Plus, Portland Music News and New Music Portland! by Nolan Parker Okay, so who saw Sessa last night at Showdown? Was Sessa's charming stage presence, irresistible Portuguese vocals, and the whole band's groovy sunshine energy to bla me for the entire room falling in love with the musicians from São Paulo? Yes. The originals Gal Costa and Marcos Valle would be proud knowing of the work Sessa is doing, carrying on the legacy of tropicália, bossa, and samba deep into 21st Century North America. This was one of the shows of 2026, hands down.  Wednesday, March 25 Marissa Nadler / Anand Wilder For fans of Grouper, Julie Doiron, Lana Del Rey  It’s a lost opportunity not booking Marisa Anderson to open for Marissa Nadler—their respective takes on doomed guitar plucking and hushed vocals would make the perfect emotional sandwich... but I digress. Nadler haunts the subconscious like the spring haunts the nervous system in the deepest winter. New Radiation, Nadler’s 2025 album on Sacred Bones meanders through gothic folk and drone with such ardent fervor, it’s hard not to breathe in time with the musings. Anand Wilder of Yeasayer opens. (Show Bar, 8 pm, more info here, 21+) Friday, March 27  Shortiez / Bodyshot / 2 The Teeth / Annihilation / Nostalgia For fans of Labrat, Hound, Buggin Pullin’ up tough, straight outta East San Jose are the real Shortiez steppers, bringing the brown sound, that slammer shit the Bay exports in quantities unmatched worldwide. Put your eardrums through the Shortiez meat grinder if you think you can hang and don’t get caught slippin’. The PNW flexes on California, stacking bags sky-high with South Sound slammers Bodyshot; 2 The Teeth pull up grinning; the big talkin’, big walkin’ Annihilation; while Nostalgia open up the pit, never lookin’ back. There’s lotsa pennies on the High Limit Room floor, better pick ‘em up. (High Limit Room, 7 pm, more info here, all ages) Saturday, March 28 Larry His Flask  For fans of The Devil Makes Three, Flogging Molly, Murder City Devils In the late ’00s and early 2010s, Bend, Oregon was still a sleepy little mountain town with only a couple coffee shops and venues, the biggest music events of the year happening at Les Schwab Amphitheater and Tech N9ne’s annual (sometimes twice yearly) stop at the Domino Room. One of the very few bands we had—possibly the only Central Oregon band to gain notoriety outside the region—was Larry His Flask. The I’m-not-like-other-guys to all-dude-folk-punk-ska-band pipeline is strong in the High Desert. Thank god because there was nothing else happening, we had to come up to Portland for all our shows. Anyways, the boys are back after a seven year hiatus. Need to know what the Showdown Saloon show is gonna be like? Peep the band’s music video for “Call It What You Will” below. Say, that kid in the mosh pit wearing a blue American Apparel T-shirt looks kinda familiar…. (Showdown Saloon, 8 pm, more info here, 21+) Loeffler’s Lost Octet, Debussy Schumann For fans of Franz Liszt, Johannes Brahms, Clara Schumann  Okay, this is bonkers: The German-American violinist and composer Charles Martin Loeffler composed an octet for two clarinets, harp, string quartet, and double bass in 1897. The octet was performed twice that same year and... poof, it hasn't been heard or seen again since, disappearing into the Library of Congress archives. The octet remained lost until 2020 when it was rediscovered by Graeme Steele Johnson, an alum of Portland’s Chamber Music Northwest. For this performance, one of the first in 129 years, Loeffler’s lost octet is coupled with two by Debussy—Prélude à laprès-midi d’un faune and Première rhapsodie—and one by Robert Schumann, Fantasiestücke, Op. 73. The night is to be filled with a curious beauty, new and old, in one of Portland’s holiest of auditoriums. (First Baptist Church, 7:30 pm, more info here, all ages)  Saturday, March 28 - Sunday, March 29 Spring BreakFest  For fans of Neurosis, Beach House, Bikini Kill You’ve heard of spring break in Cabo, but have you spring breaked in Kenton? Andre and the fine folks at North Portland’s newest all ages venue, The Off Beat, weren’t holding back when bringing this bill to fruition. The festival features some of Portland’s most exceptional young bands across two days in the former Dancin’ Bare strip club space. Day one headliners Kill Michael released their self-titled album last year, sounding like the boys your mama warned you about—nice spelling on the new album’s first track. ¡Gonzales! also turn it out day one style with a slew of other Portland talent. Day two brings the holy trinity heat in the form of Femme Cell, Starly Kind, and Aqua Celestia. Femme Cell have been on a tear this last year releasing their Powerhouse vol. 1 compilation, recording a grip of local bands, and playing every show worth going to. Gay punks are the fucking best. Starly Kind is back in town from Brazil and has already opened for Bijoux Cone and Piss since landing in PDX, and Aqua Celestia have become a new favorite since their set at Misplaced Screen Printing last month. SPRING BREAK FOREVER. (The Off Beat, 5:30 pm, more info here, all ages) Related: Read our feature on The Off Beat’s grand opening.  