There’s no shortage of sense-indulging ways to fill your calendar this week—craft chocolate, Greek donuts, and poetry are all on the docket. Plus, Tricky of Massive Attack shows up with a tantalizing new album, Alicia Witt nods to your Twin Peaks nostalgia, and a new production of Pride and Prejudice explores Regency courtship mores. All that and a new festival at Art Design Xchange? Keep readin’.
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 28
Benefit Concert for Immigrant Worker Justice
Here’s a show that benefits both Northwest Workers’ Justice Project and your ears. Feast upon the sounds of new supergroup Ruminants (Marisa Anderson, Sam Coomes, and Sara Lund) sharing a bill with skacore locals Los Mal Hablados, and Peter Ryan’s saddish psych-folk Whales Whailing. There’s a secret special guest in the mix—allegedly performing at a larger venue Tuesday—so this bill could get even hotter, but you can already tell you want to go. (Hawthorne Theater, 1507 SE Cesar Chavez, 7:30-10:30 pm, $25-$70, more info, all ages) SUZETTE SMITH
Tricky
Okay, so you’re buzzing from seeing Kruder & Dorfmeister celebrate the 30th anniversary of their DJ-Kicks compilation last night, and you’re still ravenous for more trip-hop. Another night, filling that hole in your heart might be tricky, but tonight, the only thing tricky is Tricky himself. The former Massive Attack collaborator and current rapper is celebrating the release of his long-awaited new LP, Different When It’s Silent, at Wonder Ballroom, a booking that feels like a coup. The scheduling gods rarely offer us such tantalizing opportunities, and this is one you’d be a fool to ignore. (Wonder Ballroom, 128 NE Russell, 8 pm, SOLD OUT, more info, all ages) HOLLY HAZELWOOD
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29
Perfume Genius
Filled with fuzzy guitars and poignant piano, Perfume Genius’s 2025 album Glory expands and contracts with a flow of emotions. Mike Hadreas, the queer icon and former Seattle resident behind the project, features his partner Alan Wyffels and producer Blake Mills on his seventh full-length. Perfume Genius performs a stripped-down, intimate duo set with Wyffels at the Aladdin Theater, inviting fans to experience songs from his decade-spanning alt-pop discography in a new way. Get there early to catch a set from Dan English, who’s known as the guitarist for the indie rock band Porches but makes cinematic folk-rock on his own time. Perfume Genius just released the soaring new song “Natural High” from his forthcoming collaboration with dance artist Kate Wallich; you’ll have to head up to Seattle next spring if you want to see that performance IRL. (Aladdin Theater, 3017 SE Milwaukie, 8 pm, $52.35, more info, all ages) SHANNON LUBETICH
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30
Alicia Witt
Twin Peaks real ones will perhaps recall the precocious piano-playing younger Gersten Hayward (Alicia Witt) frantically trying to play along with Leland Palmer (Ray Wise) as he sang “Get Happy” with increasingly manic energy. Witt went on to build a rich career as both a musician and actor from the start she made on Lynch’s surreal show. On Wednesday, she takes over the Jack London Revue for an intimate evening of songs from Between Heaven and Earth, her deeply personal, album-length tribute to the director who launched her career more than 40 years ago. If you’ve been looking for a good place to ugly-cry among strangers, you’ve just found it. (Jack London Revue, 529 SW 4th, 8 pm, $31.39-$237.39, more info, 21+) HH
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1
ADX Fest
In honor of its 15-year anniversary, Art Design Xchange (ADX) will host a month-long festival to highlight Portland’s unique, community-oriented creative scene. The fest runs the entire month of October, featuring dozens of events at its Buckman headquarters and other locations around the city. The agenda includes panel discussions exploring topics like “selling out,” eerie dance performances, and hands-on workshops dedicated to collage, needle felting, and cyanotype printing. Other noteworthy events include Volumes Design Library’s Portland designers showcase, a Museum of Stop Motion Animation/Crow Collective pop-up exhibit and market, and a punk battle-vest contest. Read more at the Mercury. (ADX, 417 SE 11th, various dates and times through Oct 31, more info) TAYLOR GRIGGS
Also worth it:
2026 Symposium, Pacific Northwest College of Art, more info
Planned around an “Art, Aura & the Algorithm” theme, PNCA’s annual symposium will include a “séance-inspired performance” and keynote thoughts from AI researcher/poet Sasha Stiles, among other happenings.
Writer’s Room zine release, Up Up Books, more info
The local literary types at A Writer’s Room will read aloud and present a new zine at a wine-fueled party in Up Up Books’ new Sullivan’s Gulch space.
