Music
Portland’s musical offerings are diverse as the city itself, with options including indie rock, jazz, classical, pop and more.
Home to indie darlings and internationally acclaimed artists alike (think Pink Martini, Esperanza Spalding, The Decemberists, The Shins and Elliott Smith), Portland is a haven for music lovers. Visitors can explore the city’s dozens of live music venues or take the stage themselves at one of Portland’s many open mic nights.
Music Events in Portland
Portland overflows year-round with live shows, festivals and music-centered things to do.
Live Music Venues
These five venues showcase some of the best live music in each of the city's five quadrants.
Local Musicians
Check out these up-and-coming musicians making a name for themselves in Portland.
The New Class of the Portland R&B Scene
A new generation of artists is attracting more light to the Portland R&B scene than ever before.
The Portland Hip-Hop Scene
Take a deep dive into the past, present and future of the Portland hip-hop scene with our expert guide to the best rap artists, showcases, shops and more.
Portland Filipino American Musician Mixes Island Heritage and Hip-Hop
Talilo Marfil, rapper and advocate, reflects on the power of community and takes readers through his favorite Portland hangs.
Upcoming Music Picks
Check out our events calendar to find music around the city.
Karaoke From Hell
The Northwest's original live karaoke band, Karaoke From Hell, has been rocking Portland for over 25 years and counting. The catalog boasts nearly 700 songs for you to sing, covering every genre from show tunes to skate punk. Catch it every Monday at Dante's and every Thursday at The Spare Room.
Darcelle XV’s Weekend Drag Show
Darcelle XV and Company have been entertaining audiences from all walks of life for over 50 years with Las Vegas-style cabaret revues of Glitz, Glamour and Comedy. Stop by when you are in Portland and you will be glad that you did! We have traveled the United States presenting a show that you have to…
Inner City Blues Festival
A Benefit for Health Care for All Oregon – OREGON presents Soul Queens and Blues Kings Healing the Health Care Blues Norman “Boogie Cat” Sylvester and Lenanne Sylvester-Miller bring together some of this region's finest Rhythm & Blues favorites for an amazing night of Soul and Blues.
Rockwood Market Hall Music Series
Each month, on a late Sunday afternoon, the Rockwood Market Hall hosts a local artist to perform for community members who enjoy their food while listening to live music in a relaxed, laid-back atmosphere. With various cuisine options, the Rockwood Market Hall is a great place to enjoy dinner with family and friends. See you…
Sabertooth
McMenamins, Portland Mercury, X-Ray and doPDX proudly present Sabertooth 2024. With its roots in Portland’s Crystal Ballroom’s psychedelic history, Sabertooth comes to both the Crystal Ballroom and Spanish Ballroom for two nights of psychedelic stoner rock.
Edgefield Concerts on the Lawn
With acts that have ranged from Phoebe Bridgers to Stevie Wonder, McMenamins Edgefield Concerts on the Lawn are an annual rite of summer and a hot ticket for cool nights.
Zoo Nights
Enjoy the magic of Portland summer nights with live music, food and festivities at the Oregon Zoo while relaxing among the lush gardens and wildlife at Zoo Nights.
Foster Summer Soiree
The 2024 Foster Summer Soiree will bring live entertainment and vendors to Laurelwood Park, special activations at several Foster businesses, sidewalk sales, and other festivities. This exciting event is back for its second year.
Chamber Music Northwest Summer Festival
Chamber Music Northwest’s annual summer festival combines high-caliber classical music with a laid-back atmosphere.
Latino Cultural Festival
Get ready to immerse yourself in a vibrant celebration of Latin culture at the 17th Annual Washington County Chamber — Unitus Community Credit Union Latino Cultural Festiva. This culturally rich event provides a platform for sharing information, connecting with the community, and promoting local businesses and non-profits to more than 10,000 attendees. The festivities will…
Waterfront Blues Festival
Every Fourth of July weekend, the Waterfront Blues Festival takes over downtown Portland’s Waterfront Park.
