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.
Asian Heritage Month
Join Lan Su to celebrate Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Heritage Month. In partnership with more than 20 local cultural organizations, performers, and artists, explore the history, traditions, and arts that make up the rich cultural tapestry of AANHPI. From May 4th to 31st, Lan Su highlights the stories, the culture, and the…
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…
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…
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 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.
Our Corner of the Sky: Pride on Broadway
Join Portland's Gay Men's Chorus at their annual Pride Month concert.Step into a world of glorious individuality and triumphant self-expression as the Portland Gay Men’s Chorus presents a dazzling concert featuring the music of Broadway. With show-stopping musical numbers and powerful stories, this concert celebrates the LGBTQ+ community’s resilience and love, leaving audiences inspired and…
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.
Summer Free For All
Portland Parks & Recreation offers over 400 free events including free movie screenings, concerts and rock climbing.
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.
Vanport Jazz Festival
The Vanport Jazz Festival features some of the biggest names in jazz. Grammy winners Patrice Rushen and Esperanza Spalding highlight this year's performers. Come out and enjoy the music, food, and merchandise vendors, as well as Oregon wine and spirits, in an atmosphere that attracts visitors from throughout the United States.
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.
Mt. Angel Oktoberfest
In the heart of Oregon's hop-growing region, Mount Angel's Oktoberfest brings 350,000 people to the Bavarian village every September. The Northwest's oldest and best-loved folk festival celebrates the fruits of the harvest with a nice focus on hops. German-style biers, Northwest craft brew favorites, lots of wine, and a bit of cider are served in…
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…
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,…
Berlioz' Symphonie Fantastique
Berlioz paints a portrait of obsessive love with opium-fueled visions of cinematic realism, featuring haunting ballroom waltzes, a march to the guillotine, and maniacal witches’ dances. Opening the program, Debussy’s tone poem heaves with hazy sensuality, and violinist Carolin Widmann explores nature and love in works by Takemitsu and Chausson. Program Debussy: Prelude to an…
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…
Cadenza Series: Spring Concert
The Portland Youth Conservatory Orchestra, Wind Ensemble, and Percussion Ensemble invite you to their Spring Concert. PYP Conductor Giancarlo Castro D’Addona leads the Portland Youth Wind Ensemble, Lawrence Johnson conducts the Portland Youth Conservatory Orchestra, and Gordon Rencher coaches the Portland Youth Percussion Ensemble.
Indigo Girls: It’s Only Life After All with Anna Diem
The Indigo Girls have been producing game-changing queer folk-rock for the past 40 years. Celebrate the outstanding legacy of the band and the women behind it with this exciting new documentary. Local songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Anna Diem will perform an acoustic set of originals and Indigo Girls songs before the film.
PSU Choirs: A New Dawn
The PSU Chamber Choir presents new compositions by PSU faculty, alumni and current students which they will be recording at Skywalker Sound (George Lucas's recording studio) for an upcoming album. The concert also includes PSU's Community Chorus and other special guests.
That's So 90s Variety Show
BOOYAH. Bust out the butterfly clips and bucket hats because the 90s are back, baby. Join this fun-filled variety show featuring talented acts showcasing the music, movies, celebrities, and pop culture from this bomb diggity decade. Throughout the show, there will be trivia contests, a 90’s fashion show, top 10 lists, a costume contest, and…
Larry & Joe
Larry & Joe is the duo of Joropo maestro Larry Bellorín (Monagas, Venezuela) and GRAMMY-nominated bluegrass and oldtime star Joe Troop (Winston-Salem, North Carolina). These two virtuosic multi-instrumentalists fuse their respective Venezuelan and Appalachian folk traditions on the harp, banjo, cuatro, fiddle, upright bass, guitar, and maracas to prove that music has no borders. Their…
Los Yonics
Los Yonics have been a top-tier mainstay on Mexico's grupero scene since the release of their debut album, Que lo Sepa el Mundo, in 1975. Founded by drummer Johnny Ayvar and fronted by guitarist and frontman Jose Manuel Zamacona, they shifted the focus of grupero music from its origins in nostalgic Spanish-language covers of Anglo…
VIAL
What happens when you give musicians KT Branscom and Taylor Kraemer a Tinder account? They find a third and start a band. VIAL is a Minneapolis-based indie punk band made up of keytarist and bassist Taylor Kraemer (she/they), guitarist KT Branscom (they/them), and drummer Katie Fischer (she/they). VIAL brings their genre-bending cascade of sound into…
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.
To The Symphony… And Beyond
Solid Brass presents an evening of music performed by a full brass band that you will surely enjoy. The concert features classic movie music, a classic symphony, and two world premiers of symphonic works for brass by local composers.
