The Orpheum

For two decades The Orpheum was an Ybor City institution, first at the corner of 8th Street and Avenida Republica de Cuba and, from 2011, on Seventh Avenue. It filled a specific and important gap: too big for Crowbar, too small for The Ritz. Thousands of bands came through, including The Killers, who dropped in for a last-minute set in November 2019.

In 2022 it left the district. Co-owner Jerry Dufrain announced the move on Facebook — "after 20 years and thousands of shows" — and the venue reopened at 14802 North Nebraska Avenue in north Tampa, taking its name, its booking philosophy and most of its crowd with it.

It's still standing room, still general admission, still around 720 capacity, and still built for volume: a 26-by-16-foot stage, JBL mains over JBL subs, mixed on a Midas console. The booking runs metal, hardcore, punk, goth, electronic and whatever else is coming up — the kind of room where a band plays on the way up and then never plays anywhere that size again.