Indie tours in Florida live in rooms that hold a few hundred to a couple thousand people, and the routing tends to follow the interstates. A band might start in Jacksonville, work down the peninsula through Orlando and Tampa or St. Pete, then finish in Fort Lauderdale or Miami, with a college stop in Gainesville or Tallahassee when the calendar allows.
College towns and city clubs
Gainesville has fed Florida music for generations, and the University of Florida keeps its clubs stocked with listeners and fresh bands every fall. Tallahassee does the same with Florida State and FAMU. Downtown St. Pete keeps a steady run of club and theater shows, Orlando's downtown rooms catch plenty of tours passing along I-4, and in Miami, the III Points festival in Wynwood mixes indie, hip hop and electronic acts across a sprawl of stages.
Small rooms, Florida style
Club shows here run warm. Expect a packed floor, an air conditioner doing its best, and a line out front that moves faster than the one at the bar. Plenty of smaller rooms are 18 and up or 21 and up, so check the age limit on your ticket before you make the drive.
Regional pages for St. Pete and Gainesville narrow things down. The louder end of the dial lives under hard rock, metal and punk, and the DJ sets are over on electronic.
