With the arrival of spring term comes a new season of concerts and events across Eugene. Unfortunately, many of the best shows are already sold out, but if you missed a chance to score Snoop Dogg tickets, never fear. The Emerald has compiled a list of the best spring concerts and events in Eugene that you can still purchase tickets to.

Saturday, April 8: Moon Hooch at Hi-Fi Music Hall

Saxophonists Mike Wilbur and Wenzl McGowen, and drummer James Muschler make up this trio, all of whom studied at New York’s New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music. But Moon Hooch ain’t easy-listening jazz. The group formed after their busking turned New York subway stations into impromptu raves with their stupefying and ingenious take on EDM, electronica and rock with volatile stops, starts and bold change-ups. Check out their Tiny Desk concert to hear what it sounds like when a saxophone is choked with a road construction sign, or just catch them at Hi-Fi. Tickets are $12 in advance or $15 on the day of the show. — Emerson Malone

Thursday, April 13: Whitney at WOW Hall

Indie-folk band Whitney will make a stop at WOW Hall in a couple weeks. Last year was a big one for the band, which is comprised of former members of Unknown Mortal Orchestra and Smith Westerns. Whitney released its debut album, the hazy and fun “Light Upon the Lake,” and performed at a slew of festivals, including South by Southwest. In 2017, the band is on tour and has a new EP of covers, including Dolly Parton’s song, “Gonna Hurry (As Slow as I Can).” Catch Whitney at 9 p.m. Doors open at 8 p.m. Tickets are online and go for $12 each. The band’s Portland show is sold out, so get tickets for the Eugene one before they’re gone. — Sararosa Davies

Rapper Ab-Soul will perform at WOW Hall on Saturday, April 15. (Courtesy of David Chachere)

Saturday, April 15: Ab-Soul at WOW Hall

Currently touring in support of his fourth studio album, “Do What Thou Wilt,” Ab-Soul will drop by WOW Hall on his Y.M.F. tour in mid-April. The Southern-California rapper is signed to Top Dawg Entertainment, the same record label as Kendrick Lamar, Isaiah Rashad and ScHoolboy Q. Known for his spiritual and transformative lyricism, Ab-Soul likes to take his audiences on a journey of self-discovery during his live performances. Tickets for the all-ages show are $23 in advance or $27 the day of the show. — Zach Price

Monday, April 17: of Montreal at Hi-Fi Music Hall

Indie-electro band of Montreal is the glitter-smeared brainchild of frontman Kevin Barnes and a rotation of backup musicians. The group (who are from Athens, Georgia) has had a prolific stretch of albums including this year’s EP “Rune Husk,” its 15th album and eighth in this decade alone. Of Montreal is known for its hallucinatory, off-the-wall live show spectacles with elaborate set designs and costumes, which are only matched by Barnes’s chaotic mannerisms and visceral, linguist-fetish lyrics. It’s bound to get real weird. Tickets cost $16. — Emerson Malone

Diet Cig will perform at The Boreal on Wednesday, April 26. (Shervin Lainez)

Wednesday, April 26: Diet Cig at The Boreal

Diet Cig will be bringing spring to Eugene’s DIY venue, The Boreal, this month. Alex Luciano’s fuzzy guitars and wailing voice crash into drummer Noah Bowman’s beats like waves crashing onto the shore. Coming from the same New York scene as lo-fi acts Frankie Cosmos and Porches, Diet Cig is sure to satisfy anyone looking for some indie-pop in their life this spring. The two-piece group is touring in support of its first full-length album, “Swear I’m Good At This.” Though the band’s East Coast upbringing (look to songs such as the snarky “Harvard“) may be unfamiliar to west coast students, its rambunctious and fun sound will make up for it. The all-ages show starts at 7 p.m. and tickets are $10 at the door. Eugene’s Shisho and Lisa Prank open. — Sararosa Davies

Friday, May 5: Daniel Tosh at Matthew Knight Arena

Controversial comedian and “Tosh.0” host Daniel Tosh has been deliberately offending audiences since the late ’90s. Nothing is off limits for the comic, whose topics range from international politics to rape. Tosh is a frequent subject of debate among both comedians and audiences. In 2012, a rape joke aimed at a female audience member made headlines and resulted in an apology. “I’m not a racist or misogynistic person,” Tosh explained in an interview, “but I do find those [kinds of] jokes funny, so I say them.” Tosh will bring his “college_tour-2017,” to Matthew Knight Arena. Expect a politically incorrect set that’s sure to both offend and entertain. Tickets start at $45. — Dana Alston

Friday, May 5: Life During Wartime at Hi-Fi Music Hall

The real-life David Byrne has maintained a relatively low profile in recent years; luckily, we have Portland’s own Talking Heads tribute band, Life During Wartime, who have committed themselves to performing the art-rock group’s landmark show depicted in the 1984 rock-doc “Stop Making Sense.” The lively show features a young Byrne doing aerobics, calisthenics, flailing around his rubbery limbs and jogging around the stage. It’s exhausting just watching him. Feel the Byrne at this Hi-Fi show. Tickets for this 21+ show are just $12, or $15 on the day of the show. — Emerson Malone

