{"id":381184,"date":"2026-08-26T00:48:57","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T00:48:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/381184\/"},"modified":"2026-08-26T00:48:57","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T00:48:57","slug":"when-was-the-last-time-dolly-parton-performed-in-tampa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/381184\/","title":{"rendered":"When was the last time Dolly Parton performed in Tampa?"},"content":{"rendered":"

People across the nation, including here in the Tampa Bay area, are remembering Dolly Parton’s legacy and impact after her family announced her death Tuesday.<\/a><\/p>\n

The country music star and philanthropist died peacefully in Nashville, Tennessee, her publicist said in a statement. Here’s a look back on some of her performances in the Tampa Bay area over the years.<\/p>\n

When was the last time Dolly Parton performed in Tampa?<\/p>\n

Dolly Parton last performed in Tampa on November 26, 2016, at Benchmark International Arena \u2014 known at the time as Amalie Arena \u2014 during her “Pure & Simple Tour,” with Ruth Eckerd Hall serving as a co-promoter for the regional event. It was a sold-out show.<\/p>\n

According to a reporter from Creative Loafing<\/a> who attended the performance, Parton’s setlist included songs from her recently released “Pure & Simple” album, “to classics like ‘Jolene’ and ‘Coat of Many Colors’ \u2014 all in her trademark heels, tight clothes and teased blonde wig.”<\/p>\n

“In between songs she mixed stories \u2014 of growing up poor, her start in Nashville and going above and beyond the call of duty with her onscreen kiss with Burt Reynolds \u2014 with talk of her faith in God and the need for America to try and heal,” the Creative Loafing report from 2016 reads.<\/p>\n

Before that performance, she played Ruth Eckerd Hall Stage in Clearwater in 1992, 2008 and 2011.<\/p>\n

Known for her curvy physique, massive blonde wigs and skin-tight outfits that served her self-deprecating wit, Parton was among the most beloved personalities in music and beyond \u2014 the rare celebrity whose appeal transcended generations, geography and politics.<\/p>\n

Parton wrote hundreds of songs, including classics like “Jolene,” “Coat of Many Colors” and “I Will Always Love You,” that totaled more than 100 million worldwide sales and more than 1 billion online streams. Parton, who plucked bejeweled banjos, guitar and dulcimers with her long fingernails during performances, was a generous philanthropist\u00a0<\/a>and\u00a0successful businesswoman<\/a> whose projects included a theme park in the Smoky Mountain foothills<\/a> near her birthplace.<\/p>\n

Her career was forever influenced by her upbringing as one of 12 children born into what she called a “dirt poor” Tennessee family. She started her education nonprofit<\/a>, Imagination Library, to send free books to children in Tennessee because her father, who quit school to work on the farm, struggled to learn to read.<\/p>\n

For millions, she was simply “Dolly,” a mixture of Southern charm, humor and glamour. She was also considered a feminist role model for holding the reins of her career, writing her own songs, owning her content and controlling her finances in an entertainment world dominated by men.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The Associated Press and Tegna Digital contributed to this story.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"People across the nation, including here in the Tampa Bay area, are remembering Dolly Parton’s legacy and impact…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":381185,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[112131,17284,78462,2722,5195,135,9019,137,136,152992],"class_list":["post-381184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-burt-reynolds","tag-creative-loafing","tag-dolly-parton","tag-performance","tag-ruth-eckerd-hall","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-bay-area","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news","tag-tennessee-family"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381184","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=381184"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381184\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/381185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=381184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=381184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=381184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}