On Saturday night, Shakey Graves rolled his Movie of the Week tour into Portland, Oregon. With support from Flipturn opening the show with a killer and enthusiastic set, the crowd was primed and ready for a night of some amazing country/rock and roll music. 

As the lights went down, and the audience, appropriately dressed in their finest cowboy boots and hats started cheering and stomping, the strums from Alejandro’s guitar began. The crowd sang along to opening favorites such as, “Roll the Bones,” and “If Not For You.” Rose-Garcia played solo for the first few songs and then was joined by his backing band including an additional guitar, bass, drums, and keys. The energy turned on full blast, and the crowd was loving it! 

Promoting his newest release back in September of this year, “Movie of the Week,” fans were greeted with the opportunity to get to hear some of these new tunes live as well. While the Complete Collection of the album, including the extremely unique chance to create an AI listening version of the Complete Collection to the movie genre of your choosing, boasts a whopping 124 songs, the band stuck to playing most on the original 13 song lineup. While i’m sure that some of those deep cut demo’s will get to be heard live in the near future, the release of the Complete Collection (featuring previously unreleased demos, and songs off old records) is still a great opportunity to enjoy the new album while mixing in some loved old tunes as well. 

As the show continued on, it became reminiscent of how the Complete Collection of Movie of the Week is laid out, there was a healthy mix of new hits and well-loved chantable songs that are classic Shakey Graves. Along with the ticket to hear amazing music, fans get to check out quite the guitar collection that Rose-Garcia changes throughout the night, an added bonus for any musician wanting to see some great gear put to even greater use. Everything from beautiful Gibson electrics to old nylon 6 strings, the repertoire of guitars played through the set is extremely impressive. 

A stand out feature of any Shakey Graves performance is clearly the tone, instrumentation, and emotion that Rose-Garcia puts into his live show. Between the witty humor and banter with the crowd to the most incredible and catchy guitar solo you’ve heard in some time, he can really do it all. This tour, and Shakey Graves is really someone not to miss. For some good laughs, classic Americana, and drooling over some beautiful and remarkably played instruments, this is not a performance to miss. 

Review & Photos by: Taylor Sher

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