Tuesday, May 9: Oddisee & Good Company at WOW Hall

Oddisee has started to gain a strong cult following among the indie-rap scene for his songs positive messages and clean lyrics. Currently touring his most recent album, “The Iceberg,” DC-area rapper Oddisee is set to make a stop at WOW Hall in early May. Pitchfork calls the critically acclaimed album a “focused beam of live-band and hip-hop soul that rattles loudly in our present political moment.” Tickets for the all-ages show are $12 in advance or $14 the day of the show. — Zach Price

Wednesday, May 24: Modest Mouse at The Cuthbert Amphitheater

Sometimes life imitates your own art. In 2004, Isaac Brock sang, “I backed my car into a cop car the other day” on Modest Mouse’s best album “Good News For People Who Love Bad News.” Last summer, days after playing at the Moda Center, Brock fell asleep behind the wheel in Portland and hit a City of Portland pick-up truck “which hit a Subaru, which hit another Subaru, which likely hit a 5th car that left the scene,” according to The Oregonian. Brock, who “sings like someone is chasing him with a garden hose,” according to Twitter user @fart, will be playing the Cuthbert Amphitheater. This is the band’s first time back in Eugene since Brock hugged it out with a drunk audience member at the McDonald Theatre in 2009. The all-ages show is $45 in advance and $50 the day of the show. — Emerson Malone

Tuesday, June 6: David Blaine at The Hult Center for the Performing Arts

Famous for his mind-bending street tricks and death-defying stunts, magician David Blaine will bring his first ever North American tour to the Cuthbert Amphitheater. Blaine first gained popularity after his show “Street Magic” captivated cable audiences with his never-before-seen sleight of hand tricks. As his show grew in popularity, Blaine upped the level of difficulty and danger to his tricks. In 2008, he held his breath underwater for more than 17 minutes. In 2016, he released his TV special “Beyond Magic,” which featured Blaine performing tricks for famous athletes and celebrities. Tickets for the all age show start at $34. — Zach Price

Saturday, June 17: Alice Cooper at The Cuthbert Amphitheater

What better way to celebrate commencement weekend than by singing “School’s Out” with the infamous shock-rocker himself? Hint: There is no better way. The Spend The Night With Alice Cooper Tour will swing through the Cuthbert Amphitheater for Cooper’s first Eugene appearance since taking the opening slot on Mötley Crüe’s Final Tour at Matthew Knight Arena in July 2015. This show promises to be a spectacle complete with guillotines, blood and nightmarish rock music to clash with the picturesque setting at the Cuthbert. The show begins at 8 p.m. Tickets begin at $47. — Craig Wright

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The biggest University of Oregon news stories from winter 2017 term are unearthed and recapitulated by senior news reporter Max Thornberry in this episode from the Emerald Podcast Network.

These stories include: why Ta-Nehisi Coates’ speech ended early; the tuition increase affecting all students starting fall 2017; UO student dining hall workers lose their free shift meals; the proposed policy that would have regulated when and where student protests take place on campus and the Women’s March and protests surrounding the Inauguration in January.

Arts and culture editor Craig Wright shares some of the best stories from the arts & culture desk from the past term: the Bean Hall remodel; the Emerald interviews with Vince Staples, Jake Shimabukuro and Evan Stephens Hall of Pinegrove and more. Plus, we get a look ahead what to expect from the Emerald next term.

This episode, which you can listen to above, was produced by Emerson Malone.

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The Japandroids looked and sounded like an entirely different band when they last played in Portland in November 2012. At that Wonder Ballroom performance, guitarist Brian King was visibly nervous when he walked onstage. He was breathing heavily and had to scream into the microphone and strike a few power chords before eventually settling in on the “Celebration Rock” tour. His voice was unable to match the range he records in, which robbed that night of its potential quality.

In the four long years since Japandroids’ last Oregon show, the Vancouver B.C. duo has transformed from an average live act with superb records into a stage-dominating headlining act full of confidence. The stage show now matches the quality of their anthemic records, which is no small feat.

As King and drummer David Prowse took the stage, flashing strobe lights made it look as if they were moving at half speed. They both moved with an air of confidence that was previously unavailable. Prowse slowly built the thunderous drum introduction of “Near To The Wild Heart Of Life.” With the final snare hit in the intro, the lights went dark: It was the calm before the storm of a nearly two-hour performance.

From the first chords of the song until the very end of the night, fans at the sold-out performance at Revolution Hall were screaming along at the top of their lungs. The crowd atmosphere at a Japandroids show is best summed up by a few lines from “The Nights Of Wine And Roses”: People downing drinks in a “funnel of friends” who “yell like hell to the heavens.” There is a sense of instant camaraderie among fans who know that everyone around them will be screaming just as loud as they are for the entirety of the concert. “Celebration Rock” is about as apt of a description as one could hope for. 