A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie
Nonchalant flows, memorable hooks, trap beats that make plenty of room for melody, and the occasional hint of R&B smoothness all combine into an effortless style for Bronx rapper A Boogie wit da Hoodie. The rapper hit the scene in 2016, releasing his debut mixtape Artist on his own label, but later signed with Atlantic. He scored…
Wednesday
A Wednesday song is a quilt. A short story collection, a half-memory, a patchwork of portraits of the American south, disparate moments that somehow make sense as a whole. Karly Hartzman, the songwriter/vocalist/guitarist at the helm of the project, is a story collector as much as she is a storyteller: a scholar of people and…
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…
Brothers Osborne
Grammy-nominated duo Brothers Osborne is bringing their brand new 'We’re Not For Everyone Tour' to Portland on Oct 20, 2021. Brothers Osborne is an American country music duo consisting of brothers T.J. Osborne and John Osborne. Born in Deale, Maryland, the duo signed a recording contract with EMI Records Nashville in 2012 and began releasing music the following year.
Cedric Burnside
When Cedric Burnside prepared to record Hill Country Love, the follow-up to his 2021 Grammy-winning album I Be Trying, he set up shop in a former legal office located in a row of structures in the seat of Tippah County, a town with 5,000 residents that’s known as the birthplace of the Hill Country Blues…
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.
tu-NER
Trey Gunn – Warr guitar (ex King Crimson, David Sylvian) Pat Mastelotto – drums, electronics (Stick Men, King Crimson, Mr. Mister) Markus Reuter – touch guitar (Stick Men, Devin Townsend) From the kitchen of the original King Crimson R&D fraKctal units, please welcome the new incarnation of tu:NER. tu:NER will perform their original music, improvs and honor as well…
Fatai
Come and see Fatai and her stupidly-vibing band for an evening of phenomenal music. Featuring songs from her new EP and her infamously flipped covers, this tour will be one not to miss.
Tedeschi Trucks Band
Tedeschi Trucks Band is a Grammy Award-winning 12-piece rock and soul powerhouse that holds a well-deserved reputation as one of the best live acts touring today. Led by husband and wife guitarist Derek Trucks and singer/guitarist Susan Tedeschi — hailed as “two of the best roots rock musicians of their generation” (NPR), the 12-piece Tedeschi…
Battle Beast
Famous for their energetic shows, incredibly catchy choruses and odd sense of humour, Battle Beast are destined for glory. Topping the Finnish charts for the fourth consecutive time and hitting #9 in Germany with their 2022 album “Circus of Doom”, the Helsinki-based sextet is looking and sounding stronger than ever. Ever since winning two major…
Colby Acuff
Sometimes, it seems like country has forgotten its wild roots — or at least outgrown them, changing as it has to reflect an ever-evolving world. Then there’s a guy like Colby Acuff. A fourth-generation Idaho native with a rugged spirit true to his mountain home, honest-to-a-fault lyrics and a sound as raw as the remote…
We Three
We Three, the Oregon alt-pop trio — siblings Manny, Bethany and Joshua Humlie — have already built a passionate global fanbase with their anthemic, emotive and life-affirming songs: they have 1.4 million TikTok followers, an audience they cultivated during the pandemic, and their music has received more than 250 million streams. But "Love Me" is…
Snow Raven Featuring Misha Mishenko
Prepare to embark on a breathtaking sound journey to the enchanting snowy landscapes of Arctic Siberia as expressed in the music of the internationally-known Indigenous artist SNOW RAVEN, whose people, the Sakha, dwell there. Joining SNOW RAVEN is the talented MISHA MISHENKO, a composer, multi-instrumentalist, and sound producer whose artistry adds another layer of enchantment…
Tribal Seeds
Tribal Seeds has toured worldwide, seeking the spiritual aromatics of earth smoke and forming bonds with fans and musicians. In their 15 years as a reggae rock band, originally from San Diego, Tribal Seeds has released four full-length albums and two EPs. It’s helped them amass over 224M song streams and 250,000 followers on Spotify….
Candlelight: A Tribute to Adele
Candlelight concerts bring the magic of a live, multi-sensory musical experience to awe-inspiring locations like never seen before in Portland. Get your tickets now to discover the music of Adele under the gentle glow of candlelight. Performers: Listeso String Quartet
Porch Concert Series
Cathedral Park Performing Arts Collective proudly presents the 2024 Porch Concert Series. Come to the front lawn for free live music on the porch of the building on the 2nd and 4th Saturdays of the month from May through September. Stop at the St. Johns Farmers Market and then check out some great local musicians…
Harry Potter And the Deathly Hallows Part I in Concert
The end begins… Witness the beginning of Harry’s most important battle yet, with the feature film accompanied by a live symphony orchestra. Harry, Ron, and Hermione set out to track down the secret to Voldemort’s power Artists Deanna Tham, Conductor Oregon Symphony
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