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Friday, June 6
The Minus 5 is such a Portland institution it’s easy to forget the band started out as a side project for Scott McCaughey, founder of the even longer-running Young Fresh Fellows. The band has a habit of picking up Portland rock royalty; the current lineup includes R.E.M.’s Peter Buck, and the Decemberists’ Colin Meloy occasionally drifts through. They’re celebrating the release of their new album, Oar On, Penelope! with support from power-pop legends the Rubinoos, whose hooks are so sticky Avril Lavigne famously lifted one wholesale for “Girlfriend.” Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi Ave. 8 pm. $23.23. 21+.
Friday–Sunday, June 6–8
They Might Be Giants have been one of a kind ever since their early days backed only by a drum machine, and such is their sense of humor that their first album with a live drummer was called John Henry. Think about it for a second, and if that joke seems hopelessly lame, you’re not entirely wrong, but with a band like TMBG that’s beside the point: Their countercultural but good-natured nerdiness either enthralls or irks you, and it’s as much a part of their enduring appeal as a four-decade song catalog sprawling enough to fill three shows at Revolution Hall. Crystal Ballroom, 1332 W Burnside St. 6:30 pm. $38.50. 16+.
Tuesday–Wednesday, June 10–11
Drive-By Truckers are a quintessentially Southern band, grappling with their homeland’s bloody history while blazing through songs as skillet-hot as anything Skynyrd ever recorded—so it might be surprising that Alabama-bred Patterson Hood, the most enduring of the band’s frontmen over the years, has been a Portlander since 2015. Given the quality of their work, it’s also no surprise they’ve been so influential; they’re co-headlining these Portland shows with Deer Tick, one of the best (and booziest) bands to expand on their sound in subsequent years. Revolution Hall, 1300 SE Stark St. 6 pm. $56.33. All ages.