King’s guitar setup included a wall of amplifiers that blasted a sound forceful enough to knock over the dive bars they previously toured through; Prowse’s drumming remains the integral backbone for the songs. Their sound has evolved as much as their lyrical content, yet fans were as confident in their abilities to sing along to the lyrically dense “Midnight To Morning” as the simplistic but succinct “Wet Hair” from 2009’s “Post-Nothing.”

Read our review of “Near To The Wild Heart Of Life” here. 

Much of “Near To The Wild Heart Of Life” features synthesizers or acoustic guitars — but live, King stuck to his electric guitar for every song. Only the seven-minute “Arc Of Bar” needed additional instrumentation, which was easily achieved with a synthesizer loop played over the loudspeakers.

Craig Finn joined Japandroids for the final song of the night, a cover of AC/DC’s classic “If You Want Blood (You’ve Got It).” With Finn on lead vocals, Prowse and King were able to join in giving their entire attention to the crowd. Finn marched across the stage, pointing to as many fans as he could in an effort to up the crowd’s energy level.

Brian King of Japandroids sings on Friday Night at Revolution Hall. (Hannah Steinkopf-Frank/Emerald)

Rarely can a band escape from stage without an encore, but instead of taking a break, Japandroids powered through to the very end. There was nothing more fans could hope for except a shorter wait time until the band’s next Oregon concert.

Craig Finn and the Uptown Controllers opened the set that featured a few selections from his upcoming solo album. The Hold Steady frontman played a much more mellow show than the standard Hold Steady outing, but Finn remained as articulate and animated as ever. His new album is called “We All Want the Same Things,” a title that he admits likely comes off as dark comedy at this point in American history. But he insisted that deep down, we do all want the same things: safety, freedom and rock ‘n’ roll music.

Whether or not it’s a universal truth that we all want the same things, the majority of the crowd left the venue with hoarse voices, sore necks from headbanging and crumpled beer cups in hand. There are few better ways to spend a Friday night than in the sweaty, beer-drenched mosh pit at a Japandroids show.

Setlist:

(Hannah Steinkopf-Frank/Emerald)

“Near To The Wild Heart Of Life”
“Adrenaline Nightshift”
“Fire’s Highway”
“North East South West”
“True Love And A Free Life Of Free Will”
“Younger Us”
“In A Body Like A Grave”
“Wet Hair”
“I Quit Girls”
“Arc Of Bar”
“The Nights Of Wine And Roses”
“Evil’s Sway”
“Midnight To Morning”
“No Known Drink Or Drug”
“Continuous Thunder”
“Young Hearts Spark Fire”
“Sovereignty”
“The House That Heaven Built”
“If You Want Blood (You Got It)” with Craig Finn

Follow Craig on Twitter: @wgwcraig

Additional photos below:

Brian King plays guitar during a performance at Portland, Oregon’s Revolution Hall. The event was sold out on St. Patrick’s Day. (Hannah Steinkopf-Frank/Emerald)

Japandroids’ guitarist and singer Brian King plays in Portland on Friday night. (Hannah Steinkopf-Frank/Emerald)

Brian King of Japandroids on Friday, March 17. (Hannah Steinkopf-Frank/Emerald)

David Prowse plays drums while watching his bandmate for changes during Friday’s performance at a sold-out Revolution Hall. (Hannah Steinkopf-Frank/Emerald)

Craig Finn points skyward as he joins Japandroids for a cover of  AC/DC’s “If You Want Blood (You’ve Got It).” Finn and the Uptown Controllers opened the concert. (Hannah Steinkopf-Frank/Emerald)

Brian King sings and drums at Revolution Hall on Friday night. (Hannah Steinkopf-Frank/Emerald)

Brian King sings on Friday at Revolution Hall. The sold-out performance was the band’s first stop in Oregon since 2012. (Hannah Steinkopf-Frank/Emerald)

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In 2017, it often seems that musicians need a political agenda to garner attention. But Elton John, whose repertoire does not boast any protest anthems, per se, seems to remain timelessly relevant. He’s professed a desire to make hip-hop with Kanye West and Pharrell Williams; he made a cameo on one of the best rock records of the twenty-first century, Queens of the Stone Age’s “…Like Clockwork” and even hung out with Atlanta rapper Young Thug.

Music need not be political; sometimes we just need a queer Englishman with strawberry-blond hair and rose-colored glasses to keep us centered.

Check out our photo coverage of Elton John’s performance here.

Elton John returned to Matthew Knight Arena on Saturday night for the first time since February 2011. He and his band are touring in support of their newest album, “Wonderful Crazy Night,” released in February as part of the Follow The Yellow Brick Road Tour. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Elton John AIDS Foundation and the 48th year since John released his first record, 1969’s “Empty Sky.” 

