Shows of the Week: Portland’s First Interpol Tribute Act Returns

FRIDAY, AUG. 19:

Interpol is still touring and even put an album out this year, but that hasn’t stopped New York Kids, Portland’s first Interpol tribute act, from putting together a 20th-anniversary celebration of the band’s debut, Turn on the Bright Lights, at Revolution Hall’s Show Bar. What’s more, Victoria will open by paying tribute to Beach House, whose debut came out in 2006! It’s official: The midstream rock of the 2000s is now definitively classic rock. Stay tuned in 20 years for Portland’s hottest Wet Leg tribute. Show Bar, 1300 SE Stark St., #203. 9 pm. $10. 21+.

SATURDAY, AUG. 20:

Emerging from the amazingly fertile Chicago scene of the 1990s, Califone has spent 25 years in an enviable position as the kind of band that anyone who’s heard them knows is great—it’s just a matter of hearing them. Their natural, pungent, swampy sound derives from American roots music but has little interest in an idealized vision of the past, instead emphasizing the earthiest and most elemental qualities of folk and blues while muddying the landscape even further with bits of free jazz and harsh noise. Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi Ave. 9 pm. $18. 21+.

WEDNESDAY, AUG. 24:

Rock-’n’-roll guitar virtuosos are in short supply these days, and Niger’s Mdou Moctar has triumphantly committed to filling the missing space ever since Portland’s Sahel Sounds brought his fluid, fiery style to Western ears on the fascinating Music From Saharan Cellphones compilation in 2011. Since then, he’s signed to mega-indie Matador, played the Prince role in a Saharan-set remake of Purple Rain, and otherwise embraced his role as the best guitarist you’re likely to see live that isn’t touring casinos. Show Bar, 1300 SE Stark St., #203. 8 pm. $28. 21+ floor; minor seating in balcony only.