Portugal. The Man – The Stone Pony – Asbury Park, NJ – February 23, 2024
Portugal. The Man – an alternative rock band originally from Alaska, now based in Portland, Oregon – brought their most recent tour to Asbury Park to the iconic music venue The Stone Pony. Celebrating their 50th anniversary this year, the legendary club is where artists like Bruce Springsteen and Bon Jovi got their start. It Is a legendary club filled with lots of history. A sold-out show at the indoor stage with an age-diverse crowd unlike I’ve seen before at any show.
The night started with the incredible Philly based opening act, SNACKTIME. The group formed just recently during the COVID-19 Pandemic, performing small street shows in places around Philly like Rittenhouse Square. The band is made of seven members, with jazz, soul, funk, pop, hip-hop, and R&B influences which are heard in all their music.
The band had almost every instrument you could think of up on that stage. Saxophones, trumpets, trombones, drums, guitar, and even a sousaphone! They paid tribute to Bon Jovi by singing “Livin’ On A Prayer,” definitely a crowd favorite. Their energy was infectious, and the crowd loved them, some even there just to see them! They left the stage, introducing Portugal. The Man.
Before Portugal. The Man came out, the band had Lakota Harden come out onto the stage to discuss her story about growing up as an Indigenous young girl and how rock n roll saved her life. She is an activist for Indigenous rights and welcomed an Indigenous father and daughter to share a song welcoming the crowd to the show. It was an amazing and unique way to kick off an already great show.
The band came out strong with a long instrumental set with the crowd going insane with excitement. With such a large discography and their first album dating back to 2008, they had so many songs and such little time to perform all of them. Their setlist was incredible, with a great mix of songs off their newest album, Chris Black Changed My Life and their older albums like Evil Friends and The Satanic Satanist. Their stage presence was unique as they seemed to really care about just the live music and not the glitz and glam of performing. They were in their element and focused solely on putting on a good live show.
The band had their opening act, SNACKTIME, back on stage to help them out with some songs with horns. “So Young,” the first song they performed off their album Woodstock, was a crowd favorite. The crowd was packed wall to wall but that didn’t stop anyone from having a fun time. The fans were jumping and dancing around with loved ones and strangers brought together by their music. The band started wrapping up their set with their biggest hit “Feel It Still” off their album Woodstock, which won the award for Best Pop Duo/Group performance at the 60th annual Grammy Awards in 2019. The song peaked at number four on the Billboard Top 100 chart eight months after its release and went 7x platinum in the US.
This was the loudest the crowd was the whole night, people dancing and screaming throughout the entire song. The show was incredible and at such an amazing venue with a great history in the music industry. A show with Portugal. The Man is one you will not want to miss.
Maria Gilles
Copyright ©2024 PopEntertainment.com. All rights reserved. Posted: February 24, 2024.
Photo ©2024 Maclay Heriot. Courtesy of Atlantic Records. All rights reserved.