Pink and purple spotlights illuminated John’s grand piano before he entered the ominous opening chords of “Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding.” The video board behind him displayed a video of gray storm clouds flying by.

He sported a blue suit jacket — the words “Rocket Man” on the back — bedazzled with red, gold and silver sequins from his sleeves to his coattails, which made an image of a rocket taking off.

The two-and-a-half-hour performance highlighted John’s biggest hits and new material with little visual distraction. The night was all about the music and John’s boundless gratitude.

It’s often hard to strike a personal resonance, especially in an arena that fits more than 12,000 people, but it still felt deeply intimate when John sang, “And you can tell everybody / This is your song.” He and the band made a conscious effort to connect with the audience as much as possible, both during and after songs.

Every available seat in the house appeared to be filled, which provided the band a 360-degree view of loving fans. John often turned and waved, pointed and bowed to every corner of the arena to say thank you. John invited those seated to approach the stage toward the show’s end. He autographed at least two-dozen items for fans gathered at the front of the stage. He was offered everything for his signature, from tickets and drumsticks to a brown boot to sign (He skipped the shoe).

John often ended songs by slamming the fall board on his grand piano, punctuating the finish to an epic performance. At age 69, John has a remarkably youthful energy.

He tweaked the opening lines of “Tiny Dancer”: “Blue jean baby, Eugene lady, seamstress for the band” in an arena-wide singalong. 

In the interim before the encore as everyone beckoned for John’s return, an inordinate number of cell phone LED lights lit up and floated like celestial orbs around the pitch-black arena.

John’s band has had some remarkable continuity: drummer Nigel Olsson has been a member since 1969, and musical director and guitarist Davey Johnstone has toured with John since 1972.

John mentioned that as much as he loves recording in the studio, playing live is his favorite part of the job. “I’d much rather play for you,” John said. “We’re not going to sleep for two-and-a-half-hours after this.”

Set List:
“Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding”
“Bennie And The Jets”
“I Guess That’s Why They Call It The Blues”
“Daniel”
“Someone Saved My Life Tonight”
“Looking Up”
“A Good Heart”
“Philadelphia Freedom”
“Rocket Man (I Think It’s Gonna Be A Long Long Time)”
“Tiny Dancer”
“Levon”
“Goodbye Yellow Brick Road”
“Have Mercy On The Criminal”
“Your Song”
“Burn Down The Mission”
“Sad Songs (Say So Much)” (Band introductions)
“Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me”
“The Bitch Is Back”
“I’m Still Standing”
“Your Sister Can’t Twist”
“Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting”
Encore:
“Candle In The Wind”
“Crocodile Rock”

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In this weekly wrap-up, Associate News Editor Max Thornberry explains why everyone will be paying so much to attend the University of Oregon next year and talks about Will Campbell’s exploration of inflated grades. Test out the Emerald Grade Tracker here.

Arts and Culture Editor Craig Wright recaps his interview with legendary punk-rocker Mike Watt.

This episode was produced by Emerson Malone.

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Correction: This post originally said that Mike Watt would be playing at the Hi-Fi Lounge on Friday. Watt and The Missingmen are playing Thursday. Cancel your plans!

Mike Watt can’t stop playing bass. No matter what life throws at the punk rock icon, he is always drawn back to the four-stringed instrument that has developed into an extension of himself — so much so that his email signature reads, “on bass, watt.” 

In January 2000, Watt had a near-death experience that forced him to stop playing bass for nearly six months. He eventually taught himself how to play again and turned the experience into his second rock opera, “The Secondman’s Middle Stand.” When he felt crippling pain in his hands from playing bass, he switched to a bass with a thinner neck. Watt has completed 60 tours — what he defines as traveling for a month or longer — and he plans for 60 more.

“I’m a bass player. So what does a bass player do? He plays bass,” Watt said in a Skype interview with the Emerald. “This is what I do as long as I don’t hurt anybody with it.”

In 1980, Watt’s highly influential and most renowned band, the Minutemen, released its first EP, “Paranoid time.” The bassist has been a seminal figure in the punk rock world since. He has played with dozens of acts including fIREHOSE, Eddie Vedder and Dave Grohl. In addition to a 10-year run with Iggy Pop and the Stooges; he has also recorded with acts ranging from Sonic Youth to Kelly Clarkson.

Mike Watt sporting flannel in 2016. (Martin Styblo)

As a 13-year-old living in San Pedro, California, Watt first learned about the bass guitar when his childhood friend Dennes Boon’s mom insisted that her son would play guitar, leaving Watt with the bass. At first, Watt thought it was a relegation on par with playing right field in Little League baseball, or the place where the player with the least talent is placed.

In 1970, Boon jumped out of a tree and found Watt instead of the friends he was playing with. The pair was always mentally in tune with each other as they struck an immediate kinship founded on playing guitar and collaborating on songwriting with a do-it-yourself approach they call “jamming econo.”