Sunday, March 29 Matthew Welch Joel Nelson / Andrew Black  For fans of Brighde Chaimbeul, Liturgy, Korn The above “For fans of” list of bands have nothing to do with one another besides the fact they rock and all of them use bagpipes. Similarly, Matthew Welch uses the hypnotic medieval instrument to dizzying effect. The drones Welch squeezes out of his bagpipes produce tones impossible to distinguish where one ends and another begins, plunging and swirling as the North Sea eternally crashes on the shores of Edinburgh and Dundee. This special night is the premiere of the new collaboration between Welch and Portland guitarist Joel Nelson, who will be playing their Dreadnoughtus suite of works. Andrew Black of local, wholly doomed black metal outfit Mizmor will open with an ambient set. (Leaven Community, 7:30 pm, more info here, all ages) Also very worth it… Brain Dead Dolls / Dolls Die Twice / Cicatrice at No Fun - March 26, more info here Ben Quad / Riley! / Aren’t We Amphibians / footballhead at Hawthorne Theatre - March 27, more info here  Diositopes / Sonnam / Komos at Alleyway - March 27, more info here DJ Clent / MLTZR / Omari Jazz / Kokio / Marsh Crane at Shanghai Tunnel - March 27, more info here Has/Will / It’s You! It’s Me! And There’s Dancing! / Baby Grendel / Stamp Collecting at The Off Beat - March 27, more info here  My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult at Crystal Ballroom - March 27, more info here Physique / Atomic Prey / Decamp / Arch Mage / Battlesex / Depleted U.R. / FTC at Ming Lounge - March 27, more info here Stresser / Spiderling / Blaize Jenkins / Grayce at Musicians Union - March 27, more info here  McLusky / Ekko Astral at Aladdin Theater - March 28, more info here Miss Luxury / Amulet / Surgery Season / Lil T4T / Terminull / Emma Puppy at Ming Lounge - March 28, more info here Mx Lonely / Growing Pains / Sour Widows / Yudai at High Limit Room - March 28, more info here Sword II / Tex Patrello at Polaris Hall - March 28, more info here Purple Rain at Tomorrow Theater - March 29, more info here Femtanyl / Sixwing / takihasdied at Aladdin Theater - March 30, more info here Lamb of God / Kublai Khan / Fit for an Autopsy / Sanguisugabogg at Theater of the Clouds - March 30, more info here  Arrington de Dionyso at Wyrd Hut - March 31, more info here  Fust / Merce Lemon / Georgia Maq at Mississippi Studios - March 31, more info here L.A. Witch / Daiistar / Sun Atoms at Hawthorne Theatre - March 31, more info here Trans Day of Noise at Portland Art Collective - March 31, more info here  New Music Portland: Not long now until the launch of our inaugural New Music Portland break out column. While you wait, check out Spin Cycle, the Mercury’s new album review column. Portland Music News: Well, it was a good run, folks—we had Blow Pony in one form or another, at one venue or another, for 19 years. Music, drag, drugs, and sweat collided on Blow Pony dance floors for so long it’s hard to remember Portland without the monthly party. Mercury writer Andrew Jankowski locks in with BP founder Airick X in Jankowski’s latest piece for the Merc, “Blow Pony Rides Into the Sunset.” We’ll see you at the last Blow Pony rodeo this Saturday, March 28!  It really feels like it’s one step forward and two big steps back for Portland and its live music venues. Cherished venues like Lollipop Shoppe and Landmark Saloon have shuttered, while the likes of Rontoms and The Fixin’ To have pivoted away from music programming. And what about Doug Fir? All the bureaucratic red tape local venues must wade through just to open, let alone run a business, seems to wash away when Live Nation and Ticketmaster want to move to town. I wonder whose pockets are being greased at City Hall and the building permitting offices of Portland to make that happen. Why can’t the City of Portland figure its shit out enough to throw money at Portland Police Bureau wars on Palestine and Iran Moda Center the prison industrial center the arts? Fuck the “Arts Tax”! Defund the police by a fraction of their annual budget and boy howdy, the arts would be sorted as would housing, healthcare, education, public transportation, and local environmental concerns—without having to pass the buck to tax payers. All this to say, Mercury writer Ryan Prado takes a deep dive in his “One Step Forward, Two Steps Back” feature, looking at locally run, small music venues and their struggles to exist in Portland. The Sun Ra Arkestra descended upon the Hollywood Theatre last month for their nearly yearly sojourn to Portland. The Mercury’s Corbin Smith was on hand for the Arkestra’s third and final night of festivities, chatting with several members of the famed group. ...read more read less