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.
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…
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.
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…
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…
Concerts at Ardiri Winery
Allow Ardiri Winery to appeal to your senses with delicious wines, stunning views, and intimate concerts by various local artists and performers. Featuring concerts from a number of artists who bring the dulcet tones of jazz and funk to the winery while Ardiri brings the wine. Whether the Oregon forecast brings rain, shine, or snow,…
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.
Amon Amarth
Sweden's Amon Amarth, one of the most respected and consistent forces in the melodic death scene, emerged in the early ’90s with a sound that infused traditional scorched-earth Scandinavian death metal with Viking history and lore. They broke into the mainstream in 2008 with the release of their landmark seventh LP, Twilight of the Thunder…
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…
Rabbit Rabbit Radio
Carla Kihlstedt and Matthias Bossi of avant-rock band Sleepytime Gorilla Museum take on Portland with their song-spinning duo, Rabbit Rabbit Radio. Creative beyond measure, the music of Rabbit Rabbit Radio draws on their collective love of art song, folk song, industrial music, improvised music and heart-wrenching balladry. If you listen closely, you’ll hear traces of…
Sh-Boom! Life Could Be A Dream
ALL PERFORMANCES SOLD OUT Return to the days of yesteryear with nostalgic hits from the Golden Oldies, “Fools Fall In Love,” “Tears On My Pillow,” “Runaround Sue,” “Earth Angel,” “Stay,” and “Unchained Melody.” Meet Denny and the Dreamers, a fledgling doo-wop singing group hoping to realize their dreams of making it to the big time…
Bendigo Fletcher
The full-length debut from Bendigo Fletcher, Fits of Laughter is a collection of moments both enchanted and mundane, sorrowful and ecstatic: basking in the beauty of a glorious lightning storm, waking with a strand of your beloved’s hair happily caught in your mouth, drinking malt liquor while bingeing “The X-Files” on a lonesome Saturday night….
Michael Seyer
Currently in Los Angeles, singer-songwriter Michael Seyer was originally born in the Philippines. The 28 year old musician produces everything in his bedroom and takes pride in it. With hazy guitars, airy synths, and introspective lyrics, descriptions of his music have ranged from atmospheric, bittersweet, and emotional. However, his unique take on the emerging bedroom…
Willy Porter
Some folks are lucky to find what they love to do at an early age and quietly settle in for the long haul, expanding and developing their work over the arc of a lifetime. Willy Porter is one of those artists. He has followed his own path to explore the sacred language that music truly…
Grimiss with Bridal Veil and Veradas
Bridal Veil Bridal Veil is an American four-piece band from Portland, inspired by the emotional pangs of the 90s — the last era to know what life was like without a cell phone in every hand. Led by guitarist/Soprano/Flutist Emily Overstreet, the band weaves between ethereal dream pop similar to Cocteau Twins and heavy walls…
Charlotte Cornfield & Al Menne
It’s been less than two years since Highs in the Minuses became Charlotte Cornfield’s break-out — a magnetic mission statement for the Toronto songwriter described by Rolling Stone as “Canada’s best-kept secret.” Cornfield emerged from pandemic seclusion with new fans, raised expectations, and her first major US tour. She could have kept touring forever. She…
New Year in the Park
New Year in the Park will showcase cultural dance and music performances, traditional games, cultural crafts and activities, and vendor booths with food and merchandise. This cultural event aims to highlight vibrant Southeast Asian communities in the greater Portland area. Attendance is free, and you are invited to join.
Northwest Academy Performing Arts Showcase
Northwest Academy, downtown Portland’s arts-centered independent middle and high school, presents the Angry Pigeon Music Collective’s showcase. Hear from talented student musicians for a program of classic covers and other instrumental arrangements. Northwest Academy is a progressive independent middle and high school college preparatory program that inspires students to learn and achieve through its unique…
Oregon Repertory Singers present Finding Light
Oregon Repertory Singers and Youth Choir join with Camerata from Portland Youth Philharmonic for a profound reflection on life, meaning, and the search for light in the darkest of times with two stunning works for choir and orchestra. After nearly fifty years, Oregon Repertory Singers continues proving itself a choral programming leader in Portland. In…
Smallpools / Grayscale
Specializing in shimmery, ebullient, and effusive electro-pop in the vein of Foster the People, Passion Pit, Fun., and Jukebox the Ghost, Los Angeles-based indie rockers Smallpools formed in 2013 around the talents of Sean Scanlon (vocals), Mike Kamerman (guitar), Joe Intile (bass), and Beau Kuther (drums). The quartet made waves with their first single, "Dreaming,"…
Bobby Torres Ensemble
Bobby Torres is a bandleader, musician, record producer, songwriter, and session musician with a 40-year professional history that spans the globe. Originally from New York City, Bobby developed his reputation while performing with Joe Cocker and The Grease Band at Woodstock, touring with Joe Cocker's Mad Dogs and Englishmen, and performing and/or touring or recording with…
Jordan Mackampa
Born in the Republic of Congo and raised in London, Jordan Mackampa has spent his life straddling identities — a challenge the singer-songwriter addresses right in the title of his debut album, Foreigner. Appropriately enough, Mackampa's music juggles genres as it mashes decades of classic pop with tinges of gospel and lots of dramatic, timeless,…
Beethoven’s Eighth Symphony
A testament to Beethoven’s sly wit, the Eighth Symphony finds the revolutionary composer transforming beloved 18th-century dance forms with new dramatic possibilities. Violinist Baiba Skride displays a “soaring, incisive tone” (Strad) in Britten’s Violin Concerto, an emotionally charged work composed as Europe descended into World War II. Program Britten: Four Sea Interludes Britten: Violin Concerto…
The Merry Widow
Indulge in the elegance, romance, and comedic brilliance of Franz Lehar’s lighthearted operetta, “The Merry Widow,” with an unexpected twist. Count Danilo and Hannah fall in love, but their marriage is thwarted by his uncle because of Hannah’s insufficient wealth. Instead, Hannah marries a wealthy older man who soon dies, leaving her all his fortune….