“You don’t even have to teach him shit,” Watt said of Boon. “You play something and he plays something right away, like some osmosis thing.”

Watt and Boon teamed with fellow 1976 San Pedro High School graduate George Hurley to form the Minutemen, a punk trio that packed more passion and energy into minute-long songs than most bands can evoke in a career. Even if 1981’s “The Punch Line” blasts through 18 songs in 15 minutes, the group’s name was originally supposed to signify the group’s stature as ordinary people (the two-word Minute Men, pronounced my-noot instead of min-it) in contrast to the larger-than-life arena rock gods of the era. Put more simply, they said “our band could be your life.”

Punk rock was not popular in San Pedro in the late ‘70s; Watt recalls being able to count all the punks in the city on one hand: Boon, Watt and Hurley. But as the punk movement grew, the Minutemen used their unique characteristics in each song to become leaders of the scene. When writing, each member would bring ideas that the band would fill in. This approach led to some of the greatest songs the genre has ever seen.

“You’re more like a springboard,” Watt said about songwriting collaboration. “You’re like a launchpad and you’re not so much like the big storyboard. You’re leaving more for the guys you’re going to play with so they can bring in their personas.”

In 1984, the band released its 45-song masterpiece, “Double Nickels On The Dime.” The sprawling LP incorporates a blend of influences from Creedence Clearwater Revival to Black Flag to John Coltrane. Initially, it was supposed to be a single record, but when the Minutemen heard that SST Records labelmates Hüsker Dü were releasing the double album “Zen Arcade,” they returned to writing and came up with another album’s worth of material. Rolling Stone lists “Double Nickels” as the 413th greatest album of all time.

On Dec. 22, 1985, Boon died in a van accident. He was 27; Watt had turned 28 two days prior. Not only did Watt lose his best friend and creative counterpart, he also lost his will to perform.

“How can you ever have that again, especially if you lose the man?” Watt asked. “When D. Boon was gone, I didn’t think anyone wanted to listen to me. I thought that was the only reason I was doing that bass.”

Over time, Watt was persuaded that people did still care about his music even without Boon. Sonic Youth invited him to record two songs on their album “EVOL,” and a Minutemen fan named Ed Crawford drove from Ohio to San Pedro and asked Watt and Hurley to form a new band. This became fIREHOSE, which lasted from 1986-1994.

Since then, Watt has toured and recorded at an impressive rate and with a dizzying roster of talented friends, even being asked to join his childhood heroes Iggy Pop and the Stooges for 10 years.

“I’ve been very lucky to play with these cats,” Watt said. “I have to work at this and put a lot of effort in, but I’m lucky with associations.”

Since his Minutemen days, Watt has found influence in a variety of musical styles from obvious sources such as classic rock and punk, but he is also influenced by jazz, paintings and literature. Watt admitted that there are other benefits to drawing from non-musical sources: “You don’t need to worry as much about ripping off the riffs,” Watt said with a laugh. “There’s a layer of abstraction there.”

When he and Boon first began playing songs, they thought being the best guitar player meant playing the best cover of Led Zeppelin’s “Black Dog.” As they kept playing, Watt discovered that art is a vehicle for expression. He borrowed a quote from John Coltrane to describe this approach: “A musician is after some kind of truth.” He views the nature of other arts as being a similar search for personal expression.

Watt performing in Oakland in 2012. (Bridget Canfield)

“Take the example of writing,” Watt said. “What a personal way of communicating. You’re asking two people to join together through little scribbles on paper. You can write a completely original novel and not invent one word. That’s kind of the goal of music too, right?”

Watt’s 2011 album “Hyphenated-Man” is inspired by three concepts: characters from Hieronymus Bosch’s painting “Garden Of Earthly Delights,” Dorothy’s journey in the “Wizard of Oz,” and being a middle-aged punk rocker looking back on his youth. The album is supposed to be a cyclical journey that is all middle — it has no beginning or end.

“Another metaphor is like a funhouse at a carnival with the mirrors,” Watt said of “Hyphenated-Man.” “All these different angles all at once. That’s what I wanted it to be in a way. Of course I’m stretching it. There’s no way you could have made that in the real world, right? But that was my idea.”

Connecting all these mediums into new art is part of how Watt continues to create more music.

“There’s something about bridging into the other expressions that keeps things interesting,” Watt said. “Like a good flannel — a lot of threads.”

Watt will turn 60 this December. “That’s so weird to say. This is the start of old,” Watt said. “I guess 60 is you’re leaving middle age.”

Despite the multitude of musical releases and tours he’s been a part of, the books he has written and the legacy he has left in the DIY punk scene, Watt insists he still has plenty left to accomplish.

Every week he and his DJ partner “Brother Matt” release a three-hour podcast called “The Watt From Pedro Show.” Each episode begins with a John Coltrane song, and Watt never plays commercially popular “mersh shit.” Instead, Watt plays music from young artists who hand-deliver him their tracks after his concerts.

