Broward’s Music Scene is Live and Well

Why is Broward County a great place for live music?

Well, for starters, there’s that giant Hard Rock guitar. The 450-foot guitar-shaped casino hotel in Hollywood has become more than a signature South Florida landmark — it’s a singular, de facto symbol of Broward’s thriving live music scene.

With its beaches, downtowns, neighborhood haunts, and legendary party vibe, the county’s live music landscape is a sprawling mosaic of acts, a resounding medley of styles that caters to a culturally eclectic audience of tourists, transplants, and natives.

On just about any weekend, and many weeknights, music lovers can choose from a big-name national act, a regional symphony orchestra, a local original punk band, a Broadway musical tour, an island reggae group, a dueling piano show, a touring tribute group, a karaoke night, and more rock and pop cover bands and solo acts than you could possibly sing along with in a year of weekends. And that’s merely a partial list. During season, when snowbirds and tourists are flocking in, the options are even more mind-boggling.

For an authoritative take on the scope and spirit of Broward’s live music scene, we went to the source — a core sample of those who make it happen, from a performing arts center exec to a restaurateur-impresario to a few musicians who’ve performed on local stages for well over a decade.

Josh Bishop, sax player for Behind the Houses, Nova High School Band director

“The cool thing about the local music scene is that there is such a huge variety of music out there, which I don’t think some people even realize,” says Bishop, who since 2011 has played throughout the region with the surf rock-punk-funk quintet Behind the Houses. “There are really cool little spots, like Tough Times [537 S. Dixie Highway E, Pompano Beach], a quaint little punk rock bar. They’re one of the places that are keeping original live local music alive.”

Grant Galuppi, restaurateur-impresario

“The Broward County music community far has exceeded my expectations, for sure,” says the owner of Galuppi’s restaurant (1103 N. Federal Highway, Pompano Beach), an avid exponent of live music for two decades — and half of that in the vanguard of the tribute-band trend. “Twenty years ago, I had no idea how big the music community network is in Broward. It’s blowing me away. The tribute bands took off 10 to 12 years ago. I just kept building and they just kept coming. I feel like classic rock is much bigger here than in Miami-Dade County and Palm Beach County. I often wonder if you took a music venue similar to a Galuppi’s, would it be as successful up in Jupiter? Would it be as successful in Naples?”

Valerie Tyson, vocalist and band leader

“There are a lot of choices — more so on the rock side,” says the leader of the stalwart Valerie Tyson Band, a performer for 44 years “born and raised in Hollywood” and a longtime fixture of the local music scene. “There was probably even more variety when I was coming up in the ’80s and ’90s,” says the dynamic vocalist, whose eight-to-13-piece band’s gigs range from weddings to a 10-year residency at Blue Jean Blues (3320 NE 33rd St., Fort Lauderdale). “We cover everything. I like the idea of being able to morph into whatever we need to be to have everybody happy.”

Ade Peever, musician

“We have a mixture of tourists and a relatively fixed local community that makes for a varied crowd,” says the singer-guitarist who’s been on the bill at The Field Irish Pub & Eatery (3281 Griffin Road, Fort Lauderdale) since 2007. “We’ve got the cosmopolitan South Florida demographics and a huge number of bars at one end of the spectrum and giant national venues on the other.” A transplanted Brit, Peever takes The Field’s cozy stage for an acoustic show every Sunday evening following the Thursday-to-Saturday sets of Ian Millar of the legendary Irish Rovers. Both live-stream their performances, expanding Broward’s live music scene internationally. “I regularly have streamers from Canada, Ireland, and the U.K. joining me online. I’m performing at the junction of a live room and an online audience coming in from around the world at the same time. Often, people in the room are shouting out greetings to distant streamers. Wild!”

Matt McNeil, vice president of programming and marketing at Broward Center for the Performing Arts/The Parker

“There are many cities synonymous with music and rock stars,” says McNeil of the Broward Center for the Performing Arts (201 SW 5th Ave., Fort Lauderdale). “But these huge music towns would not have their music stars without the local scene, including a diverse community of artists and venues. Those are the key building blocks to what really makes Broward County/Greater Fort Lauderdale an amazing place for live music. We are so much more than a ‘Two Pina Coladas’ town. Any given night of the week, you can easily find dozens of places to support live artists and musicians in addition to the well-known annual events like Tortuga Festival that attract people from all over the country.”