Cathedral Park Jazz Festival
The Jazz Society’s Cathedral Park Jazz Festival is a free concert open to the public and held over three days in mid-July at Cathedral Park at the base of the St. Johns Bridge in the Cathedral Park neighborhood of Portland. Nearing four decades of history, the festival is the longest-running jazz and blues festival west…
Pickathon
Every August, Pickathon draws diverse musical performers to celebrate music and the outdoors at the lush Pendarvis Farm just outside of Portland.
Multnomah Days
This beloved annual event incorporates a one-day open-air, family-friendly street festival with scheduled musical acts, a community parade, an art fair and over 125 vendor booths, and food and beverage services available via outdoor street dining and food carts — plus outdoor street dining.
El Grito
Join in the most important holiday celebrated by the Hispanic community in Oregon. El Grito 20th Anniversary immerses the rich traditions of the Latinx community with delicious Mexican cuisine and family-friendly entertainment, folkloric and Aztec dancers, live mariachi, salsa, cumbia and pop music, and interactive and educational community booths. The event also features contests, prizes, raffles,…
Comfort and Joy
Make memories together as your Oregon Symphony creates a magical winter wonderland through classic sing-alongs and your favorite holiday music. And, just in case you forget how many fa-la-la-las are in “Deck the Hall,” lyric sheets will be provided. Artists Deanna Tham, Conductor Oregon Chorale
Gospel Christmas
Feel the spirit of the holiday season with the 25th annual performance of this beloved concert, featuring the region’s premier gospel singers alongside your Oregon Symphony. Experience the joy and uplift of gospel music, performed with passion and feeling by some of the finest musicians in the region. Artists Charles Floyd, Conductor NW Community Gospel…
In Concert on Downtown’s Transit Mall
Picture this: A serene mid-day in Portland, the sun gently casting its warmth over Pioneer Square. As you sit down for lunch, the air is filled with the melodic strains of live music. It's Concerts on Downtown’s Transit Mall, an oasis of sound amidst the bustling city. Let the music serenade you as you savor…
Inon Barnatan
A celebrated pianist of "breathtaking charisma" (Philadelphia Inquirer) and "uncommon sensitivity" (New Yorker), Inon Barnatan brings Portland Piano International's season to a close with a program of mesmerizing music by Rachmaninoff and Schubert. Rachmaninoff's early Moments musicaux showcase signature elements of the Russian composer's unabashedly romantic music — lush melodies, heightened expression, and thunderous, bell-like…
Cat Clyde
Cat Clyde is a singer/songwriter based out of rural Ontario, Canada. A combination of driven, soulful blues and sweet, folk-tinged, dulcet tones that carry a particular sense of familiarity provide the structure on which she creates her unique sound. Cat Clyde’s 3rd album, Down Rounder, is a wonder of deeply felt songwriting, a record that finds the…
Julia Holter
Recent years brought about for Julia Holter an existential focus on human connection amid the staggering change that came with the death of loved ones (including her young nephew, to whom the album is dedicated) and the birth of her daughter. On "Something in the Room She Moves", Holter vividly processes the complexity, gravity, and…
The High Hawks
The High Hawks are a group of musical friends who hail from various jam and Americana bands: Vince Herman, frontman and festival ring leader from Leftover Salmon; Tim Carbone, ace fiddler and multi-instrumentalist from Railroad Earth; Adam Greuel, ring leader and guitarist from Horseshoes & Hand Grenades; Chad Staehly, keyboardist from Hard Working Americans; Brian…
Duniway Live Music
Enjoy live music by local musicians in the Mayrose Lounge Bar with Happy Hour specials from 3 p.m.-6 p.m. Receive a 20% Local Discount on all food and drink. Must show ID.