“It’s part of my debt,” Watt said. “I feel I owe the movement since me and D. Boon and Georgie were given a shot. Exposure. Let people hear. ‘Let yourself be heard,’ like D. Boon says in ‘Shit From An Old Notebook.‘”

On May 5, the debut album from one of Watt’s current bands, Big Walnuts Yonder, will be released after a two-year wait. Yonder features Watt on bass, Nels Cline (from Wilco and various Watt projects) on guitar, Greg Saunier (Deerhoof) on drums and Nick Reinhart (Tera Melos) on guitar and vocals. Watt also hopes to record non-opera albums with both the Secondmen and the Missingmen as well as a second album with The Black Gang.

Following this current 10-shows-in-10-days tour with The Missingmen, Watt has three more tours scheduled for 2017. One is a nine-show trip to China with The Missingmen. Another is a 31-gig circuit with the “Italian Guys,” Il Sogno del Marinaio. In May, Watt and backing band The Jom + Terry Show will begin a 22-date East Coast tour in support of The Meat Puppets.

Until it’s physically impossible, Watt will continue to do what he does best: play the bass, “Fly The Flannel” and Jam Econo.

“I got more work to do. I got more pieces I want to realize. If I can’t get it all done, I want to die trying.”

On Thursday night, Watt and The Missingmen will perform at Eugene’s Hi-Fi Lounge. Tickets are available at ticketfly.com.

Follow Craig on Twitter: @wgwcraig

The post Bass, flannel and ‘jamming econo’ to the end: Pioneering punk rocker Mike Watt to perform in Eugene Thursday appeared first on Emerald Media.

If you see a large group of people running into the Willamette River early Saturday morning, don’t be too alarmed. It’s just the annual Polar Plunge to benefit the Special Olympics.

The Polar Plunge, as it is so accurately named, consists of participants running into the sub-40-degree water of the Willamette River in order to raise money for Special Olympic athletes across the state. The Special Olympics provides intellectually disabled youth and adults the opportunity to participate in sports. The Polar Plunge marks the organization’s biggest fundraising event of the year.

Event coordinator Emily Ressegger says this event is held because many athletes lack the funds to participate in sports. “This is a way we can provide them with basketball or baseball equipment and pay for some of the fees that come along with certain sports.”

This year’s Polar Plunge will mark the event’s eighth consecutive year that hundreds of Eugene-area residents will dive into the near-freezing cold River in support of Oregon’s Special Olympics. In honor of making the plunge, participants will each raise at least $50 for the cause.

The plunge will take place at Maurie Jacobs Park located in the Whiteaker district, just north of the Greenway pedestrian bridge. A section of the river will be roped off and patrolled by Lane County divers just in case of an emergency. There have never been any issues in the past; the divers are there as precautionary measures taken by the city to ensure safety.

Eugene is one of five Oregon locations hosting a plunge fundraiser this year — Portland, Corvallis, Bend and Medford all have Polar Plunges scheduled later this month.

“When it was first created, it was kind of an insane idea,” Ressegger said. “It’s really easy to get people to run into the river in the middle of the summer, but it’s not all that exciting. This way it’s really exciting. It’s a bucket list event for some people; it’s an annual tradition for others.”

While half of the proceeds from this weekend’s events will stay in Lane County, 100 percent of the money raised will go directly to Special Olympic programs within the state. The event is expected to raise more than half a million dollars that will benefit disabled athletes across Oregon.

According to Ressegger, this year’s plunge is set to beat last year’s number of participants with over 400 people already signed up. While about three-quarters of the participants usually go into the water, the rest watch from the shore and support those brave enough to endure the expected 38-degree waters.

Once the plunge begins, participants can either swim out into to the roped off area of the river or just dip their feet in the water. Due to safety concerns, plungers are sent into the river in groups or teams. Since it’s a law-enforcement-sponsored event, their teams will be the first to make the plunge.

The Eugene Police Department will form a team with officers and personnel from the University of Oregon Police Department, Springfield Police Department and Lane County Sheriff’s Office. Several local schools, including Thurston Middle School and South Eugene High School have teams participating. Even Eugene’s minor league baseball team, the Emeralds, and the team mascot, Sluggo, will be competing too.

People making the plunge will often sport funny costumes and apparel, while others will only wear a Speedo.

“Superheroes, pirates, Minions, Where’s Waldo … There’s always all kinds of fun costumes,” Ressegger said. “Costumes aren’t required, but they are highly encouraged and can make the event more fun.” 

There will be a prize for best individual costume as well as a prize for best team costume.

After participants have made their Polar Plunge and returned to the park, there are private changing tents for swimmers to switch out of their wet clothes. Once they’ve changed into warm clothing, the triumphant plungers are welcome to stick around to watch others make the dive or just head home. 

For people who are brave enough to make the plunge this weekend, there is sign up information at www.PlungeOregon.com. For those who want to get more involved with the Special Olympics, more information is available at www.soor.org.

