Concert Photo Series: Roseland Theater

Roseland Theater is a very special place to me. It’s probably where I’ve seen the most shows in Portland, and most importantly, it’s where I saw my first. My freshman year of college, I dreamed of going to all the shows that came through the Oregon area. That dream didn’t come true until the second semester during the Soul’d Out Music Festival.

That first show had three main performers; Dave B, BJ the Chicago Kid and Anderson Paak. I had been to a few shows before this, when I was in high school, but most of them were sets in much larger festivals, but I had only seen a lot of rappers performing with DJs, this was something else entirely.

This show was probably the most religious experience I had ever had up to that moment (and I’ve been to church at least twice). Paak was a strongly recommended artist, but not one I had truly connected with yet. Seeing him perform with a full band was so important to me that I went to two more shows of his in the next six months.

This led to many more Roseland runs, including shows by the Flatbush Zombies (a near-death experience) and Vince Staples.