.”
That sense of possibility underpins everything they do. “I want people to realize they have the power to do anything in life,” G Flip says. “Nothing is unachievable. I really want to instill that belief in people and inspire people to go after their dreams.”
But when the lights go down and the first beat kicks in, fans can expect more than just a concert. They’ll experience the culmination of a journey, from a kid obsessed with drums to an artist shaping the sound and spirit of a generation.
“It’s a really fun live show, very musical, with some of the best musicians alongside me,” G Flip says. “And it’s a safe space for our LGBTQ+ community.”
And that safe space just happens to be Orlando’s Plaza Live this Saturday, Sept. 20, at 8 p.m. Tickets are still available.
If you thought we were exaggerating about the man’s love for backflips in our Benson Boone preshow coverage, we were not. In fact, he did a backflip before he even sang a single note at his sold-out show Tuesday.
Benson Boone did not one, not two, but seven backflips total during his show at the Kia Center. And those were just the backflips that we counted — there were several other moments where the American singer-songwriter left the surly bonds of Earth.
When he flew over the crowd on a giant chandelier, for instance. As mesmerizing as the stunt was, Boone’s addiction to adrenaline kicks is borderline concerning. The chandelier was suspended above attendees on the floor and in the 100 sections, and we couldn’t help but notice how little support Boone seemed to have while in the air. He tightly gripped a rope on the base of the floating prop, but that was it.
Boone’s “American Hearts” tour has a heavy theme of pushing boundaries to “live life on the edge,” and we were certainly on the edge of our seats praying that the 23-year-old’s knees wouldn’t give out upon landing. Yes, the flips were the only instances where Boone was upside-down, but he was continuously jumping off the sets and vaulting over instruments. It was astonishing to see how easily Boone leaped atop his Yamaha piano.
Sure, we’ve all seen the internet discourse: Boone is either fervently loved or unbelievably hated. No matter which side your personal coin falls, it’s undeniable that the artist has talent. His vocal capabilities were surreal. Not to mention, Boone can land a trick and then immediately begin singing — all in the same breath.
Boone is very self-aware when it comes to what people in the music press think of him. He took the opportunity to repeatedly poke fun at his meme-worthy personality, making jokes about his TikTok hate-train and the demographic of his listeners.
There was an almost nine-minute monologue dedicated to the fact that many of the audience members weren’t even old enough to get their driver’s licenses. Part of the same monologue included a question posed to the audience: “Have you ever been in love?” One concertgoer shouted that the audience was too young to be in love, so Boone immediately shifted the question to “Have you ever had a crush?” He continued to go on about how one of his songs could be relatable to the audience if they have a crush on their elementary school classmate.
Other notable moments from the show included a hurricane of heart-shaped confetti, colored red, white and blue, and a lone T-shirt shot into the audience by one of Boone’s dear friends, McLean. The T-shirt, snatched by a lucky fan, had the name of the night’s surprise cover to be performed by Boone.
The Orlando show’s selected cover was “All of Me,” by John Legend. Now that’s showmanship.
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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)
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This article appears in Sept. 10-16, 2025.
Who is Benson Boone, and why does that name ring a bell?
Well, he’s the guy from the internet who always does at least one backflip while belting out pop hits like “Mystical Magical.” If you’re still befuddled, we can break it down further: The 23-year-old singer-songwriter has a 1970s pornstache and is the voice behind the Billboard Hot 100 anthem “Beautiful Things.” In 2021, he made a brief appearance on American Idol, but withdrew from the competition after making the top 24 contestants.
Around the time of his Idol stint, Boone began garnering big-time attention from TikTok. He soon caught the eye of Imagine Dragons lead singer Dan Reynolds, who signed Boone to his first label. In 2025, Boone received his first Grammy nom — for “Best New Artist” — and even performed on the show.
Boone can be a polarizing pop figure; middle-aged women seem to love him, while the younger generation either despises him or just can’t get enough. The haters criticize the Washington-born singer with the dreaded slur of “trying too hard” or call him a “wannabe Harry Styles.” On the (back)flipside, his fans find Boone absolutely charming, including this writer’s own mother. And his hits are undeniably hooky. (Editor’s note: We saw Alaska 5000 cover “Beautiful Things” live, and it hit!)
You can decide for yourself whether Benson Boone is your mixed bag of tricks when he arrives in the City Beautiful this week. Or maybe not, because this show is thoroughly sold out.
8 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 16, Kia Center, 400 W. Church St., 800-745-3000, kiacenter.com, SOLD OUT.
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This article appears in Sept. 10-16, 2025.
Alt-rock legends Garbage kicked off their U.S. tour here in Orlando this week, which was great news! Not-so-great news: This is, in the band’s word, their final headlining U.S. tour. Garbage frontperson Shirley Manson laid it all on the line from the stage.
“We as a band have just decided that things are getting stickier and stickier for us to go out and do a long-ass tour, it just feels like, it’s difficult, and the forces of the world, basically it’s just really difficult for bands. Due to streaming and all that, it’s really fucked with the economics of the music industry, and it makes touring very difficult. And we are old, we are angry and tired.”
That business out of the way, the band played a set brimming with ferocity and energy that would put much-younger groups to shame. The setlist was a dizzying dive through the 1990s rockers’ full discography, including “Not My Idea,” “Hold,” “Parade,” “How I Met God” and “Only Happy When It Rains.”
And hopefully you got there early enough to see young rockers Starcrawler, who really tore the house down.
This article appears in Sept. 3-9, 2025.