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There are certain things the two-piece Canadian rock band Japandroids have always done on their records: release tightly crafted eight-song albums; create anthemic songs perfectly fit for adrenaline-fueled parties; and rely on sheer passion and sweat-drenched performances to power their songs.

There are certain things Japandroids have never done on a record: use an acoustic guitar, synthesizer, or more than the duo’s vocals, drums and guitar (with the exception of rhythm guitar loops and chorus vocals) on any song.

Luckily, the band’s first album since 2012’s Celebration Rock combines the tried-and-true Japandroids formula while also venturing into these new, unconquered territories. Near To The Wild Heart Of Life is the product of a band that fully embraces its past, but has also carefully considered how to move forward by improving its range of sounds.

Wild Heart picks up right where Celebration Rock leaves off. That album begins and ends with timid fireworks crackling, setting the stage for the celebration to begin — few albums have titles that describe the content so perfectly. Near To The Wild Heart Of Life’s titular track begins with a similar fade-in, this time with David Prowse’s explosive accented drum pattern stepping in for the recorded fireworks.

Singer and guitarist Brian King joins in with a fiery guitar riff, then wastes no time in jumping to the core of the album’s message about leaving and returning home, and pursuing dreams and a better future:

“The future’s under fire / The past is gaining ground / A continuous Cold War between my home and my hometown / I was destined to die dreaming when one day my best friend / With passion and pure provocation summoned me and said / ‘You can’t condemn your love to linger here and die / Can’t leave your dreams to chance or to a spirit in the sky.’ ”

This is an album that is set on not only escaping home, but on conquering the world.

(Continued below)

Cover artwork for Japandroids’ third studio album, ‘Near To The Wild Heart Of Life. Brian King, left, plays guitar and vocals. David Prowse, right plays drums and sings as well. (Courtesy of Grandstand Media)

Japandroids toured the world extensively after Celebration Rock then took three years off to assimilate back into civilian life. After messing with Texas and Tennessee, King sings on “North East South West,” “No matter how much I fan the flames / Canada always answers when I call her name.” The song is the first in the group’s history to use an acoustic guitar, but it’s not as jarring as it might seem. Instead, it becomes a new color in the band’s palette that blends with the ever-present electric guitars throughout.

The album’s sonic qualities are as large as its ambitions. Wild Heart has a polished sheen about it, but it’s a natural progression from where the pair started on 2009’s lo-fi Post Nothing. The rest of Wild Heart continues with a similarly large sound, none of which are more pronounced than the seven minute centerpiece, “Arc Of Bar.”

Beginning with a simple five-note dissolving synthesizer riff, “Arc Of Bar” slowly evolves into a wall of sound unlike any Japandroids song before it. With backup singers, commanding synthesizer riffs, rung-out guitar power chords and colossal drums, it’s hard to believe this is the same band that wrote “Wet Hair.”

This is a sound that is no longer aiming to reach the back of bars, but rather, the rafters in arenas.

“No Known Drink Or Drug” and “In A Body Like A Grave” end the album with an affirmation of the band’s new direction. Both songs have more than two instruments, but in the duration of the 36-minute album, the acoustic guitars and keyboards that once seemed like an alien element for Japandroids have already become natural.

Where Celebration Rock and Post-Nothing thrived on impetuous blasts of carefree energy, Wild Heart attacks similar issues with a mellower, more nuanced approach. It channels the heart-on-the-sleeve desperation for parties and youthful energy found in their earlier catalog, but it also finds a band that is comfortably transitioning into the next stage of life.

Near To The Wild Heart Of Life is the type of album listeners can only hope a band returns with after an extended absence. It’s entirely new, but owes everything to the past.

Follow Craig on Twitter: @wgwcraig

Listen to “Near To The Wild Heart Of Life” below:

The post Review: Japandroids’ ‘Near To The Wild Heart Of Life’ is worth the four year wait appeared first on Emerald Media.

Early this morning, the 2017 lineup for the Sasquatch! Music Festival was announced on its official website. Twenty One Pilots, Chance the Rapper and Frank Ocean will be headlining the event. Other notable artists include alternative rock band The Shins, EDM duo Big Gigantic, Pittsburgh-area rapper Mac Miller and indie band Car Seat Headrest. Portlandia star and Saturday Night Live comedian Fred Armisen will also be making an appearance. 

General admission tickets for this year’s festival will go on sale Saturday, Jan. 28, at 10 a.m. The three-day festival will last from May 26-28 over Memorial Day Weekend.

When Sasquatch! announced that it would be cutting an entire day from its lineup, many people took to social media to speculate that the festival was doing this in order to draw bigger-name acts by consolidating their funds. In 2014 Sasquatch! expanded by adding a second weekend in July, but the festival quickly reverted to just one weekend the following year. Attendance has steadily dropped since then. In June, the Oregonian reported that last year’s festival had half as large a draw as in 2015 with 11,000 ticket holders attending the festival.

