Violent Femmes
Recommended
This event is in the past
Wednesday, June 1, 2022, 8:30 pm
Crystal Ballroom
West End (Portland)
This is an in-person event
All Ages
Few rock bands have emerged on the scene with more raw vitality than did Milwaukee's Violent Femmes with their self-titled 1983 album. The platinum-selling Violent Femmes abounds with instantly catchy, immediately engrossing songs about young-person angst, all stripped down to their most crucial essentials. Frontman Gordon Gano channeled Lou Reed and Jonathan Richman vocal tics and lyrical tropes with very relatable results. Tough act to follow, but 1984's Christianity-haunted Hallowed Ground proved the Femmes could go darker yet. I stopped following them after 1986's The Blind Leading the Naked, but one listen to 2019's Hotel Last Resort reveals that Gano and bassist Brian Ritchie's flair for spare, infectious folk-rock hasn't diminished much over the last 37 years.
by Dave Segal
On sale Fri Mar 18 at 10 am.