Skip to main content
Grizzly Bear is the best band of its generation. There, I said it. Maybe it'll take one more great album for the Brooklyn avant-pop foursome to really cement that status—though with the release this year's Shields, the group is already three-for-three—but after witnessing last week's sublime performance in Portland, it certainly felt like there isn't a better band on the planet right now. Taking full advantage of the the Keller Auditorium's cavernous acoustics, the band—playing against what looked like a bed of giant, bioluminescent kelp—drifted through its set on a cloud of celestial four-part harmonies and delicate, precise instrumentation, ending on a stunning rendition of "All We Ask," from 2009's Veckatimest, with only guitar, spare percussion and those angelic, choir-boy voices combining to raise goosebumps, along with a standing ovation. MATTHEW SINGER.
All photos by Nilina Mason-Campbell.
WWeek 2015