Check out Photos From Willamette Week’s Best New Band Showcase

This year's Best New Band issue produced the most demographically and stylistically diverse list ever—and so was our annual showcase.

Frankie Simone. (Thomas Teal)
By Matthew Singer

Every year since 2004, Willamette Week has polled hundreds of Portland music scene insiders to determine the 10 most buzzworthy emerging acts in town. This year's Best New Band issue produced the most demographically and stylistically diverse list ever. So it makes sense that our accompanying showcase, featuring three of the finalists and held at Mississippi Studios on March 17, was also the most eclectic we've ever put on. Amenta Abioto kicked off the night with a mesmerizing set of one-woman neo-soul seemingly conjured out of thin air. Brown Calculus brought their levitating and therapeutic cosmic R&B, while pop singer Frankie Simone closed out the night in arena-worthy style. And there wasn't a single sad dude with a guitar in sight!

In case you missed it, here's what it looked like.

All photos by Thomas Teal.

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Amenta AbiotoBest New Bandbest new band showcaseBrown CalculusFrankie SimoneLast Week LiveMississippi Studios

Matthew Singer

Matthew Singer

A native Southern Californian, former Arts & Culture Editor Matthew Singer ruined Portland by coming here in 2008. He is an advocate for the canonization of the Fishbone and Oingo Boingo discographies, believes pro-wrestling is a serious art form and roots for the Lakers. Fortunately, he left Portland for Tucson, Arizona, in 2021.

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