Portugal. The Man and Partner at the Danforth Music Hall

Photos by Katrina Lat

Portland’s Portugal. The Man established right off the bat that they would let the projections on the screen that formed a backdrop do the talking for them at their second appearance at Toronto this summer.

Toronto’s Partner kicked off the evening with a short set that had a definite 90’s feel to it. They paid tribute to Canadian actress Ellen Page with a song that shared her namesake. The band made up for the lack of between banter during the headliners set and led the sizable crowd in a sing-along for one song.

Portugal. The Man took to the stage to ‘Unchained Melody’ and jammed for the first few minutes, riffing on Metallica’s ‘Enter Sandman’ at one point and Pink Floyd’s ‘Another Brick in the Wall’ in the other. When they finally got down to business, they played ‘Easy Tiger’ from their latest release Woodstock.

The projections provided trippy images that were perfectly suited to their psych-rock. They went back to their 2013 effort Evil Friends for ‘Modern Jesus’. Though their set did lean a bit heavily on the psych they’re known for, a couple songs had a definite 80’s/90’s vibe to them.

Though they may not have spoken, the messages showed that the band has a definite sense of humor. Admittedly, the psych-rock did seem to blend together after a while and the band could have cut down on the jamming given their 90 minute set time but they still played a competent set that the audience seemed to love.

They teased the audience slightly by playing a slightly altered opening to their current single ‘Feel It Still’ and led the crowd in a sing-along of Oasis’ ‘Don’t Look Back in Anger’ before the two song encore.