Gainesville and Ocala Concerts

Tom Petty's Hometown

Tom Petty was born in Gainesville in 1950, graduated from Gainesville High in 1968 and played here with Mudcrutch before the band left for Los Angeles in 1974. He once worked on the University of Florida grounds crew without ever enrolling. Northeast Park, near his boyhood home, was renamed Tom Petty Park in 2018. Fans of rock can make an afternoon of it before a show.

On Campus

The Stephen C. O'Connell Center, known around town as the O'Dome, has been UF's arena since 1980 and holds about 10,000. Petty played it in October 1981, a year after it opened. The Curtis M. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts on Hull Road opened in 1992 and handles touring concerts and performances.

On home football Saturdays, police close roads around Ben Hill Griffin Stadium hours before kickoff. If your show lands on a game day, leave very early or pick a room off campus.

The Clubs

High Dive calls itself the soul of Gainesville's live music scene and puts on 200 to 250 events a year, from local bands to national tours. Heartwood Soundstage on South Main Street near Depot Park opened in 2017 as a combined recording studio, venue and video house. Both are good bets for indie and alternative nights.

Ocala and The Villages

In Ocala, the Reilly Arts Center fills the old Ocala City Auditorium in Tuscawilla Park, five blocks from the downtown square. It reopened in 2015 after a restoration, seats 705 and is home to the Ocala Symphony Orchestra.

Farther south, The Villages runs free live music most nights at its three town squares, Spanish Springs, Lake Sumter Landing and Brownwood Paddock Square. Bands rotate through classic rock, country and jazz, and the music usually starts in the early evening.

The Road That Ties It Together

I-75 connects all three. Florida's Turnpike ends at I-75 in Wildwood near The Villages, and the interstate runs north through Ocala to Gainesville. Afternoon storms are routine in the summer months, so plan outdoor nights with a backup. For more North Florida dates, see Jacksonville and Tallahassee.