Music Fest Northwest says on its website that it makes the streets of Portland come alive with music, and while it’s not as all-inclusive as all the location specific festivals, there is a whole lot of music going on during the festival, at arguably all the best venues in Portland.
I started out my festival on Wednesday night at the cozy Doug Fir, which has music in the basement and a second bar upstairs and a fire pit outside, plus an attached hotel (The Jupiter) if you’re visiting from out of town – all the cool kids stay there.
The Doug Fir is the venue of choice for a certain type of band coming through town, those with rabid followings who can charge in the $15 to $25 range per ticket but who can’t fill the Crystal Ballroom about thirty odd blocks away on the other side of the Willamette River. This particular night, Richmond Fontaine kicked off the night with a set of his signature tunes. He’s a very relaxed character and looked right at home amongst the wood logs for which the Doug Fir its name.
Portland is a small enough city that many of the centrally located venues are within walking distance of each other. The Roseland Theatre and Dante’s, for example, are only about two blocks apart, and uphill from them about ten blocks is the Crystal Ballroom. On this night I only technically had to go slightly further, about a fifteen minute walk across the river to the Roseland from the Doug Fir, but I figured it was worth it to avoid parking again downtown.
Chvrches, apparently spelled to make Googling them possible, had drawn a half-block long line, and we photographer/bloggers didn’t have any special privileges; we had to wait in line like everyone else. By the time I made it inside they had already played half their set, but I could see why they’ve been getting so much buzz – their electronic sound with lead singer Lauren Mayberry’s ethereal vocals layered on top had the crowd whipped into a frenzy.
Then it was back to the Doug Fir to catch the Baseball Project. Being a big REM fan, I was drawn in by the fact that Mike Mills and Scott McCaughey were both in the band, as well as Steve Wynn and his wife Linda Pitmon. The songs were actually mostly (or completely?) about baseball, which made me miss the deeper poetic songwriting of Michael Stipe, but musically it was good straightforward rock and roll, masterfully played in a small venue, so I wasn’t complaining.
On Thursday night it was off to the most unique venue of the festival, the Old Church, exactly what it sounds like, complete with a pipe organ on the stage. First up was Like A Villain, the stage name of Holland Andrews. Her work falls somewhere between opera and performance art. In most of her songs she builds layers, starting simply by singing one line, then recording that and looping it, then singing and playing clarinet over herself. Sometimes she crouches down and hides behind her equipment while at other times she belts out sections of songs like a star soprano. Altogether it’s extremely captivating, and between songs she smiles broadly and chats with the audience, belying the drama of her performance.
Then it was on to my personal most-anticipated band of the festival, Typhoon. With two drummers, a horn section and strings on top of the traditional guitar and bass, they filled the stage with eleven members for this gig; sometimes they have even more. Kyle Morton has a well-earned reputation as one of the best songwriters in the Portland scene these days, and the band is expert at building layers of sound to support the strong emotions and lyrics coming from their frontman. The setting of the Old Church on a rainy night couldn’t have been better for them – even though the pews forced most of the audience to remain seated, their was plenty of heartfelt couch-dancing and head-bobbing going on.
On Friday it was back to the Doug Fir. When I saw the first band was called Bear Mountain, I expected beards and something folky, but I was surprised with sort of 80s-influenced rock, with the added bonus of singer Ian Bevis’ voice sounding almost Erasurish. I will continue the trend of being unable to complete a review of this band without mentioning that the band’s drummer is Ian’s twin brother, Greg.
Following them was Jessica Hernandez and the Deltas, hailing proudly from Detroit. Jessica is the total package: a great soulful voice and she can play keys, guitar and drums, maybe more, and wearing short-shorts she showed that she wasn’t afraid to use her sex appeal as well. The rest of the band are very good, too, and by the end of the show they had everyone on the floor dancing and jumping with smiles on their faces.
Crushed Out was the last band of the night. With just a drummer and guitar, their sound ranges from surf to rockabilly. As a married couple on what sounds like an endless tour, they have a lot of good stories to tell and bring a great energy to the stage.
Saturday night it was off to the Crystal Ballroom to start the night in one of the most storied music spaces in town. Some musicians in town complain of the space’s acoustics given it’s long cavernous shape, and over the years I have seen some shows that didn’t work very well – a lot depends on how close you are and the type of music. I came in time to catch Shuggie Otis’s set, and he put on quite a show. Backed by a full band and obviously enjoying himself a lot, it didn’t matter that many of us in the audience weren’t familiar with his full repertoire – he could have been a newcomer as far as I was concerned, he was just putting on a great show and having a good time doing it.
Then it was across the river to Northeast Portland to Mississippi Studios, a venue that’s been attracting a lot of great artists in the last several years in the up-and-coming neighborhood of the same name. The Woolen Men, a local Portland three-piece band, started the night with a tight set, looking thrilled to be playing for such an enthusiastic house. Then it was on to a rap artist, Tree, from Chicago, who even in Chicago was relatively unknown until his debut at Pitchfork in July. He was able to charm the audience, not necessarily through his songs, which were essentially unremarkable, but through his stage presence and his obvious joy at being there. It didn’t hurt that a DJ and a live drummer, who both provided plenty of energy of their own, backed him up.
Then it was on to my second-most-anticipated act of the festival, The Thermals. They’re one of the most successful bands that Portland has produced in the last decade and a half, and I hadn’t seen them live since early in the century, so I was curious how they’ve been holding up in the intervening ten years. The answer was a resounding “very well”. Hutch Harris is a theatrical performer, making faces and getting into characters song after song, and Westin Glass, their drummer since 2008, is probably the most audience-interactive drummer I’ve ever seen. He goofs off between and during songs, flirting and playacting for the audience. At one point he put a shirt on his head and played his drumstick like a snake charmer, trying to cast a spell on bassist Kathy Foster, who laughed and played along. This was the closest thing to a punk show I’d seen all festival, and the Portland audience showed that they hadn’t forgotten how to headbang and mosh, though respectfully and within the dotted lines, as they are wont to do in these parts.
Sunday’s a bit of an afterthought with only five total bands playing, but it was an opportunity to finally take in a show at Pioneer Square, in the heart of downtown. Nico Case was a great excuse to make it down there. After seeing mostly shows in smaller venues except for the Crystal, it was a bit strange to be in the open air, especially in downtown. Although Case is not my absolute cup of tea, both at Pickathon 2012 and here she put on a very solid show and I could tell that for those who were true fans, this was both a special occasion and a special place, with summer drawing to an end and Case’s often bittersweet songs filling the square. It was a great end to the festival for those of us who weren’t planning on catching Big Gigantic at the Crystal Ballroom. I was planning on it, but when I saw the line I decided against it.
This would be a good time to say that lines are definitely an issue at this festival; my advice is to choose a venue and stick to it, or give yourself a good hour and a half if you decide to switch locations, especially if it’s for a popular band that’s likely to draw a big crowd. Overall, with around 150 bands all together in almost every genre, MFNW definitely has more than enough to offer to meet the appetite of any music lover.