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 2
Portland Poetry Confluence
How lucky is Portland to have a free poetry festival, thoughtfully organized by local literary types like multidisciplinary writer Dao Strom and Passages Bookshop’s David Abel?! The second edition of the lyrical event will flow with more words and wisdom from stacked talent, including poet and Suquamish Nation member Cedar Sigo, Inupiaq poet Joan Naviyuk Kane, and poet-psychotherapist Emily Kendal Frey, among many others. Portland Poetry Confluence’s curated book fair is worth browsing throughout the weekend for your new favorite experimental verse, too. (Atrium Movement and Events, 2305 SE 50th, through Oct 4, FREE, more info, all ages) LINDSAY COSTELLO
Portland Greek Festival
Over 73,000 people show up each weekend for the three-day Portland Greek Festival, now in its 73rd year. It’s easy to see why from just the food offerings alone; line up for plates of sliced lamb roasted whole over a spit, gyros, hot loukoumades (Greek doughnuts), baklava sundaes, and iced frappes, not to mention the room full of Greek pastries and pours of Greek wine and beer. But on top of that, there’s also Greek folk dancing, followed by dance lessons after each performance. (Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Cathedral, 3131 NE Glisan, Oct 2 10 am-10 pm, Oct 3 10 am-10 pm, Oct 4 11 am-7 pm, $5 ages 12+, 11 and under FREE, more info, all ages) KCH
Portland Craft Chocolate Festival
Hot chocolate season is upon us, as is chocolate chip cookie baking season—so the Portland Craft Chocolate Festival, a three-day celebration of all things chocolate, just makes sense. Exhibitors include artisan chocolate makers like the Meadow, Missionary Chocolates, Ranger Chocolate, Wildwood Chocolate, and Woodblock Chocolate, plus some unexpected guests using chocolate in their creations like distillers and hot sauce makers. On October 3, there’s a chocolate chip cookie baking competition, with a judging panel that includes professional bakers, a former Love Island star, and Mayor Keith Wilson. Competitors also get a free ticket for that day’s festival—sign up to enter by September 15. (Olympic Mills, 107 SE Washington, Oct 2 5-7 pm (VIP party), Oct 3-4 11 am-5 pm, $35+ (kids 8 and under FREE), more info, all ages) KCH
Pride and Prejudice
The only thing that comes close to the delight of reading Jane Austen’s 1813 novel is watching all of its different remakes, from the 1995 BBC miniseries with Colin Firth, to the 2005 edition with Keira Knightley, to barely similar reimaginings like Bridget Jones’s Diary. Despite the fact that the story’s plot has probably led one woman too many to give an arrogant man another chance in the hopes that he could secretly be a Mr. Darcy, we can’t bring ourselves to look away. This stage version by Kate Hamill premiered in 2017, and Portland Center Stage promises that their rendition will employ playful theatrics, humorous double casting, and a “modern comedic spark.” (Portland Center Stage, 128 NW 11th, Wed-Sun 7:30 pm, weekend matinees 2 pm, $25-$100, more info, all ages) KCH
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 3
Dash Shaw and Jesse Moynihan
Catch two of the most consistently innovative comics and animation creators working right now—at a daytime book signing at Floating World Comics, an animation showcase at Clinton Street Theater, or PORQUE NO LOS DOS? Seriously. Dash Shaw went big mode on his first major graphic novel Bottomless Belly Button (2008) and has continued to craft fantastic fantasies for both screen and page—his latest is a masterful pastel murder mystery titled Like Swimmers. Moynihan is probably best known for his work with Pendleton Ward on Adventure Time, but we’ve been fans of his crass creation comic Forming since it began in 2009. Most of Forming can still be read online at jessemoynihan.com, but he’s always gambled that folks would want to own it beautiful, large, and in print. Comics publisher Fantagraphics got in on that game, hocking the finished form (448 pages!) for $50. (Floating World Comics, 340 SW Morrison, Ste 1300, 4 pm, FREE, more info, all ages that can stand in line. Clinton Street Theater, 2522 SE Clinton, 7 pm, $10, more info, all ages that can get pretty out there) SS
Table 17
Portland Playhouse kicks off cuffing season with Douglas Lyons’ Table 17, a succinct, scintillating play about exes and love, history and honesty. It’s an immersive work, so audience members choose seats from tables and barstools surrounding the action. Take a date, and you’ll be able to suss out your prospective honey’s views as Jada (Tyharra Cozier) and Dallas (Marcus Lattimore) try to find closure… or just get in one last jab. (Portland Playhouse, 602 NE Prescott, Wed-Sun, $61.95-$71.95 w/ sliding scale options that include $5 Arts for All, more info, 12+) SS
Also worth it:
YHWH Nailgun, Mississippi Studios, more info
New York experimenters YHWH Nailgun groan out the auditory equivalent of a romance poem written on high-grit sandpaper.
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 4
In a Landscape: Classical Music in the Wild
Sure, you don’t typically hear the velvety twinklings of a Steinway concert grand piano from a mountaintop, an old-growth forest, or a meadow. But In a Landscape asks an interesting question: Why not? The concert series, which brings classical music to natural settings across the West Coast, will be set up in an easy to access, yet still scenic spot—Lewis & Clark College’s estate gardens, in front of the Frank Manor House—for a soothing recital by pianist (and In a Landscape founder) Hunter Noack on October 4. Wandering is encouraged; attendees can listen through wireless headphones as they explore the grounds. (Lewis & Clark College, 615 S Palatine Hill, 3 pm, $60-$80, more info, all ages) LC
Hey, Nothing
In 2025, I took a chance at a festival, skipping Built to Spill to see Hey, Nothing, the infectious Georgian duo of Tyler Mabry and Harlow Phillips. I’ve never seen a crowd dance and mosh with that much gusto to a band they, too, had just discovered. Hey, Nothing’s blend of bedroom pop and Midwest emo is perfectly captured on their recent album Hound. It’s a miracle they’re still playing venues as small as the Hawthorne, but if I have any say in the matter, they won’t be for much longer. (Hawthorne Theater, 1507 SE Cesar E. Chavez, 7:30 pm, $33.89, more info, all ages) HH
Drag Queen Garage Sale, Darcelle XV Showplace, more info
The gorgeous gals at Darcelle’s accumulate wigs, gowns, and shoes at such a rate that they started periodically passing the glamour on to us.
Looking for even more events happening this week? Head on over to EverOut!