Below is the complete list of the acts set to perform at Sasquatch! 2017:

Twenty One Pilots, Frank Ocean, Chance The Rapper,

The Head and The Heart, The Shins, MGMT, Phantogram,

Mac Miller, Bonobo, Rufus Du Sol, Kaytranada, Big Gigantic,

Bleachers, Kiiara, Bomba Estereo, Bob Moses, Aesop Rock,

Charles Bradley & His Extraordinaires, Vulfpeck, Car Seat Headrest,

Catfish & The Bottlemen, American Football, Mount Kimbie,

Thee Oh Sees, Foxygen, Jagwar Ma, The Strumbellas, Kungs, The Radio Dept.,

Manatee Commune, Fakear, The Hotelier, Mondo Cozmo, Moses Sumney,

Rainbow Kitten Surprise, Arkells, Cigarettes After Sex, July Talk,

Sales, Boogie, Joey Purp, Kaiydo, Corey Harper, Klangstof, Flint Eastwood,

IHF, Hoops, Kyle Craft, Courtney Marie Andrews, Saint Mesa,

Los Colognes, Porter Ray, Gazebos, and more to come!

Comedy Acts:

Fred Armisen, Sasheer Zamata, Nate Bargatze, Beth Stelling,

Alice Wetterlund, Sam Morril, Emmett Montgomery, Yogi Paliwal

Watch the Sasquatch! announcement trailer for this year’s lineup:

At midnight, a post on the social media sharing and discussion website Reddit appeared to leak the announcement video for the 2017 Sasquatch! Music Festival lineup. The same video appeared this morning on the festival’s website, confirming the full lineup.

Check out The Emerald’s coverage of last year’s festival and let us know what you think of 2017’s Sasquatch! lineup by commenting or sharing this post along with your reaction.

The post Sasquatch! unveils its 2017 lineup: Frank Ocean, Twenty One Pilots, Chance the Rapper to headline appeared first on Emerald Media.

Around the same time Portland police were launching tear gas grenades toward anti-Donald Trump protesters near Pioneer Courthouse Square, comedian Louis C.K. was preparing to make the Moda Center’s Theater of the Clouds audience cry from laughter in the second night of three consecutive sold-out performances.

In a city known for its progressive and politically correct stances, the entire crowd of roughly 6,500 people was unable to stop laughing as C.K. continuously stretched his material to the limits of what is acceptable at a comedy show. Ultimately, that’s what makes him great.

Dressed in his new standard stage attire of a black suit, tie and dress pants, C.K. stood in front of a purple and blue-lit backdrop and admitted that he arrived with a premeditated hatred for Portland’s unique variety of self-created weirdness.

“This city is so… this,” he said, unable to find the proper word. But once he arrived and began walking around town, his perception quickly morphed from anger to appreciation. “The sewer grates have roses on them. What is this place?”

Much of the first half of his set revolved around the highly controversial topics of abortion and suicide. He plowed through this material with gusto, arguing that the best argument for abortion is that in many places, it’s legal to kill a person who invades your home. With that logic, why should a women have to host an invader in her body for nine months?

C.K. has never been afraid to blatantly ask the tough questions no one else will touch. For example, during a short encore where he tried some new material, he asked the crowd to ponder, “How many people have fucked your mom?” He seemed genuinely curious, and suggested asking at the next Thanksgiving feast.

Although it was inauguration day for the 45th President of the United States, C.K. left the political talk almost completely out of Friday night’s set. He was a proud supporter of Hillary Clinton and has written some rather unflattering comments about Trump, but he instead chose to focus on uniting the audience, acknowledging the power of words and racially biased character voices in his act.

“Here’s the thing: Stereotypes hurt,” he said before pausing, deep in thought. “But the voices are funny. I’m not giving them up.”

The difference between C.K. and an average comedian is that he doesn’t have to be provocative to force a laugh; rather, he is so disarmingly funny that it’s impossible not to chuckle. It’s a theme that has always been present in C.K.’s best work: If the joke is funny, he will tell it, no matter who might be offended.

Up and coming New York comedian Emma Willmann opened the night with a brief set, but she quickly proved her worth. She admitted that up until recently, she didn’t know the difference between fracking and sharting.

Comedy veteran Todd Glass followed with a takedown of dirty K-Marts, and house-hunting TV programs. Next, Joe List described the disappointment of asking his girlfriend if he is sexy, and hearing, “You’re punctual” in return.

With Friday’s performance, C.K. and co. proved that no matter how contentious a situation may be, laughter can always be a uniting force for good — just leave the jokes about masturbating to Jesus’ crucifixion to the pros.

Following Thursday’s performance, C.K. and Glass surprised the open mic crowd at the Ground Kontrol bar-arcade with short stand up routines. It cost $3, and apparently, C.K. paid the cover fee too.

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