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Aldous Harding, Briana Marela
The 2014 debut album of New Zealand’s Aldous Harding hit US shores last year, making for one of the finest introductions to a startling new talent in quite some time. Her shadowy folk songs are somber and sumptuous—they locate emotional pressure points and provide cathartic release. Harding’s latest, Party, is another candlelit trip into her fascinating headspace. NED LANNAMANN
7 pm, Revolution Hall (rooftop deck), $12-14
The Wailers
If you’re a reggae fan you’re well aware the Wailers basically put the genre on the map, and that the band has had its share of lineup changes since Marley’s death in 1981. Now steered by bassist Aston “Family Man” Barrett, all remaining original members of Bob Marley and the Wailers reunite and welcome aboard others, including singer Josh Barrett, and Aston Jr., who will stand in for his uncle, slain Wailers drummer Carlton Barrett. It’ll be great to hear the legendary band perform classics like “Could You Be Loved,”“No Woman, No Cry,” and “Stir It Up.” Too bad it’s being hosted indoors (where smoke plumes are highly detectable), but the die-hards will deal. JENNI MOORE
8 pm, Revolution Hall, $25-30
Pickathon
There are so many reasons to love Pickathon—its location on Happy Valley’s gorgeous Pendarvis Farm, its postcard-worthy view of Mount Hood, its reusable silverware, its hammock village, but most of all, its music. This year’s lineup features icons like Charles Bradley and His Extraordinaires alongside promising up-and-comers, like Jay Som. CIARA DOLAN
Aug 4-6, 11 am, Pendarvis Farm, $125-310, all ages
Oregon Burlesque Festival
The art of the peel is carefully practiced here in Portland, and for three nights at Dante's, every aspect of it will be celebrated, from the legends of burlesque's past to the stars of its present.
Aug 4-5, 9 pm, $20-55
Orquestra Pacifico Tropical, Candace, Ah God
Local trio Candace (FKA Is/Is) have been making consistently great psychedelic rock and shoegaze-tinged pop for a while now. If you haven't familiarized yourself yet, tonight's show with fellow locals Orquestra Pacifico Tropical and Ah God provides the perfect opportunity to become acquainted.
9 pm, Doug Fir, $8-12
Bling Bling: Early 2Ks Hip-Hop Tribute Night
Tribute Night returns to Holocene, with DJ Ronin Roc serving up smorgasbord of early 2000’s rap gems from the likes Nelly, Ludacris, DMX, Lil Jon, Ja Rule, and more. Get nostalgic while dancing the night away to jams and accompanying visuals, and take advantage of the event's free photo booth to help preserve the memories.
9 pm, Holocene, $10
Havania Whaal, Alien Boy, Planet Damn, Clovver, Gillian Frances
Havania Whaal bring their noise pop and post-punk sounds to an excellent all-ages bill at Post 134. Expect to hear tunes off their upcoming full-length, Elaborate Minor Crisis, which is due out later this year.
6 pm, American Legion Local 134, $5-10, all ages
Daniel H. Wilson
The New York Times bestselling author of Robopocalypse returns with The Clockwork Dynasty, a new thriller about a race of human-like machines who have been hiding among us for ages.
7:30 pm, Powell's City of Books, free
AFI, Circa Survive, Citizen
Of the three bands on this bill, one is pretty huge: AFI, a 25-year-old goth-tinged hardcore band that busted into the big time in the mid-2000s with some arena-ready pop-rock songs (remember “Miss Murder”?) and buckets of guyliner. Then there’s Circa Survive, veterans of hyper-catchy, mildly proggy pop-punk from the Philly area. But don’t lollygag, show up late, and miss Citizen. They’re the lesser-known youngsters of this bill, but also one of the better bands to come out of the recent wave of emo-indebted rock acts. Citizen’s 2015 album Everybody Is Going to Heaven is a buzzy, bottom-heavy rock ’n’ roll delight, and its forthcoming follow-up, As You Please, finds the band expanding its aesthetic horizons, experimenting with sounds and song structures, and exploring themes of Rust Belt discontent. It’s not out ’til October, but people will be talking about it then, and you can say you saw ’em way back when. BEN SALMON
9 pm, Roseland, $34-36, all ages
Sheers, Oshwa, Paper Gates
The Portland trip-hop trio throws itself a single release party for their latest complicated-yet-satisfying soundscape, "All Will Be New."
9 pm, Bunk Bar, $6-8
Stumptown Improv Festival
Every year, the Stumptown Improv Festival gets bigger and better. The homegrown celebration of off-the-cuff hilarity is one of my favorite things about summer in Portland, and it’s a chance to see adults doing some of the silliest shit imaginable. This year, I’m especially excited to check out returning out-of-towners Summerland and Sunday Service, and revel in delightful local troupes like Tunnel and Peachy Chicken. MEGAN BURBANK
Aug 4-5, 7 pm, Artists Repertory Theatre, $15-18
The Leading Ladies of Punk Show: The Wild Jumps, Fox Medicine,
Titty Babies
The Lombard Pub hosts a wild-ass night spotlighting the city's up-and-coming female-fronted punk acts.
