Shrunk slightly from four to two days, the annual blues jam is moving to the Waterfront Park’s bowl this year. The condensed programming is a move to stock up for a yet to be announced reinvention next year, organizers say—a moment of rethinking as the fest inches toward its 40th birthday. Still, the lineup isn’t lacking, with local legends LaRhonda Steele and Ural Thomas and the Pain booked. And you better believe they’re still putting on the city’s main fireworks display on the Fourth. 

Also at the waterfront, PBR’s recently resurrected festival is back for the second year after an extended hiatus. The lineup is as balanced as ever, with big names across several generations, including Iggy Pop, Devo, Built to Spill, Death Cab for Cutie, and Japanese Breakfast. And the famed (and unexplained) giant unicorn statue will sit between stages set at each end of the park. 

With scrappy roots tracing back to 1999, the city’s most idiosyncratic music festival continues to grow year over year. These days, the little fest that could takes over a farm outside the city (organizers prefer that you bike in) and makes the place over as its own little village. The festival usually attracts performers from across the country, or oceans, but the biggest names this year happen to be locals: Portugal. The Man, Haley Heynderickx, Reyna Tropical. They also have a Michael Hurley tribute scheduled, honoring the local folk hero, hosted by Hurley’s longtime wingman Lewi Longmire and his band the Croakers. 

The pride of Amherst, Massachusetts—perhaps, depending whom you ask—is playing with Snail Mail at one of the first PDX Live shows, on the bricks of Pioneer Courthouse Square, of the season. Dinosaur Jr.’s latest is Sweet It Into Space from 2021, their 12th LP. Look out for other PDX Live shows through August, like Waxahatchee on the 9th, STRFKR on the 11th, and the Roots on the 21st.

Dacus is one third of Boygenius, the supergroup with three Grammys to its name that also includes Phoebe Bridgers and Dacus’s romantic partner, Julien Baker. Boygenius is odd in that, depending on the weather, any of its three members could be called “the famous one.” Regardless, it might be Dacus at the moment. Forever Is a Feeling, her fourth solo album, came out this spring—“a gorgeous and tender album about falling in love,” says The New Yorker’s Amanda Petrusich. Also at Edgefield this summer: Gregory Alan Isakov is playing with Seattle singer-songwriter Dean Johnson (September 7) and Modest Mouse is playing two shows with the Flaming Lips (September 10 & 11).  

Tall, dark, and Irish—Hozier is the skinny jeans and leather cuff rockstar of recent years. The “Take Me to Church” and “Too Sweet” singer seems to have been minted as a stadium rocker, and the fan worship hasn’t faltered since his 2014 debut. 

Portland is the first stop on Uchis’s stadium tour promoting Sincerely, which came out in May. It’s the Colombian American pop star’s fifth album. Pitchfork loved it, and noted, in a single exuberant sentence, a “high raspy flutter” and “sex-drunk bliss,” a few “candy-colored reveries,” and, of course, “gossamer love-me-downs.” 

Lauper, who turned 72 this summer, is calling this set of shows her Girls Just Wanna Have Fun Farewell Tour, so if we take the EG_T winner at her word this might be our last chance to see the legend live. Other blasts from the past hitting Live Nation's newly rebranded Cascades Amphitheater in Ridgefield, Washington, this season include Pantera, Toto, and Billy Idol.

Here’s your reminder that Edgefield shows run deep into the dog days. At the end of August, the Pixies are bringing sweet, noisy nostalgia to Troutdale. But this isn’t a Surfer Rosa reunion tour; Black Francis and co are still going strong, having released their ninth LP, The Night the Zombies Came, in 2024. Also: Spoon—one of countless bands that couldn’t exist without the Pixies example—is opening. 

Carrie Brownstein and Corin Tucker front the much-loved band named after a highway exit ramp in Olympia, Washington (drummer Janet Weiss, who also plays in Quasi, left the group in 2019). Most recently, they put out Little Rope in 2024, which marked 30 years since they formed the group. Despite being an on-again, off-again project, several prominent critics have lauded Sleater-Kinney as one of the best rock bands of the aughts.

You’ve seen the billboards around town, about the kid from Portland who has his own sneaker (New Balances). The “kid” has his own festival now, too. Despite living in LA these days, Aminé’s bringing the two-day fest back to Edgefield for its second year. The Best Day Ever Fest is actually two days, featuring eight acts in total. Aminé of course headlines, but this year six-string bass virtuoso Thundercat and funky, neo-soul rapper Smino share the bill.