A top Portland destination for live local music, including some touring acts. The room is big and spacious with plenty of room for dancing. A wide range of music is played here, from the Blues to Pop music, Americana, Bluegrass, as well as recurring shows like The Maine Dead Project, and other colorful revue-style shows. Set only a block away from Monument Square, Portland House of Music & Events is an important cultural institution and well worth a visit.
Primrose in an emo adjacent 4 piece from Portland, Maine. After their social media boom and the success of their first album Fallow, they are back at it with the long awaited release of their sophomore album “Sad in the Northeast.” The band melds punchy pop punk riffs and heart on sleeve lyrics to deliver a sound entirely unique to them.
Adulting is a noodly, guitar-driven emo band from Portland, Maine, formed in 2016 by singer and guitarist Stanley Beck. Since their inception, the band has released three full-length albums: *I’m Not Happy ‘Til You’re Not Happy* (2016), *Things Could Still Get Worse* (2018) and most recently *Happy Fucking Congratulations* (2024) to a sold out crowd at Blue in Portland Maine, the band is recommended for fans of artists like Weatherbox, Braid, and Algernon Cadwallader.
Guitar slung low, microphone turned up, and emotion overflowing, Joe Samba taps into rock ‘n’ roll spirit and reggae soul all at once. The Massachusetts-born singer, songwriter, and guitarist sonically teeters on an axis of island-inflected grooves and gritty guitar-craft balanced by his dynamic vocals. He finds the sweet spot between smoked-out Caribbean bliss and sweat-soaked punkified energy. It’s why he’s quietly emerged as a phenomenon, toppling charts at #1 and performing alongside everyone from The Dirty Heads to Pepper.
However, he’s primed to unite not only genres, but people as well through a series of 2023 releases and much more to come.
“No matter what walk of life you’re from, I’d love for you to hear the conviction in my music,” he notes. “I hope you think, ‘This dude meant it’. Maybe you relate to what I’m singing about or just cut loose for a little bit. I just write songs and try to connect with people.”
He recognized music’s inherent power to connect as a kid. Dad played bass in a local favorite funk band, while his two older brothers followed suit by picking up the same instrument. At barely seven-years-old, pops pulled Joe up on stage and he busted out a wild rendition of “I Feel Good” by James Brown, leaving the crowd speechless and, unassumingly, deciding his fate. As a teen, he even played at the Boston date of the Warped Tour in his metal band. Post-high school, he cut his teeth by performing in countless bars and watering holes solo. 2019 saw him make a major splash with The Wrong Impression. It bowed at #1 on the Billboard Reggae Albums Chart and clocked over 2 million streams.
At the onset of the Pandemic, he fell in love with Key West and relocated, gigging in bars around Duval Street and writing as much as possible.
“I moved because it’s absolutely beautiful,” he grins. “It felt like the end of the world, but I was in this amazing town. I found comfort in knowing if everything blew up in my face, I could drink a Corona in the Keys and keep jamming.”
$20ADV | $25 DOS | DOORS 8PM | SHOW 9PM
DOORS 8PM SHOW 9PM | $20 ADV $25 DOS | 21+ |
MDP Presents Tim Sullivan’s Dead & Beyond feat. Aaron Bellamy (bass), Amy Bellamy (keys), Justin Wiley (keys), Richard Corson (guitar), and Ed Dickhaut (drums)
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