9 pm, The Lombard Pub, free
The Day Fade: Doc Adam, Deena Bee, Jerry Bandito, Dubblife, GHTOBLST
Despite my better judgement about day drinking, there’s just something special about getting faded wayyy before the sun goes down. This Saturday, the White Owl hosts its last Day Fade of summer ’17. As always, there will be games, food and drink specials, giveaways, and most importantly, an eight-hour lineup of dope DJs that will keep you dancing until it’s time to go home and snuggle up with a burrito. My advice: Get there early before the line forms.
2 pm, White Owl Social Club, $5
Portland Thorns vs. Houston Dash
The Thorns are already well on their way to making the most of their longest homestand of the season; a tight win over a league-leading North Carolina Courage and a gritty come from behind victory against the Washington Spirit have Portland primed to head back out on the road with the top of the table within reach. This afternoon, they’ll look to close things out by taking another three points from a Houston Dash side who will be digging deep to keep their own playoff hopes alive. CHIPP TERWILLIGER
11 am, Providence Park, $10-55, all ages
Portland Hot Sauce Expo
Good hot sauce makes life just a little bit better, doesn’t it? If you think so, head to the hottest show in Portland for the Portland Hot Sauce Expo, where you’ll enjoy food and sauce samples, craft beer, and “some of the most insane eating challenges known to mankind.” DOUG BROWN
Aug 5-6, 10 am, Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI), $7-60
Rock 'n' Roll Camp for Girls: Summer Camp Session 3 Showcase
The girls of Rock 'n' Roll Camp for Girls Session 3 play an end-of-camp showcase concert.
1 pm, Alberta Rose Theatre, $7-10
Kyle Morton, Black Belt Eagle Scout
Revolution Hall’s really been killing it this summer with their roof deck concerts. This one features two excellent Portland musicians: Kyle Morton of Typhoon, plus opening act Black Belt Eagle Scout—the new solo project of Genders’ Katherine Paul. She’s releasing her debut LP, Mother of My Children, this month on Good Cheer Records. Its first single, “Soft Stud,” is both soft and studly: Paul’s bright voice glints diamond-like under layers of grungy guitar as she repeats the phrase “need you, want you,” which culminates with a Casio keyboard earworm melody and an angst-exploding guitar solo. CIARA DOLAN
6 pm, Revolution Hall, $20
Darsombra, Thrones, Mike Scheidt, Stoller
For those about to get twisted into a trippy, might-as-well-be-on-acid kind of evening, we salute you. Baltimore's Darsombra play the kind of droning ambient metal that lots of bands try really hard to perfect but rarely have the patience to get right. When they aren't doing that, Darsombra get super weird on other experimental aural planes. RYAN J. PRADO
8 pm, The Know, $9
The Glow
Survival Skills brings his KMHD show, Beat Parlor, to Killingsworth Dynasty with a night of DJ sets and live production from Fritzwa, Vnprt, and Feel Good Green.
9 pm, Holocene, $5
18th Annual Portland Iranian Festival
A celebration of Iranian culture, food, dance, arts, and crafts, with a multitude of vendors and activities available. Attendance is free thanks to support from the Andisheh Center, but donation of canned food to the Oregon Food Bank is welcome.
11 am, South Park Blocks PSU, free, all ages
Vanport Jazz Festival: Brian Culbertson, Fourplay, Boney James, Mike Phillips, Althea René, Patrick Lamb
Portland Meadows is turned into a daylong cultural celebration, of both Vanport before the flood and the history of Jazz in America, with performances from national stars including Fourplay, Boney James, and local ones like Patrick Lamb.
noon, Portland Meadows, $75
Heads & Tails Crawfish Boil
For the third year in a row, your opportunity to try new pints from local breweries, paired with bites from Otto's Sausages and of course, big ol' plates of crawfish.
4 pm, Uptown Market
Portland Festival Symphony
Director Gregory Vajda and the Portland Festival Symphony present Rough and Ready: An American Outdoor Overture live Peninsula Park as part of Portland Parks and Recreation's Concerts in the Park series.
