Rock ‘n’ roll marathon
20060731205
This weekend I spent many hours inside Loveland under Christmas lights and lightening bolts watching some of Portland’s finest rock to an all ages crowd. The folks at PDX Pop Now! did an excellent job curating the show as there wasn’t a dud in the bunch I saw and the mix ranging from more rockish to indie to electronic to hip hop seemed to somehow all fit together nicely.
Typically I’m not so much a fan of music festivals due to high ticket prices, sunburn and bands I’m not interested in seeing. PDX Pop Now! solved all these: it’s free, it’s indoors and since there wasn’t a band on the bill I had seen play previously, I was down for them all. Festivals showcasing my favorite bands leave me bummed on their short sets – thirty minutes just isn’t enough for my rock ‘n’ roll heroes. But throw in a ton of bands I don’t know and I’m alright with it, even when the bands turn out to be awesome.
It wasn’t all guitars either. There were quite a few Powerbooks / MacBook Pros on stage as well. Most of the bands sporting them are ones I probably wouldn’t go out to see otherwise but turned out to be really impressive. Which brings up the whole fake drum thing: some of the Powerbook bands felt rather karaoke-esque without a drummer up there. Those that had a DJ/Producer/whatever they are called clearly working hard on all the electronic sounds actually seemed “live”.
A few of my favorites: Old Time Relijun, Dahlia, We’re From Japan!, 50 Foot Wave.
Concert photography makes me wish for a digital SLR. Anyway, here’s a photo of the upstairs stage. Here’s a photo of outside. Portland loves bikes. Plenty of actual band photos on Flickr.
Comments
Skateboards and bikes are better at nights. 0 comments.
Music is fun. Music is good. Speaking of which, I need to start recording…
Yes. Yes you do.
you shoulda shown some sweet picture where you were rockin’ out… or jumped on stage and ripped the bass guitar outta the players hands and playin some crazy riff with some badass moves behind the back, playin under your legs and then a swing of the guitar and you go off into the night, mysterious, and remembered in the hearts of Portlanders FOREVER!… or at least lie that you did something so outrageous…we’d never know!.. that’s what legends are made of.
once again, not just on this website but other.. only one..as well, no one commented back after i comment. What is up with that? …at least Samuel jackson calls me.