High Notes: The Best Live Music in Portland This Week, March 17-22

Email to a friend Permalink

Tuesday, March 17, 2015

John Chandler, GoLocalPDX Contributor

If you can tear yourself away from the green beer and step dancing that accompany the traditional St Patrick’s Day bacchanalia, there are several excellent non-Blarney musical happenings worthy of your attention this week. 

Lukas Nelson

Mar 17 @ 8pm

Probably the most noticeably talented of Shotgun Willie’s offspring, Lukas Nelson is a flamethrower guitarist with a penchant for socks-rocking country riffs. Backed by his band, Promise of the Real, young Nelson shares his pop’s nuanced lyrical delivery—and fondness for weed—on songs like “The Joint” and “Wasted.” But on “Can You Hear Me Love You” he proves that he can croon with the best of ’em—and that includes the old man. More than just another member of the Popular Progeny Club, Lukas Nelson is shaping up into an artist deserving of his own rabid following.  

$14-16. Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi Ave. 

George Clinton

Mar 18 @ 9pm

If the nightly news has you bummed out and hiding in the basement, a few hours of communal funk can prove an effective pick-me-up. Parliament Funkadelic founder George Clinton is the ageless ambassador of the genre, inciting group grooving on patented shakers like “Mothership Connection Starchild” and “Flashlight” since the fall of Nixon. Clinton is particularly pumped up about ‘First You Gotta Shake the Gate,’ a brand new Funkadelic album—his first in 33 years!

$25-27. Crystal Ballroom, 1332 W Burnside St. 

Verner Pantons

Mar 20 @ 8pm

Equal parts power pop enthusiasts and smart ’60s revivalists, Portland’s Verner Pantons make a strong bid for recognition on their self-titled debut album from last year. On “Cat’s Paw” singer-guitarist Tobias Berblinger and company rumble and brood like a West Coast Velvet Underground (aka Dream Syndicate), and on “Melancholy Girl” they borrow the opening riff from the Velvets’ “There She Goes Again” before firing up a jingle-jangle stick of Nag Champa that neatly sweeps the mind clean of impurities. The Verner Pantons have a way with familiar sounds, stirring in enough singular ingredients to make them new again.     

Turn, Turn, Turn, 8 NE Killingsworth St. 

Shpongle

Mar 21 @ 9pm

Pretty much anything you need to know about this long-running English electro-delic duo can be found on their defining track, “Divine Moments of Truth,” with its percolating Afro-beat percussion, billowing shrouds of synthesizer, and processed Bedouin shouts and chants. It’s all designed by principal band members Simon Posford and Rama Ram to aid your spiritual growth, so pay attention before losing yourself in the dimensional rifts that materialize during consciousness-expanding vortexes like “Brain in a Fish Tank.”

$22. Roseland Theater, 8 NW Sixth Ave. 

Kristin Hersh

Mar 22 @ 7pm

The indefatigable singer for Rhode Island indie band Throwing Muses is a 30-year veteran of clubs and bars, but her haunting, otherworldly voice and harrowing songs are perfectly suited for a night at the Old Church. Hersh’s 1998 solo album, ‘Strange Angels,’ is also the name she assigns to fans and followers who are financially supportive of her work, allowing her the freedom to tour and record more than 20 albums outside the confines of the recording industry. And when she’s onstage playing guitar and giving voice to riveting songs from her repertoire like “Your Ghost” and “Ellen West,” it’s obvious that her music springs from a strange, wonderful place that’s truly above and beyond.        

$16-18. The Old Church, 1422 SW 11th Ave. 

 

John Chandler has been writing about rock and/or roll for 25 years with The Rocket, Portland Tribune, Portland Monthly, Magnet, Dagger, No Depression, and Puncture. He also writes about beer, booze, and bars for Portland'sBarFly website and plays in a couple goofy bands when the mood strikes him. He can most often be found at the wheel of horrificflicks.com, a review website dedicated to horror movies.

Related Articles

• High Notes: The Best Live Music in Portland This Week, March 10 - 15
• High Notes: The Best Live Music in Portland This Week, March 3 - 8
• High Notes: The Best Live Music in Portland This Week, Feb. 24
• High Notes: The Best Live Music in Portland This Week, Feb. 17
• High Notes: The Best Live Music in Portland This Week, Feb. 10
• High Notes: The Best Live Music in Portland This Week, Feb. 3

Enjoy this post? Share it with others.

Email to a friend Permalink