Live Music in the Gables Re-Emerges

Musicians Return to Both Old and New Venues

Coral Gables, despite the best effort of the downtown’s Business Improvement District to put musicians on the street, has never been a music hotspot. And, with the loss last year of the Open Stage Club and John Martin’s Irish Pub, things have been looking – or sounding – less auspicious.

The good news is that the mainstay of jazz in the Gables, The Globe, has returned with their three sets every Saturday night. Right now, you can listen to the Entre Amigos Trio, a super-hot Afro-Cuban band led by Latin Grammy-nominated artist Calixto Oviedo, which is wrapping up a Winter residency at The Globe. Also back in action is the library lounge at the Biltmore Hotel, where on Friday nights you can listen to jazz vocalist Melinda Rodriguez and on Saturdays there’s a piano player.

The other good news is that new music venues are beginning to fill the ranks. Jazz on Thursday nights has cranked up at Public Square on Red Road, live salsa is blasting out from Calle 23 on Miracle Mile on Friday and Saturday nights, and rock and folk music returns to Threefold on Giralda Plaza on Friday nights this month after a brief hiatus.

Also encouraging are plans to bring back rock and blues at another Gables live-music standard, Titanic Brewery.  Owner Kevin Rusk, who has been staging music there for more than a decade and a half, says he is only waiting for more vaccinations. “We will do it as soon as possible,” he says. “I just don’t want to endanger anybody, because it will definitely draw a crowd.”

Those concerns are mitigated at The Globe and Public Square by outdoor seating and open glass doors that let in plenty of air. Titanic has a large backyard space they have leased from UM, but they’re not allowed to blast anything loud, so discussions are afoot to hold live acoustic sessions there. Bay 13, the new brewery pub on Alhambra Circle, is also mostly outdoors and expects to start live music in the coming months. Also over the next few months, expect a return to live music at Books & Books, La Taberna Giralda and Bellmónt Spanish Restaurant. All we need is a few thousand jabs in the arm first. Stay tuned.

The Globe
377 Alhambra Circle
305.445.3555

Public Square
6915 S. Red Rd.
305.665.9661

Calle 23
230 Miracle Mile
305.456.8484

The Biltmore Lounge
1200 Anastasia Ave.
305.445.8066