The Innocents
Now the subject of an award-winning documentary film, The Innocents, is social justice advocacy through performance art. The work is an effort to delve deeply into the current issues surrounding the subject of wrongful imprisonment and exoneration, as well as a commitment to connect with the communities in which it is performed. This work cuts…
Brainstory
Based in LA but hailing from the Inland Empire's own Rialto, CA, two-thirds of Brainstory, Kevin and Tony Martin, are brothers by blood, while Eric Hagstrom is a brother through their music and long-term friendship. While the group's initial connection comes from the heady mixture of jazz-performance-focused music school and the grind of playing local…
Legally Blonde The Musical
A fabulously fun award-winning musical based on the adored movie, Legally Blonde The Musical follows the transformation of Elle Woods as she tackles stereotypes and scandal in pursuit of her dreams. Action-packed and exploding with memorable songs and dynamic dances – this musical is so much fun it should be illegal. Elle Woods appears to…
Petey
Petey (born Peter Martin) is a singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer who combines introspective and transformative lyrics with a spirited amalgam of indie rock, emo, punk, and electro-pop. In 2020 he began posting a popular series of absurdist alt-comedy sketches on his social media channel, and in 2021 he issued his debut full-length effort, Lean…
Yellow Days
Noted for throaty, yearning vocals accompanying his swimmy indie soul-pop, Yellow Days is the performance alias of British musician George van den Broek. After some early releases during his teenage years, he began to gain traction with 2017’s full-length "Is Everything Okay in Your World?" Switching locales to Los Angeles, his follow-up, A Day in…
Prepare for the Night with DJ George the Mixologist
Come enjoy music from DJ, George the Mixologist, who will bring vibes to the park every Friday evening before people enjoy all the nighttime entertainment downtown has to offer.
Canby Brewfest
Get ready to tap into some frothy fun at the Canby Brewfest, bringing back the beer-fueled extravaganza that had folks spilling their pints in excitement last year. Picture this: over 40 beers on tap, with local brews so good they’ll make you forget your name, live music that’ll have your hops hopping, and food trucks…
PSU Steinway Piano Series: Oxana Yablonskaya
The PSU Steinway Piano Series presents an exciting weekend of masterful piano performances: Friday, May 10 at 7:00 PM Concert with guest pianist Oxana Yablonskaya. This powerful concert will include solo works by CPE Bach, Schubert, Schubert/Liszt, Rachmaninov and Tchaikovsky. Ms. Yablonskaya will also perform the piano 4-hands version of Franck’s Prelude, Fugue and Variation,…
The 502s
The 502s are a band of friends and family hailing from Florida. A sextet comprises cousins Ed and Jake Isola, who grew up across the street from one another (in house number 502). Also, it features kindergarten friends Matt Tonner and Joe Capati, plus Sean Froehlich and Nick Melashenko, who joined the gang when they…
Pearl Jam
Though they made their initial mark as frontrunners of the grunge movement of the early '90s, Pearl Jam began and remained more emotionally curious and stylistically adventurous than many of their flannel-clad peers of that era, expanding past the angst and dissonance often associated with grunge to become one of the most popular and enduring…
Paco Versailles
Paco Versailles is a collaboration between guitarist/composer Vahagni and songwriter/producer Ryan Merchant (Capital Cities).Their sound is a mix of flamenco guitar rhythms with disco-leaning electronic production and captivating vocals, a new genre they call Dancemenco. The name Paco Versailles was conceived while imagining a collaboration between their biggest influences, the legendary Spanish guitarist Paco De…
Max Simon and The Alabama Choir Boys with Rosy Boa and Grolixies + Gentle Being
Max Simon and The Alabama Choir Boys https://www.instagram.com/maxsimonsays/ Rosy Boa – Bandcamp – Instagram Grolixies – Bandcamp – Instagram – Apple Music – Spotify Gentle Being – Bandcamp – Instagram – Spotify
She Persisted: The Musical
Fourth-grader Naomi's field trip to a Women's History Museum turns into a time travel adventure where she encounters inspirational women who have overcome barriers and made waves throughout U.S. history. From activists to athletes, artists and more, this musical features the stories of female trailblazers such as Harriet Tubman, Virginia Apgar, Ruby Bridges, Sally Ride,…
Meagan Sky's Self-Love Soiree