In harmony with the variety of musical genres performed on Broward stages is the variety of stages themselves. Think of any kind of place where you can hear live music, indoors and out, and there’s a good chance you can find it here — from beachside dive bars to downtown concert halls, from eateries on the Intracoastal to arenas on the westside, from neighborhood hipster hangouts to gleaming performing arts centers, from parks and amphitheaters to clubs, pubs and casinos, and pretty much any place in between.

The following is a sampling of venues that keep Broward’s live music scene rocking.

Greater Fort Lauderdale

Elbo Room, 241 S. Fort Lauderdale Beach Blvd. The living remnant of Fort Lauderdale Beach’s Spring Break heyday, this vintage dive bar offers live music all day every day smack in the epicenter of A1A action. 954-463-4615, elboroom.com

Broward Center for the Performing Arts, 201 SW Fifth Ave, Fort Lauderdale. Whether the South Florida Symphony playing Schubert, the legendary Bob Dylan, or the Aussie Band Men at Work, a vast range of musical performances from regional to international in scope can be found on the stage of the most prestigious Broward venue. 954-462-0222, browardcenter.org

Mickey’s Downtown Bistro, 4331 N. Ocean Drive, Lauderdale-By-The-Sea. Live music throughout the week is highlighted by two dueling piano shows on Friday and Saturday nights at the chef-owned Lauderdale-by-the-Sea bistro. 954-722-6858, mickeysdowntownbistro.com

The Parker, 707 NE Eighth St., Fort Lauderdale. Enhanced by a recent facelift, the grand old dame of Broward venues showcases a variety of acts in its 1,100-seat Lillian S. Wells Hall — from its own Parker Chorale to “music legends and newcomers,” says McNeill. 954-462-0222, parkerplayhouse.com

Revolution Live, 100 SW Third Ave., Fort Lauderdale. Broward’s granddaddy of alternative rock began almost 35 years ago as The Edge in the funky Himmarshee district. Today’s incarnation of the multilevel, SRO club still specializes in non-mainstream acts, both touring and local in original and tribute varieties (a Guns N Roses tribute anyone?). 954-449-1025, jointherevolution.net

Grace Notes: Aruba Beach Cafe (Lauderdale-by-the-Sea), Culture Room, NYSW Jazz Lounge, Original Fat Cats, Poorhouse, Riverwalk Sunday Jazz Brunch, Rooftop @1WLO, Shooters Waterfront, The Venue, and Tin Roof, all in Fort Lauderdale.

North County

Briny Irish Pub, 3440 E. Atlantic Blvd, Pompano Beach. This 80-year-old beachside mainstay brings in a variety of mostly solo, regional performers every evening, throwing in a bonus cover or original act from Friday to Sunday. A treat for the eyes as well as ears with more funky bric-a-brac that you can reasonably absorb before Guinness vision sets in. 954-942-3159, thebrinyirishpub.com

Galuppi’s, 1103 N. Federal Highway, Pompano Beach. The headquarters for classic-rock tribute bands, both touring and local, stages free shows on its supersized patio every Thursday to Sunday. “It’s been really cool to see some of these smaller national acts, like Whitesnake, take advantage of our stage and an intimate crowd of maybe 400 rather than playing at a 2,000-seat amphitheater,” says owner Grant Galuppi. “I have two of the five members of Whitesnake, who live down here, doing a one-hour acoustic set to open for another live band.”

