Go See This Music: Portugal. The Man

The band name sounds pretentious, especially when they explain it. The band wants to be as universal as the name of a country and as specific as a single person, a lofty goal. When they took to the stage, these thoughts came to my mind. Coming into the show I had no idea what to expect, I had read good reviews of the band’s live performance, but lead guitarist and vocalist, John Gourley, came out with his hood up and a hat pulled down over his eyes. He looked shifty at best, and when bassist Zachary Carothers came out wearing a beret that matched his shirt, and keyboardist Ryan Neighbors looked like he was about fifteen, I was nervous at best. But god damn, can Portugal. The Man play. They put on a show that I’ll not forget.

But let’s start from the beginning.  When I first arrived I noticed that 1. The place was very nice, or “swankenstein” as was coined shortly after entrance 2. The beers were only 4 dollars each 3. We were probably some of the oldest people in there. It wasn’t like a Jonas Brothers concert, but most of our fellow patrons were our age or younger. When we came in most of the people there were sitting on the floor holding good spots for later viewing. It was relatively easy to step over them and secure good standing position toward the front, right in the middle.

Next, the openers were pretty good except I think they were out of order. The first band, The Dig, played loud rock laden with crescendos and breakdowns. The set was highlighted by a ten man performance, including members from the second opener, of what sounded like an eighties rock song. The second opener, Port O’Brien, could have easily been a Neil Young cover band, except for the fact that they weren’t playing Neil Young songs. They played folky pop which was less upbeat than The Dig and settled the crowd back in. The final song of their set featured another ten plus man troop of members from The Dig and Portugal. The Man, this easily highlighted their set.

Finally, Portugal. The Man came out at about eleven and immediately the space around me shrunk as people forced their way to the front of the stage. This was reminiscent of other general admission shows such as Ratatat when there was hardly any room to move at all. Like I said, I really didn’t know what to expect with this show, were they going to play the songs straight just as they are on the album? Would they play mostly new material? These questions were answered after the second song. I tried my best to record a setlist, but many of the songs bled together and were hard to recognize. Here’s what I have:

1.       And I

2.       People Say

3.       M80

4.        – Into- Shade

5.       60 Years

6.       The Sun

7.       Do You

8.       Moonage Daydream (David Bowie Cover)

9.       -Into- Weekend Wars (MGMT cover) 

10.   Dead Dogs

11.   Chicago

12.   1989/ Always Lost

13.   My Mind

14.   How the Leopard Got It’s Spots

Encore

1.       Created (Acoustic)

2.       Church Mouth

3.     -Into- One is the Loneliest Number (Three Dog Night cover)  

4.       -Back Into- Church Mouth

5.       Strangers (Kinks cover with members of Port O’Brien and The Dig)

This is pretty incredible as it is, but with these songs there was also a great deal of jams and other variations. On several occasions the music conjured images of Moe. and other Jam-bands. While the whole show flowed together nicely, there were some highlights which, as highlights do, stood out more than others.  The show was relatively calm until “Chicago” came on. On the album, Waiter. “You Vultures!”, “Chicago” is an electronic song which raucously yells “We say burn the fucker down
Burn the motherfucker down.” It was at this moment that the crowd erupted into a moshpit complete with crowd surfing and stage diving.  After five minutes of pushing and shoving through “Chicago” and part of “1989” the crowd got suddenly jovial and ecstatic, with hugs and high-fives being exchanged between total strangers.  Again I was reminded of the drug induced love inspired by the Jam-band scene. 

The encore was something that should be witnessed. To start, the visibly shy and nervous Gourley came out alone and played the entirety of “Created” alone; with the whole crowd singing along Gourley made it through the whole song, something he said he had never been able to do. The encore continued fabulously through “Church Mouth” and “One is the Loneliest Number” and ended with an incredible version of The Kinks song “Strangers” (you know, the one that goes “we are not two, we are one” ) that featured another stage filled with members of all three bands. 

All in all, a theme of this incredible show could have been unity. As lame as that sounds, it has an air of truth to it. Portugal. The Man’s music is a cross between Jam, Indie, Electronic, and Rock; the fellow audience members and I felt as though we were there together, and the different bands shared instruments, stages and songs.  So next time Portugal. The Man comes through your city, Go See This Music.