18 Sep 2015

Portugal. The Man’s Surprise Concert For Students

One of my favorite bands when I was a teenager gave back to a small community this week in a HUGE way and it’s just another reminder of how much I really loved being a part of the Pacific Northewest music scene. When I was younger, Portugal. The Man was the biggest band I had ever booked at the time. I was 16 then? 17? And they’re still doing great things together.

Portugal. The Man along with Stubhub and the faculty from one middle school joined together to surprise their students with not a private concert of 3 songs from the band, but also $35,000 worth of instruments for their students to use. Among these instruments that were revealed from underneath sheets were trumpets, saxophones, french horns, violins, cellos, and a few more.

“We started off playing in band as kids so it’s very important for us to be able to come back and do something,” said bassist Zachary Carothers.

I was also in my middle school’s band for four years and started when I was just 10 years old so this means a whole lot to me. This gesture from the band and everyone involved is really extraordinary. You can read more about the surprise and the details of how this happened here.