There are also midweek acoustic concerts by local acts and the occasional ticketed show, such as Rikki Lee Wilson’s eras-divergent Taylor Swift tribute, on a new deck built over an adjoining lake. 954-785-0226, galuppis.com

Pompano Beach Amphitheater, 1806 NE Sixth St., Pompano Beach. An open-air concert institution, The Amp features national touring acts that cover the spectrum of pop, rock, and R&B, with an alternative, B-list slant. It recently stepped up its game with a fabric canopy covering its 3,000 elevated seats. 561-223-7231, pompanobeacharts.org/amp

Grace Notes: Lucky Fish (Pompano Beach), Packy’s Sports Pub of Lighthouse Point, Piper’s (Pompano Beach), The Cove Waterfront and Tiki Bar (Deerfield Beach)

South County

Hard Rock Live, 1 Seminole Way, Hollywood. In the shadow of the landmark Guitar Hotel at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, this recent state-of-the-art, 7,000-seat addition to the Broward music scene welcomes a diverse parade of A-list musical acts such as Meghan Trainor, Akon along with classics hard rockers like Mötley Crüe and Def Leppard. 954-797-5555, casino.hardrock.com

Hollywood ArtsPark Experience, 1 N. Young Circle, Hollywood. The occasional series of free, family-friendly concerts at the laid-back ArtsPark Amphitheater celebrates South Florida’s distinctive cultures, such as with last season’s Jamaican reggae steady-rockers Black Uhuru. 954-921-3500, hollywoodartsparkexperience.com

Margaritaville Hollywood Beach Resort, 1111 N. Ocean Drive, Hollywood: The flip-flop Jimmy Buffett spirit lives on in a rotation of 30 local and regional bands that take the stage at three different venues, including the venerable Hollywood Broadwalk Bandshell. 954-874-4444, margaritavillehollywoodbeachresort.com

Tekila Bar Club, 1926 Hollywood Boulevard, Hollywood: A Latin vibe spices up this downtown hotspot with happenings like Live Music Mondays and the Colombian folk music of Vallenato Nights on Thursday. Live music also starts weekend nights before the DJ takes over and Caribbean rhythms rule the dance floor. 954-998-2698, tekilabarclub.com

Caribbean Resort Tiki Bar, 313 Hayes St., Hollywood: The sign outside says “Get Freaky at the Tiki,” but inside the ambiance and live music on the weekends are appropriately laid-back at this cozy, thatched-roof watering hole just steps off the Broadwalk. 954-922-3761, caribbeanresortflorida.com/tiki-bar

Grace Notes: Casino @ Dania Beach, Mickey Byrne’s Irish Pub (Hollywood), Music In The Park At Gulfstream Park (Hallandale Beach), GG’s Waterfront

West County

All That Jazz, 3491 Hiatus Road, Sunrise: Sunrise: In its 30th year, this is one of the rare dining establishments in the county that serves up a side of straight-ahead jazz, Wednesday to Saturday from 6 to 10 p.m. 954-572-0821, allthatjazzcafe.com

Amerant Bank Arena, 1 Panther Parkway, Sunrise: When the world-champion Florida Panthers aren’t slicing up the ice, this 20,000-seat venue spotlights national and international acts from rockers Aerosmith to Mexico’s Peso Pluma. 954-835-7000, amerantbankarena.com

Gigi’s Music Café, 4385 NW 88th Ave., Sunrise: On weekends, this down-home hidden gem offers smooth jazz to acoustic soul performed by live original and cover acts. 954-748-9494, gigismusiccafe.com

The Garden, 4340 N. State Road 7, Lauderdale Lakes: Broward’s reggae hotspot for 20 years, this restaurant/nightclub has hosted stars such as Third World and remains the home of the hard-working Code Red Band. 954-709-0647, thegarden441.com

Grace Notes: Cagney’s House of Rock (Davie), Coral Springs Center For the Arts, Jp Mulligans Restaurant & Pub (Pembroke Pines), Rock & Brews (Plantation), Sharkey’s Bar & Grill (Coral Springs)

“We’ve got everything (in Broward County) from Piper’s Pub and The Parker to Cagney’s House of Rock and the Hollywood Bandshell,” says Broward Center’s McNeil. “We’ve truly got it all.”

This story was produced by Broward Arts Journalism Alliance (BAJA), an independent journalism program of the Broward County Cultural Division. Visit ArtsCalendar.com for more stories about the arts in South Florida.

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