ANNA MARIA – It wasn’t an April Fool’s joke – if you weren’t at The Center on April 1, you missed The Marshall Tucker Band’s stop on Anna Maria Island.
Greeted by thunderous applause and shouts from the audience from the moment the members took the stage, the band played for nearly two hours. Many of the concert’s sell-out crowd got to their feet and never sat down.
Known for the wide variety of music they play, spanning from rock to country and gospel with a little of everything in between thrown in, fans were delighted to hear both classic and newer songs. The set kicked off with the hit, “Running Like the Wind” and included other favorites such as “Can’t You See” and “Heard it in a Love Song.”
The Southern rockers are currently on their “Through Hell & High Water… And Back” 2019 tour, which still has many upcoming U.S. stops remaining, including several in Florida if you missed the show in Anna Maria.
Formed in Spartanburg, South Carolina in the early 1970s, The Marshall Tucker Band has been entertaining audiences for more than four decades. Now original member Doug Gray, on lead vocals and tambourine, leads a talented group of musicians including B.B. Borden on drums, Tony Black on bass and vocals, Chris Hicks and Rick Willis, both on vocals and guitar, and Marcus James Henderson on keyboards, flute, saxophone and vocals.
The Cabana Boys opened for The Marshall Tucker Band.
The band played to an energetic, sold-out crowd of around 750 people in an intimate show on The Center’s stage. The concert brought to a close the nonprofit’s first-ever concert series, presented in conjunction with the Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau and Manatee County Tourist Development Council, along with The Manatee Performing Arts Center, which provided volunteers and ticket sales for the concert series.
Previous acts on the Center’s stage included The Outlaws, Phil Vassar and BJ Thomas. Part of the ticket sales from the concert series will go to help fund The Center’s programs.
