Punk Rock on the Waterfront: Project Pabst 2025
Project Pabst – A 21+ music festival started by Blue Ribbon Pabst as a love letter to the city of Portland – made its return to the waterfront for the second year in a row post-hiatus, proving its adoration of Rose City by bringing acts such as Death Cab for Cutie, DEVO, and Iggy Pop to perform. Words and photos by Em Brockway
This year’s two-day lineup featured a heavily punk-rock Saturday, drawing in both young moshers with bands such as FIDLAR and Gouge Away, as well as an older crowd ready to rock out to legends like DEVO and Iggy Pop. The day was filled with moshpits, crowdsurfing, crushed beer cans (Pabst, obviously), and of course, the ever so iconic DEVO hats (or “energy domes, as I was politely informed by a lovely couple). Portland band Nasalrod started the day strong, running around that stage like they owned the place, getting everyone perfectly riled up for Gouge Away’s following set on the Unicorn Stage.
Punk as ever, artists didn’t shy away from voicing their political beliefs onstage, taking advantage of their platforms to call for a free Palestine. FIDLAR, a last minute replacement for The Damned, filled in their shoes ever so well, their set complete with antics from start to finish; whether they were calling for the Grillos pickle to keep crowdsurfing, calling for an all girls pit (“If you see a dude in there, fuck him up!”), or crawling under the drum risers for an entire song, there was always something going on.
Mannequin Pussy as well as Australian punks The Chats kept that energy going, and it was honestly impressive how concertgoers managed to keep these moshpits going 24/7 despite the heat. DEVO was a big hitter of course, fans having waited on barricade of the Unicorn Stage since noon to ensure their front row spots to the new wave band’s highly anticipated set. I hadn’t realized they had somewhat of a cult following, but after experiencing their set, I understood why. Last but not least, our headliner of the night was the godfather of punk himself – Iggy Pop. He delivered a once in a lifetime set, ending on the perfect note: a live debut of “Punkrocker,” a collaboration with Teddybears recently featured in the latest “Superman” movie and deemed a song embodying hope.
Sunday featured a softer lineup, perfectly encapsulating the essence of Portland: a little funky, a touch of indie, and a lot of mismatched artists that somehow fit perfectly into a bill together. Day two was for the kids wearing Doc Martens and running their Tumblr blogs, it was for the kids who grew up in the 90s burning their own playlists on CDs, it was for the Elliott Smith enjoyers and the kids who just get it (though I suppose none of these kids are kids anymore).
Dustbunny lit the spark for the day on the Unicorn Stage, their genre a wonderful dreamy shoegaze to warm us up before Sam Austins contagious energy over on the Captain Stage where he stalked back and forth on that stage, taking control of both the music and the crowd. Don’t worry though, there was still a time and place to be angsty on Sunday as Cap N Jazz let us absorb some classic 90s emo tunes. There wasn’t much time to recover from their set though, as Idaho band Built to Spill played directly after them, threatening to make tears spill and forcing a lot of people to do some self introspection, as one does when they experience Built to Spill live. Luckily for those folks, Japanese Breakfast closed out the Unicorn Stage, and it’s hard to be sad when you’re watching the beautiful Michelle Zauner flounce around onstage in a gorgeous dress that imitates pale seaweed with a suspiciously human-size seashell in the background.
And of course, Bellingham-born legends Death Cab for Cutie headlined the night, creating a scene that was truly magical as they played practically on the river while the sun set. There’s something about Ben Gibbard’s writing that draws a crowd, and this was proven by the hundreds of people gathered outside the festival gates, hoping to catch a glimpse of the beloved band as they played a lot of songs that made me want to cry (in a good way, I promise). Really all I can further say about Death Cab’s set is that it was truly something special to experience, and I don’t think Pabst could have picked anyone better to close out Project Pabst.
Ultimately, Project Pabst is beautiful, Portland is beautiful, music is beautiful, and I hope to see this festival return to Rose City again and again.
