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Phish at Moda Center, April 20
Factor in it being 4/20, Easter and Earth Day, and the stage was set for a Phish fan’s wet dream at the band’s first Rose City show since 1999. The jam kings did not disappoint, throwing down uber-funky faves and manifesting what may have been Portland’s biggest dance party of the year. Hate on Phish all you want, but few acts can get 20,000 “phans” bouncing and gyrating to every note for three straight hours on a Sunday night. NEIL FERGUSON.
Model/Actriz at Hawthorne Theatre, Oct. 6
Never have I seen a show where the singer spends over half their set immersed in the audience, dancing with the crowd while wailing vocal-fried notes over reverbed bass and metronomic drums. Their curated outfits, with a midshow change, first a black silky number with bunny ears, and then a raw-edge, torn muslin mummy dress, made going to the Hawthorne for the first time since high school well worth it. TIM TRAN.
Geese at Wonder Ballroom, Oct. 26
When Geese—whose album, Getting Killed, appeared on nearly every best-of-the-year list so far—hit Portland this fall, there was an electric vibe in the air and palpable sense that this 700-capacity room is likely the smallest one we will see Geese in for the foreseeable future. They delivered an arena-worthy performance of their sprawling art rock, and did so with the audience in the palm of their hand the whole time. NEIL FERGUSON.
LEYA at Saint David of Wales Episcopal Church, April 29
Seeing and hearing LEYA perform their detuned harp melodies delicately layered over sporadic, harsh violin and haunting vocals astral-projected me first to heaven, and then to hell, dropping me off in a dreamlike state somewhere between purgatory and earth. TIM TRAN.
Margo Cilker at the Aladdin Theater, Oct. 25
Radiating charisma and the warmth of a road-wizened troubadour, Goldendale-based Cilker—Lucinda Williams to Guy Clark—regaled the audience with stories, new songs, and vivid lyrics to complement her distinctly Northwest brand of alt-country to an audience that felt like a who’s who of the Portland music scene. NEIL FERGUSON.
Perfume Genius at Holocene, June 27
Perfume Genius’s boyish, high-pitched coos sounds like an absinthe-drunk angel singing whale mating calls in an echoing cave. The only thing more tantalizing than their desperate cries were the ways their body moved. Slow, and calculated, while also instinctive and reactive, like they were moving at half speed, first sprawled across a yoga ball, and then over and through a metal chair. TIM TRAN.
