MUSIC

Built to Spill’s Doug Martsch Is Playing Intimate Solo Shows in Portland

Concert calendars have started filling up at clubs and theaters around town.

BuiltToSpill_TT-14 Doug Martsch of Built to Spill at Treefort 2015. IMAGE: Thomas Teal. (Thomas Teal)

Live music is gradually returning to venues big and small—and in some cases, smaller than small.

Singer-shredder Doug Martsch of jammy indie guitar gods Built to Spill is crossing the Idaho border to play a few solo intimate shows in Portland next month at clubs that rarely book artists of his profile.

The first two, on June 5 and 8, are at the folk-focused Alberta Street Pub, which has been hosting socially distanced shows out on its back patio for a few months now. The space is small enough already, and given that it’s operating at a reduced capacity due to Multnomah County’s ongoing COVID-19 restrictions, both gigs are unexpectedly already sold out.

The next one up, though, just got announced today: Martsch will play the World Famous Kenton Club on June 9, with Quasi’s Sam Coomes opening. That venue has also been having bands play on a makeshift stage in its parking lot.

Concert calendars have started filling up at clubs and theaters around town: My Morning Jacket and Rodrigo y Gabriela, among others, were recently announced for Edgefield’s fall schedule, while psychedelic African guitarist Mdou Moctar is doing two nights at Mississippi Studios in September.

Related: The Return of Live Music Is on the Horizon. Is It Too Soon?

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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