Some music highlights in Lakeland this weekend include Sirens 2, a showcase of local women musicians at The Pink Piano tonight, the hot-sauce-infused rocking blues of Bill “Sauce Boss” Wharton at Union Hall Friday, the back-to-the-roots country of Jeffry Allen and Band at Swan Brewing on Friday, country sister act Diamond Dixie at Swan Brewing Saturday and singer-songwriter Kimi Tortuga at Union Hall Saturday. Keep scrolling for our updated live music calendar: More

Sarasota-based Ari and the Alibis blast their sultry fusion of jazz, rock, funk, soul, samba and blues at Union Hall Friday night. Based on their YouTube videos, the $15 cover is worth it. Other highlights this weekend, at least for people into tribute bands, include Tampa’s Absolute Queen at RP Funding Center tonight. Keep scrolling for the updated music calendar: More

After three weekends of soft openings, musician Dan Signor’s Union Hall in Dixieland holds its grand opening Friday night with the Motown-inspired party sounds of The Black Honkeys.  (Check the Clearwater showband’s videos.) Tickets may be hard to come by; the event’s ticket page says it’s sold out.

Traveling musicians playing Lakeland this weekend include Friction Farm, a husband-wife folk troubadour duo from Greenville, S.C., at an Among Friends Music house concert Saturday night, and the traditional Irish tunes of Dublin guitarist-singer Martin Healy at Hillcrest Music Saturday at 1 p.m.

Keep scrolling for our updated music calendar: More

The music scene in Lakeland keeps growing. Our calendar, below, lists 44 chances to hear live music between today and Sunday. And we know we don’t list everything. If you know of Lakeland venues or musicians we’re not listing, please let us know. We want to continue improving our live music calendar. Thanks. Now here are the shows: More

It’s a big weekend for live music in Lakeland, including the debut of a listening room in Dixieland. Here are some highlights in chronological order, followed by our full music calendar: More

No doubt singer and frontman Chris Martin and his Coldplay bandmates would be flattered to hear it, but Steven Hackman thinks there is a parallel between their music and that of Beethoven.

“I think they share universal, humanist themes, such as triumph and tragedy, and they do it in such a large way,” he said days before conducting a Lakeland concert fusing the music of Coldplay and Beethoven. More