Just minutes before taking the stage at Busch Gardens’ Bands, Brew & BBQ festival on Sunday, Feb. 19, former Poison frontman and reality TV star Bret Michaels met the most popular – and hairiest – of Busch Gardens’ Animal Ambassadors team, Harry the sloth.

Thanks to its thick, shaggy hair, the sloth has an unusual, symbiotic relationship with algae, which grows on its coat and aids in camouflaging the sloth as it hangs from tree branches.

The Busch Gardens’ zoo educators also brought a young southern ground hornbill named Tufts and a Burmese python to meet Michaels and his band backstage.

Michaels’ 2010 album, Custom Built, rose to the top of Billboard’s Hard Rock list at #1 and his current “Get Your Rock On” tour is selling out venues across the country. He also took the reality television world by storm in the past few years on VH1’s “Rock of Love,” the 2010 docu-series “Bret Michaels: Life As I Know It” and as the winning contestant on the third season of Donald Trump’s NBC hit, “Celebrity Apprentice.”

Busch Gardens Tampa Bay combines world-class thrill rides, live entertainment and one of North America’s largest zoos in an unforgettable adventure for the whole family. This year, the park’s smokin’ hot Bands, Brew & BBQ festival fills every weekend, February 11 – March 4, with unlimited sampling of more than 80 specialty and craft beers, saucy barbeque from some of the bay area’s most popular restaurants and live concerts with the biggest names in classic rock, including 38 Special on Feb. 26 and REO Speedwagon on March 4.

Bands, Brew & BBQ offers weekends full of smokin’ hot fun now through March 4 – now on Saturdays AND Sundays! Outback Steakhouse is bringing some of their menu favorites.  What’s cooking?

Baby Back Ribs

Each succulent rack is smoked, wood-fire grilled and brushed with a tangy BBQ sauce.

Grilled Chicken on the Barbie

Seasoned, wood-fire grilled chicken breast with Outback’s signature BBQ sauce

Also  being served this year: the Outback Burger and Outback’s signature Mac n’ Cheese.

New this year, you have two days to sample dozens of craft and international beers and fire up your taste buds with food from your favorite local restaurants as well as our own famous, blazing barbecue.

Every Sunday, enjoy sizzling live performances from award-winning country and classic rock artists like Bret Michaels, 38 Special and REO Speedwagon.

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