High Notes: The Best Live Music in Portland This Week
Tuesday, October 28, 2014
The Kills
Oct 28 @ 8pm
A night spent in thrall to singer Alison Mosshart and guitarist Jamie Hince, known collectively as the Kills, is a fine way to ease into an appropriately dark groove this Halloween week. Mosshart, who also sings in Jack White’s side project Dead Weather, is an elusive shape-shifter, able to morph from venomous vixen on “Cheap and Cheerful” to tired torch-song siren in “The Last Goodbye.” But these aren’t costumes she’s wearing; despite a penchant for drama, Mosshart isn’t faking it. Hers is a voice of experience.
$25-27. Wonder Ballroom, 128 NE Russell St.
Chromeo
Oct 28 @ 8pm
Sorry rockers, but disco never died—it just went underground and developed some muscles. And now, trying to find a recently produced popular tune without some kind of EDM embellishment is nigh impossible, since it’s become the ideal fodder for our high-energy cardio playlists. Montreal men Dave 1 and P-Thugg are the prime movers in Chromeo, a group that isn’t afraid to declare its public affection for such pulse-pumping pioneers as Giorgio Moroder, Cameo, and Chic. Chromeo’s beats and flourishes are state of the art but their influences belong to a time of matching jumpsuits and fevers born of Saturday night moves. Dance you fools!
$28. Roseland Theater, 8 NW Sixth Ave.
Raven
Oct 30 @ 8pm
It’s not every day that you have the opportunity to pay homage to one of the most influential bands from the NWoBHM (New Wave of British Heavy Metal) in a modest-sized club setting. Led by bassist and singer John Gallagher and his guitar-grilling brother Mark, Raven originally hailed from Newcastle, and was among the first bands to combine serious metal chops with hurtling breakneck tempos. More than 35 years later, the lads are still at it, and lord knows it can’t be getting any easier to hammer out thrash classics like “Screamin’ Down the House” and “Hard Ride”. Certainly not at their age.
$12. Tonic Lounge, 3100 NE Sandy Blvd.
Fred & Toody Unplugged
Oct 31 @ 9pm
Holiday gigs with Fred and Toody Cole are way, way better than seasonal sit-downs down with your relatives. Why? Because Fred and Toody have a thoroughly committed rock partnership that continues to inspire even as it ages like Chateau Lafite. Your family? Not so much. Oh look! Uncle Gus dipped his beard in the gravy boat again! That never gets old!
The ageless Portland power couple behind such venerated groups as Dead Moon, the Rats, and Pierced Arrows, is an unbending testament to Northwest-grown grit and gumption. Battered anthems like “54-40 or Fight” and “Johnny’s Got a Gun” represent rock music stripped of all artifice, but surging with redemptive energy and righteous anger. Fred and Toody are a necessary part of any complete Halloween experience.
$7. Ash Street Saloon, 225 SW Ash St. c
Vagabond Opera’s Transylvanian Voodoo Ball
Nov 1 @ 9pm
If you haven’t completely blown your revelry budget for the weekend, then save a slice of your soul for Vagabond Opera’s latest Day of the Dead sensory overload. Even amidst all the fire-breathing fakirs, darkly darling dancers, and prehistoric divination, it’s impossible to ignore VO’s multi-culti cabaret sorcery or Chervona’s madcap Slavic dance meltdown. There’s also a costume competition spectacle that should confound the imagination. Trust us; with this crowd a sheet with a couple eyeholes won’t get you a second look.
$17. Star Theater, 13 NW Sixth Ave.
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- High Notes: The Best Live Music in Portland This Week
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- High Notes: The Best Live Music in Portland This Week
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