Jerry's Middle Finger
Humbly formed in 2015 by a group of professional musicians passionate about Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead, JMF started honing its one-of-a-kind sound at LA speakeasies and beachside dive bars. Audiences of all ages instantly fell in love and soon JMF was playing to packed rooms from legendary stages throughout California, Oregon, Arizona, Colorado,…
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,…
Boeckner
Daniel Boeckner understands the grit and gravel that accumulate in the heart and that it takes unwavering courage to crack through that clutter and burrow to the other side. And in Boeckner’s hands, that quest comes via postapocalyptic synth and guitar heroism, a rallying cry for those always coming home through the scorched clouds. Throughout…
Robert Henry & The Repeaters
As the frontman for Robert Henry & The Repeaters, I found my country music passion at 17 after a heavy metal phase in high school. Influenced by American country's rich blend of blues and storytelling traditions, our band, formed in 2018, channels legends like Waylon Jennings in our unique sound. The latest album, released on…
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.
Mk.gee
R&B singer/songwriter Michael Gordon (aka Mk.Gee) sits on the fringe of the genre, with dreamy instrumentals and funk-infused guitar lines that have drawn comparisons to — and a co-sign from — Frank Ocean. Following several buzzed-about EPs, he released the full-length mixtape A Museum of Contradiction in 2020. Born in 1997 in Linwood, New Jersey,…
Sweet Pill
Sweet Pill has a style earmarked by an earnest ingenuity that many young artists are quick to romanticize and aspire to but slow to cultivate and execute. It takes time. For singer Zayna Youssef, guitarists Jayce Williams and Sean McCall, bassist Ryan Cullen, and drummer Chris Kearney, however, their five years together have seen their…
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…
Imminence
After appearing in North America for the very first time, making their live debut in the market a complete success story with the entire tour being sold out in 48 hours, venues upgraded not only once but twice due to enormous demand, and closing in on tickets sales up to 1500 visitors per show, Imminence…
WAYFARER
WAYFARER (Century Media) is the pre-eminent Western American Metal band. Composed of four black-clad players from Denver, Colorado, the band’s sound draws from the deep wells of black metal, gothic country, and a mericana – creating a thunderous and uniquely American genre of metal all to their own. After ten years of existence, the band…
Young Rising Sons
New Jersey's Young Rising Sons fuse savvy contemporary pop with a buoyant rock and electronic vibe. They created a buzz with their 2014 single "High," followed by a series of well-received EPs, including 2015's The Kids Will Be Fine and 2016's Undefeatable +2. In 2022, they released their full-length debut, Still Point in a Turning…
Coco
Coco — the project of Maia Friedman, Oliver Hill, and Dan Molad — began as an experiment of sorts; three friends writing songs for nothing other than the ritual of doing so. “There’s a mutual admiration and trust among us,” the band shares. “It allows a ‘first thought best thought’ mentality.” Their vast and varied…
Kassi Valazza
There is a cult-like fascination growing around Kassi Valazza following the self-release of her 2019 debut album Dear Dead Days, and her surprise 2022 EP, Highway Sounds. She is seated squarely at the vanguard of new American songwriters strengthening and broadening the sound of country music as she tours with celebrated acts such as Melissa…
Lawrence Rothman
Acclaimed songwriter, musician and producer Lawrence Rothman returns with their highly-anticipated new album, “The Plow That Broke the Plains,”. Born in St. Louis, MO and is now based between Los Angeles and Nashville. Lawrence is known for their genre-bending work, which includes their most recent album, 2021’s acclaimed Good Morning, America (feat. Lucinda Williams, Amanda Shires,…
First Friday at ADX: An Altar of Books
Join an evening at ADX's "An Altar of Books: A Celebration of Book Arts." Led by the talented Jessica Werner, this event promises to be a captivating showcase of handcrafted books, journals, and other book-related creations. Immerse yourself in the ambiance as you enjoy live music by Amie Santavicca and Sleep Over Band. Don't miss…
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