6:30 pm, Peninsula Park, free, all ages
Eve's Bayou
Kasi Lemmons' 1997 drama never quite got the love it deserved, even with Roger Ebert spending most of that year (and most of the next) pushing it as hard as he could. Sometimes films just slip through the cracks that way. Don't let this (literally) spellbinding family drama slip away again 20 years later—not just because this film isn't screened theatrically much, if at all, but because it contains career-best work from Samuel L. Jackson, Lynn Whitfield, and Debbi Morgan (All My Children fans know what's up). BOBBY ROBERTS
7 pm, 9 pm, Fifth Avenue Cinema
McTuff, Skerik
If you can’t attend Pickathon this year, fear not! Seattle jazz trio McTuff will dip into town to play an intimate set deep in the bowels of the Goodfoot’s basement with skronky sax wunderkind Skerik. McTuff’s organ-centric crew exhibits blistering chops, as heard on their most recent LP, Vol. 3: The Root, where their worldly musical muses traverse impressive realms on scorchers like “A Mendacious One” or the glittering dancehall jam “The Brat.” By Saturday’s performance, the band will likely be in full, frothing form. Those inclined to cut a rug had best be in attendance. RYAN J. PRADO
10 pm, Goodfoot, $10
Tim and Eric: 10th Anniversary Awesome Tour
Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim are two of the oddest and funniest dudes out there. Together, as Tim and Eric, they’re unstoppable as they tour the country for live shows celebrating the 10th anniversary of the premiere of their influential Adult Swim sketch show Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!. If you don’t know them (you may have recently seen Wareheim as Arnold in Master of None) just block off a couple hours, plug in “Tim and Eric” on YouTube, and enjoy. The first live show Sunday has been sold out for a while—hopefully you can get into the second. DOUG BROWN
7 pm, 9:30 pm, Revolution Hall, $47.50
Lents Street Fair
If you’re yearning for some of that old-school Portland weirdness—the kind that is less twee and more real—then do not miss the annual extravaganza known as the Lents Street Fair! They have food, a beer garden (and a root beer garden for the kids), music, bouncy castles, the world-famous Lents goats (formerly the Belmont goats), and the much beloved highlight—the Chicken Beauty Contest. It does not get much more “real” than this. WM. STEVEN HUMPHREY For more information, visit lentsstreetfair.com
11 am, Lents International Farmers Market, free, all ages
Steve Miller Band, Peter Frampton
Calling all space cowboys, gangsters of love, anyone named Maurice, and Peter Frampton fans: Two of classic rock radio’s most dominating forces are descending onto the lavish pastures of Edgefield’s rolling amphitheater for an evening of nostalgia. Miller most recently grabbed attention for a contentious speech during his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which he dubbed a “private boys club” filled with “fucking gangsters and crooks,” which pissed off the Black Keys, who had the dubious honor of inducting him. The Steve Miller Band returned to the recording studio with 2010’s Bingo! and 2011’s Let Your Hair Down, which consists mainly of blues and R&B covers. Frampton never really slowed down his output, and most recently dropped the aptly titled Acoustic Classics, despite there being virtually no way you could include talkbox tastefully on an acoustic record. RYAN J. PRADO
6 pm, Edgefield, $79-149
Avi Buffalo, Haunted Summer
Avi Buffalo’s music is all shimmering twilight. His guitar solos carry that racing, nearly fumbling excitement of fingers working a bra clasp, and his lushly layered instrumentations are sure to shine. SAM BOVARNICK
8:30 pm, Rontoms, free
Barrio
Cristina Baez and Abel Mendoza channel the memories of their favorite weekend parties growing up, and use that nostalgia to fuel their traditional Puerto Rican culinary creations at this pop-up that puts a focus on summery family fun.
11 am, Chesa, $15-50
Control Yourself
JoAnn Schinderle's weekly stand-up showcase is now also a podcast, featuring new sets from local stand-ups including Adam Pasi, Shain Brenden, neeraj Srinivasan, and Ali Reingold
8:30 pm, Alberta Street Pub, free
Indo Expo
Indo Expo brings over 300 of the cannabis industry's leading companies, breeders, growers/producers, processors, and 1000's of buyers, owners, master growers out to the Portland Expo Center for a massive two day trade show.
10 am, Portland Expo Center, $29-199
March for Freedom, Solidarity, and Justice
Gathering at the Battleship Oregon memorial, Portland Stands United Against Hate, buoyed by the support and solidarity of over 50 community organizations, march to send a message against our corrupt government's destructive, racist, sexist, homophobic and xenophobic agenda.
1:30 pm, Tom McCall Waterfront Park
Pickin' on Sundays
California-hailing singer/songwriter Hannah Jane Kile brings her brand of Americana to the Doug Fir Patio as the venue's Pickin' on Sundays showcase series rolls into August.
3 pm, Doug Fir, free
Porco Rosso
The name Miyazaki often conjures feelings of whimsy, wonder, and eye-popping magic. But the man's work was not just twinkles and murmurs. Princess Mononoke got mean and bloody, Castle of Cagliostro was slapstick and silly, and Porco Rosso? Somehow, Miyazaki turns the story about a World War I fighter pilot cursed to be a pig into an anti-fascist action comedy that's also a coming-of-age story that's also a romance that manages to effortlessly blend emotions like longing, regret, and muted triumph with some of the silliest gag writing Miyazaki's ever done. Wonder and magic, indeed. BOBBY ROBERTS
12:30 pm, 4:55 pm (dubbed); 9:45 pm (subtitled), Academy Theater, $3-4, all ages
Don't forget to check out our Things To Do calendar for even more things to do!
Congratulations. If you're reading this, you didn't melt. You get this wonderful weekend as your reward. A weekend that contains an opportunity to melt the insides of your body via some of the world's most insane hot sauces. But that's not the only expo in town—there are smokier options to indulge if you prefer. And of course, Tim & Eric will alter your head without needing to snort, smoke, or drink anything. And that's not even getting into the multiple fests still going on in town, in flavors such as Iranian, Improv, Burlesque, Jazz, and Lents. That last one has a Chicken Beauty Pageant, even. It's an amazing weekend that awaits; hit the links below and load your plate accordingly