Join a Mother's Day event centered around women, wellness and self-care. There will be vendors, live music, drinks, snacks, and more. Fill your cup + fuel your soul. Bring your mom and/or treat yourself to an evening where you truly feel taken care of. You can treat yourself and walk away feeling uplifted and inspired to follow…
A World Apart: The Music of Haydn & Pärt
Imagine an intriguing and satisfying aural combination: the fullest color spectrum paired with the most uncompromising grayscale… and join the choirs of Trinity Cathedral, the Portland Baroque Orchestra, vocal soloists, and guest conductor Gabriel Crouch for an exciting evening of music by Franz Josef Haydn and Arvo Pärt. You’ll hear Pärt’s haunting work for strings…
Chungking Express with The Fourth Wall // 30TH ANNIVERSARY
Grab a can of pineapple juice and crank up Faye Wong’s cover of “Dreams” and celebrating 30 years of the Wong Kar-wai masterpiece Chungking Express. A touching study of love, connection and heartbreak, the film’s emotional power feels just as raw today as its 1994 release. Portland band The Fourth Wall will play a set inspired by the…
Puccini: In Concert
One hundred years after he died in 1924, we celebrate a one-night-only concert featuring Giacomo Puccini’s enduring compositions. Experience the drama and passion of these cultural touchstones, brought to life by an exciting ensemble of featured guest artists. Treat yourself, get fancy with friends, and enjoy a brilliant night out. We’ll cherish the iconic music…
Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini
A rollercoaster of pianistic flourishes, Rachmaninoff’s ravishing rhapsody is given a tour-de- force performance by soloist Simon Trpčeski. Dvořák’s distinctly Bohemian style shines in his brooding, mysterious Seventh Symphony, in which the composer gives voice to personal grief and the struggles of his nation. *In Salem on Friday, May 10, 2024, 7:30 pm Program Dobrinka…
Los Angeles League of Musicians, LA LOM
JThe Los Angeles League of Musicians, LA LOM, are an instrumental trio formed in Los Angeles in 2021. They blend the sounds of Cumbia Sonidera, 60’s soul ballads and classic romantic boleros that emanate from radios, backyard parties and dance clubs of Los Angeles with the twang of Peruvian Chicha and Bakersfield Country
Sam Evian
It was New Year's Eve 2022, the night before Sam Evian started recording Plunge, his fourth LP, now set for release on Flying Cloud Recordings via Thirty Tigers — his first album on his new imprint. He invited his friends and fellow musicians to his property in the Catskills, where he’d just painstakingly relocated and…
Organist James O’Donnell in Concert
Immerse yourself in an evening of powerful music with James O'Donnell performing. In a divine setting with superb acoustics, this special presentation promises to be a memorable experience for all music devotees.
Liverpool Legends "The Complete Beatles Experience"
Liverpool Legends are four talented musicians and actors, handpicked by Louise Harrison — sister of George Harrison, to honor her brother’s legacy and re-create the band that changed the world forever. Experience the complete history of The Beatles, starting with the early mop-top hits, such as I Want To Hold Your Hand, She Loves You…
Alicia Villarreal
Martha Alicia Villarreal Esparza, known simply and professionally as Alicia Villarreal, is a Mexican singer. Villarreal participated in different bands in Monterrey, before becoming the lead singer for Grupo Límite in 1995. After nearly eight years of success, Villarreal left the band pursuing a solo career.
Country Music Night
Every Sunday Portland's premier country music DJs, The Country Co-Op plays outlaw country and honky tonk music at The Sandy Hut. The bar is always packed with people dancing and singing.
Lizzy McAlpine
A singer/songwriter with a distinctive sound that combines elements of folk-pop, jazz, and R&B, Lizzy McAlpine found mainstream success in 2020 with her acclaimed debut album, Give Me a Minute. She issued her sophomore LP, Five Seconds Flat, in 2022.
Celtic Woman
On the heels of the successful “Postcards From Ireland,” Celtic Woman will carry on its legacy of uplifting performances packed with breath-taking harmonies and instrumental virtuosity. The group announced it will bring an all-new live show to celebrate its 20th anniversary to Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall on Tuesday, May 14, 2023. The Celtic Woman 20th…
Ash
Ash is an independent artist with over 750 million streams on digital platforms. Since the beginning of his career, the 27-year-old musician and live artist has been releasing music through his own label Ash Music. A multi-instrumentalist who plays the Piano, Guitar, Sax, Drums and Synthesizers, he blends his Egyptian and French background in electronic…