This week's Hear in Portland touts two local music events to check out this month—in between all of December's holiday revelry and frantic shopping. We've got a birthday show for an 85-year-old local music treasure and a two-day Christmas-themed hip-hop "festivale." Also, ICYMI, neo soul icon Erykah Badu's special Portland concert—as part of the 2025 Portland Jazz Festival—is shaping up to be a once-in-a-lifetime, bucket list event.

MUST SEE: 

Upcoming local event(s) featuring local artist(s). 

Ural Thomas and the Pain: Ural’s 85th Birthday Celebration

In celebration of Ural Thomas’s 85th birthday, Ural Thomas and the Pain are throwing a party—and playing it! It's always a treat to hear the group's soulful live performance, showcasing Thomas’ incredibly well preserved vocals and featuring highlights from the band’s 2018 album The Right Time, as well as a bevy of stunning tracks from the spacey and psychedelic Dancing Dimensions. Released in 2022, Dancing Dimensions is notable for containing entirely new material, the first Pain record not drawing from Thomas’ ’60s catalogue. It's a delightful listen all the way through and feels both heavily informed by classic doo-wop and vintage soul, but also distinctly like an album made in this decade. Listen for the catchy opening title track, bluesy “Heaven,” poppy and upbeat “Gimme Some Ice Cream,” and nostalgia-inducing “Do You Remember the Times We Had?” (Revolution Hall, 1300 SE Stark, Sat Dec 21, 8 pm, $35, tickets here, all ages)

Festivale Cool Nutz

Esteemed Portland-based emcee Cool Nutz has put together a two-day Christmas-themed hip-hop showcase at Alberta Street Pub next weekend—and he's calling it Festivale Cool Nutz. Honestly, you had me at Festivale Cool Nutz, but the lineups on both nights look solid and the venue inviting, as the pub has become a regular home for Portland’s hip-hop community in recent years. On Friday December 20, Cool Nutz and DJ Fatboy headline with rappers like Northside Tego & Vary, Dboi Ltd, and King Wess filling out the bill and the Trail Blazers’ DJ OG One on the 1s and 2s. The next night, stalwart local emcees like Rasheed Jamal, Mic Crenshaw, Juma Blaq, Bobby Barrz, and DJ FATBOY take the stage before Boom Bap Project closes out the fest. The “Festivale” event will also include a “fashion village” showcasing a trio of local fashion brands and clothing lines: Black Mannequin, Stackin Kickz, and Jus Family PDX. (Alberta Street Pub, 1036 NE Alberta, Fri Dec 20 & Sat Dec 21, 9 pm, $15-30, tickets here, 21+)

ADDED TO THE QUEUE: 

Some upcoming music buzz to add to your radar.

Erykah Badu 

Next year's Portland Jazz Festival is already looking like it will be a major event for the city, and we can't say enough about singer-songwriter and Afro-centric fashion icon Erykah Badu playing the Moda Center on the second night of the festivities. Surely, this is a once-in-a-lifetime, bucket list instance for many. Cemented as one of the greats and widely recognized as a pioneering artist who defined the genre, Badu has been called the queen of neo soul. She's responsible for unforgettable hits like “Next Lifetime” “Tyrone,” “Bag Lady,” and “On and On.” Whether or not you agree with or condone the various strange controversies that surround Badu—like that she’s a self-proclaimed witch with a so-called magical box, and the fact that she created vulva-scented incense made with the ashes of her burnt underpants to spread her good juju with the world—hearing the now 53-year-old soul legend perform at PDX Jazz Festival's first-ever arena concert is sure to be a local music highlight of 2025. (Moda Center, 1 N Center Ct, Fri Feb 21, 8 pm, $95-275, tickets here, all ages)