Morgan Freeman and the Florida Orchestra turned St. Petersburg into a juke joint

ST. PETERSBURG — Morgan Freeman came to town Thursday night to turn the Mahaffey Theater into a juke joint. His juke joint, to be specific: Clarksdale, Mississippi’s own Ground Zero Blues Club.

During the local tour stop of Morgan Freeman’s Symphonic Blues Experience, the Florida Orchestra teamed up with seven wickedly talented blues musicians from Ground Zero, which Freeman opened back in 2001.

Though the lush, swelling harmonies from the orchestra provided a cinematic layer to the performance, it was hard at times to focus on anything but Freeman’s crew of Mississippi musicians as they wailed, shredded and grooved along.

The spectacle even drew St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch.

“I had to leave a city council meeting,” he told the crowd at the packed Mahaffey Theater before Freeman came on. “But I’ll do anything for y’all.”

Here were the evening’s highlights:

Freeman strolled onstage in blue jeans, a blazer and a Ground Zero Blues Club trucker hat. When he tipped it to the audience, everyone stood up to cheer.

“Thank you so much,” Freeman said. “Now sit down.”

Eric Meier, one of Freeman’s fellow Ground Zero co-owners, launched into a pre-show question and answer session. Meier referred to a printed list of facts from ChatGPT, which included that St. Petersburg is home to the world’s largest shuffleboard club.

“Well, that’s something, isn’t it?” Freeman said with a laugh.

Next, the pair wanted to know about Gasparilla.

“I want to see a show of hands. Who attends, and who gets the heck out of dodge?” Meier asked. “Those who attend, you’re at the right place tonight.”

We learned that Freeman’s favorite Shakespearean acting experience was in the play “Coriolanus,” and that he actually is very good at whistling (he proved it). Then Meier pointed out Freeman’s filmography had grossed about $11 billion over the years.

“What? What? What?” Freeman said.

Meier asked if he thought he’d been well paid, considering the grand total.

“Are there children here?” Freeman said. “F–k no!”

Freeman left the stage to kick off the show, replaced by the musicians from Ground Zero Blues Club. The actor would reappear onstage throughout the night in a series of pre-taped videos, narrating the origin and evolution of the blues across five chapters. Archival footage rolled in the background, from workers toiling in cotton fields to late-night dance parties across time.

Mississippi singer and harmonica player Keith Johnson unleashed a soulful slide guitar performance as Freeman’s voiceover explained the blues’ role as “heartache and hope tied together.” From West Africa to slavery in the American south, the genre became “a testament to the unbroken spirit.”

Freeman continued on through the Great Migration in the 1920s, blues in gospel and rock and roll, and the genre’s modern dominance in the Mississippi Delta. As the band and orchestra moseyed through covers of B.B. King, Sam Cooke and Robert Johnson, the crowd swayed in their chairs, singing and clapping along.

While most of the night was dedicated to iconic songs of the past, St. Pete was treated to a few originals from one of Clarksdale’s current blues ambassadors.

Anthony “Big A” Sherrod, a firecracker of a guitarist and singer, played two of his own songs, earning some of the biggest howls and applause of the night.

As he danced across the stage under a spotlight, ripping rapid guitar licks the whole time, the screen behind him flashed snippets of the Sunflower River and music-themed murals in Clarksdale.

Ground Zero Blues Club inspired the juke joint at the center of the 2025 film “Sinners.” In Freeman and Meier’s interview with the Times last week, they even talked about having the film’s director, Ryan Coogler, and cast over at the club.

Towards the end of the evening, the concert featured a performance of “I Lied To You” by Raphael Saadiq and Ludwig Göransson, which played during a key turning point of the film. We won’t spoil it for those who haven’t seen it yet, but it involves a trippy dreamlike sequence, the melting of time and space and lots of dancing.

As the musicians brought the song to life in St. Pete, videos flashed on screen of blues clubs and juke joints where the music lives on today. The final shot: Ground Zero Blues Club.

Freeman, watching the show from a box by the stage, nodded along.