Roseland Theater, Portland, OR
Saturday, June 26th, 2010
Nice to start the reviews off with a couple Portland transplants from Alaska. I spent some time in my youth in Alaska, so I might be considered a Portland transplant from Alaska as well. This review is basically like me writing about my oldest friends. Well, not really, but anyway...
Let me first say the microphone sounded like unintentional distortion for each act, which is a fancy way of saying it sucked ass. I couldn't understand most lyrics by either band, so a set list was nearly impossible to create. I'll delve more into this later.
First up, The Builders and the Butchers. I have described Ryan Solee's voice in the past as strange. His throaty squall which follows many of his verses stand out on the albums, but were not recognizable live due to the sound issues. What was recognizable was the energy these folksters exhibit. This was a thoroughly enjoyable show, partially because of the dual drummers, which I find as fascinating as scantily dressed chicks crowd surfing (where did my shirt go?). I kept thinking, "Did I just hear a double bass? Double bass doesn't belong in folk rock?" It was one of the reasons I couldn't stop jumping up and down.
A quick word on the guitar face. That ginger displayed a crazy good one. A good guitar face is very entertaining. A bad guitar face is even more entertaining.
One minor complaint leading to a "the more you know" moment. When Ryan Solee throws various percussion noise makers in the crowd, they are meant to be played along with the band, not pocketed for mantel display. It's ok, you can shake it, no one is going to steel if from your hand.
You'll get your next chance to see these guys at MusicFestNW. They are schedule to play at 1:00am by the way, late Friday (or technically Saturday).
The Builders and the Butchers
Berbati's Pan
Friday, September 10th, 2010
$15 (or free with MusicFestNW wristband)
Onto the headliner. This show was so different than their Sasquatch set last month, which focused on hits from the most recent album people know, the Satanic Satanist, along with a couple other upbeat songs and a David Bowie cover (yes, they have a newer album, but very few had heard it by Memorial Day). That's a good recipe to draw in new fans.
This set however was meant more for those who have been with the band throughout, with equal material from their entire catalogue, but only a couple Satanic Satanist tracks. This would have been a great set list to track, so I apologize. Saturday shows invite way too many hours during the day which may or may not involve drinking high alcohol content organic beer at a beer festival. I'll just say I wasn't in the best shape to be writing, thinking, or recognizing names of songs, and since I already mentioned the terrible mic sound, I was fighting a losing battle. The crowd was more than willing to help with the lyrics on a couple songs, such as "Created" and "People Say," which stood out as highlights because of the sing alongs.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot about the smoke and lasers! I loved their energy and musicianship at Sasquatch, but I would never guess they have a laser show similar to Ghostland Observatory? It was nowhere near the intensity of Ghostland's lasers, since they only used the effect every other song or so, and the lasers only shot from three different directions, but holy shit, lasers. Come on, you know you love them.
After listening to the album version of the song "Colors" with an acoustic guitar, layered choir-like vocals, and a violin, this band would rank high on the list of bands "least likely to break out a smoke and laser show." Sure Joanna Newsom, and Bobby McFerrin would surprise me more, but it shows Portugal. The Man is not just here to make enjoyable music, they are here to entertain the fuck out of you. Your window of catching this band in a smaller venue is running out.
They recently confirmed they will be opening for Primus in Portland (and Seattle) in September. Who knows if they'll bring their smoke and laser show to the pristine Schnitz opera house.
Primus (with Portugal. the Man & Split Lip Rayfield)
Arlene Schnitzer, Portland
Wednesday, September 22nd, 2010
$35-$44.50
No comments:
Post a Comment