Pink Martini New Year’s Eve Celebration at Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall

Pink Martini’s New Year’s Eve Celebration

Arlene Concert Hall is located right in the heart of Portland and is one of the gems of the city, and we’re SO excited to welcome our Oregon cousins to the stage, Pink Martini, as they take on the globe for their 30th Anniversary tour - hitting stops from Canada to Los Angeles, Paris to Poland, Spokane to Portland, New York City, and of course - right here in Portland for all of our listening and viewing pleasure. A New Years Eve celebration you won’t want to miss, come in your classiest cocktail dresses and get ready for some champagne secrets or Martini mixers - but whatever you choose, come to have a good time!

Pink Martini is the smooth jazz, experimental pop band that you’ve absolutely heard but didn’t realize who they were - but maybe made you stop and do a little jive wherever you were, or pull out shazam to see what track was playing. Founded in 1994 by pianist and group leader Thomas Lauderdale, Pink Martini got their start over here on the West Coast as a way to, originally, pump up the music at political rallies Lauderdale was working around Portland. But Thomas being a pianist, he needed some vocal help - he got in touch with China Forbes, and by 1997 they had released their debut single Sympathique, which went on to be nominated for Song Of The Year in France - not bad for a lead single to your career. 

The band continues to find success. They found major airplay by singing in multiple languages (Forbes is said to speak and sing in fifteen different languages) and being able to change their musical style however they pleased. “ "So inevitably, our repertoire is wildly diverse. At one moment, you feel like you're in the middle of a samba parade in Rio de Janeiro, and in the next moment, you're in a French music hall of the 1930s or in a Palazzo in Napoli. It's a bit like an urban musical travelogue. We're very much an American band, but we spend a lot of time abroad and therefore have the incredible diplomatic opportunity to represent a broader, more inclusive America…composed of people of every country, every language, every religion,” Lauderdale once said on CBS News. And their diversity of sound has served them well - to date, Pink Martini has performed in over 35 countries, had over 1000 concerts, and they continue to put out quality music and performances even thirty years on. 

Have we convinced you yet? Already got three tickets?! Good. Great. Amazing - we’ll see you in the crowd, right to finish the year on New Years Eve! See ya Wednesday folks!