After spending the higher a part of the previous weekend at Tom McCall Waterfront Park, we are able to say that Venture Pabst 2025 didn’t disappoint. And from the numbers of attendees, this yr a higher success than final yr’s triumphant return of Venture Pabst after a seven-year hiatus.
Venture Pabst has an extended historical past right here within the Rose Metropolis. The pageant made its debut right here in Portland eleven years in the past in 2014 as a approach to rejoice town appreciation of Pabst Blue Ribbon and its help in bringing some relevance again to the model that had been experiencing years of decline. The music pageant continued in Portland for 4 years by 2017, expanded to further cities after which all of the sudden vanished. However final yr as music festivals appeared to be seeing an uptick because the days of the pandemic, Venture Pabst made its triumphant returned to Portland in 2024.
Now in its sixth yr, Venture Pabst 2025 was an enormous success and introduced in massive crowds each Saturday and Sunday to absorb an eclectic lineup of music! With Saturday’s headliners of Iggy Pop and Devo, it was a fantastic day of channeling punk rock. Then with Sunday’s headliners of Dying Cab for Cutie and Japanese Breakfast, it was a day stuffed with indie rock!
On Saturday we arrived in time to catch the ultimate notes from Gustaf. We then headed to the Unicorn Stage to absorb some nice rock ‘n’ roll from The Exploding Hearts, a Portland primarily based band that dates again to 2001 with a more moderen reunion.
On the way in which, we swung on by the Pabst Dive Bar that was stuffed with pinball machines and bar tables to seize a number of PBRs! And to our delight, PBR and Pabst Gentle Tall Boys have been priced at simply $5.00 a can! When you wished to go massive, 24-ounce cans of PBR have been simply $7.50. Nevertheless it wasn’t simply Pabst on the fest, there was one craft beer, New Holland Tangerine Area Machine IPA at $6.00 per 12 ounce can together with a number of canned cocktail choices from El Jimador and Jack Daniels.
After The Damned needed to bow out of Venture Pabst resulting from an emergency again dwelling, Fidlar stuffed in and took over the principle stage with its rockin’ songs about ingesting, smoking weed and never working. Throughout Fidlar’s set, we witnessed Sam-Sam the Pickle Man, Grillo’s Pickles’ mascot pickle browsing by the Saturday crowd.
Different afternoon performances that we caught have been from The Chats that arrived right here from Australia and Model Pussy from Philadelphia. The Chats introduced a strong three piece to the Unicorn Stage of songs about onerous residing whereas chugging on a 24 ounce can of PBR between songs. To shut out their set, The Chats ended with a stellar cowl of Rock And Roll All Nite from KISS that was adopted by their very own music, Pub Feed!
Subsequent up was the band we have been most excited for on the primary day of Venture Pabst 2025, the one and solely Devo! All through the afternoon we saved seeing a lot of Devo fanatics strolling the park. Only one phrase can sum up Devo’s efficiency…AMAZING!!
Mark Mothersbaugh led Devo thought a fantastic 16 music setlist that was completely curated for a pageant efficiency. The band performed their hits and hottest songs whereas diving into its again catalog. All through the set, the band had costume adjustments, many to resemble their look of their avant-garde music movies that helped Devo grow to be a family identify. Then to shut out their set, Booji Boy, Mark Mothersbaugh alter ego, made an look to carry out the band’ music, Lovely World
However the prime billing for Saturday was one we have been additionally enthusiastic about! Yep, Iggy Pop, the Godfather of Punk, headlined the pageant on the Captain Pabst Stage. At a spry 78 years previous, Iggy danced across the stage, made his approach to the gang stage barricades and made positive his followers took in a single hell of a rock present! Iggy is a real legend and it was nice to see him carry out as soon as once more as his touring days should be waning.
When Sunday rolled round for day 2 of Venture Pabst 2025, this was the day of indie rock. The lineup was sturdy with a number of artists that we have been in a position to catch for the very first time, together with Wednesday and Cap’n Jazz.
Wednesday introduced its indie rock meets emo meets alt-country sound to the Captain Pabst Stage. Led by Karly Hartzman, her vocals can transition between these genres fairly nicely. The addition of pedal metal from Xandy Chelmis was a fantastic addition to the band’s sound!
Subsequent up, Cap’n Jazz took us again years to a sound reminsicent of the mid-90’s when hardcore met grunge. The band has carried out on and off since 1989 and thru this time have seen band members come and go. One fixed by this all has been brothers Tim Kinsella and Mike Kinsella.
This rock ‘n’ roll was adopted up with Pacific Northwest indie rock pioneers, Constructed to Spill. Led by Doug Martsch and his rotating lineup of supporting musicians, this present lineup options Melanie Radford on bass and Teresa Esguerra on drums. For the previous 4 years, this trio has been making a wall of sound that lends itself to a bigger band, particularly in songs like Goin’ In opposition to Your Thoughts that the band carried out as its second music of its set. Total, their set was a bit mellow however they closed it out with fan favourite, Carry the Zero!
Then to shut out the Unicorn Stage for the weekend, Japanese Breakfast took the stage to loud fanfare. Band chief, Michelle Zauner, has a little bit of historical past residing in Oregon. She advised the viewers about touring from Eugene to Portland to see reveals on the Crystal Ballroom. This music shaped a pleasing sound of slight shoegaze that ventures into indie pop and rock that has introduced a robust fanbase to the band.
Taking prime billing on Sunday was one other Pacific Northwest band, Dying Cab for Cutie taking up the Captain Pabst Stage. Reserving them for the headliner spot on Sunday was a sound choice because the pageant crowd that spend two days within the solar was excited to see what Ben Gibbard and his band had in retailer. The band’s 17 music set of indie rock certainly delighted followers and was an effective way to finish the two-day pageant. Till subsequent yr!
Check out our picture recap of Venture Pabst 2025…
To study extra about Venture Pabst, go to projectpabst.com.
About The Creator
DJ
D.J. is a Portland, Oregon primarily based author that spent his early life within the Midwest. With over 25 years beneath his belt of ingesting beer at festivals throughout America and the world, he has developed a robust appreciation and understanding of craft beer and the trade that surrounds it. He could be present in any of the good breweries or beer bars that make Portland the perfect beer metropolis on the planet. His writing can be discovered within the archives of Northwest Brewing Information and could be adopted on Twitter and Instagram at @hopapalooza.
