Sixfinger - Dublin Pub, Portland OR - April 28, 2018

[Portland, OR] D is for Dublin Pub. D is for dumb. D is for dumb Dara. D is for when Dara can’t let something go just because she decided she would do it. Dublin Pub had been waiting in the wings for months … but it’s so far away – way far away out in boring Beaverton. But the special day had arrived – a 7pm show on a nothing-else-going-on Saturday - Music&Ducks was game. We drove and drove and drove, only to arrive to a sign out front breaking my heart with a 9pm start. We really need to crack down on the alternative facts the internet facilitates. Music&Ducks diverted us to his friend’s restaurant in ‘downtown’ Beaverton (more charming than expected, on both counts) and then Breakside Brewery – good diversions. Back at 9p - $5 cover – Sixfinger is a COVER BAND. Dumb dumb Dara. I’m breaking my rule on not covering cover bands as a lesson to myself. It was your typical suburban Irish pub, down to the middle-aged ladies letting it rip on the dance floor. It was actually sort of dead otherwise. They covered: Tom Petty, Badfinger, Chris Stapleton (outlier, obviously), The Beatles (twice), Van Morrison, Bruce Springsteen [[we started guessing who’d they cover next]], Eagles, Rod Stewart, Journey, Def Leppard, Led Zeppelin. Music&Ducks was sort of (almost totally) delighted by the whole thing (“I’ve got a soft spot for bar bands”). Music&Ducks has got a soft spot for good old traditional rock & roll – I’d been suspecting it and oh did this confirm it. Weakened by being in his homeland (“If you’re lucky enough to be Irish, you’re lucky enough” on the wall), he even admitted to me that, as a kid, he read Rolling Stone instead of Spin On Purpose because it was more mainstream (sorry Spin, sorry Chuck). And then he degraded The Eagles – horrifying. I kid, I kid. I will admit they were a very high-quality cover band – the lead singer had a voice – the guitars were spot on – their range (within the classic rock standards) was wide. Music&Ducks, a massive Springsteen fan, was beside himself that they chose to play a sad-Bruce song (“Atlantic City off Nebraska”) – their Pink Floyd cover was disrupting my zen with some sort of nostalgia – we headed back to the big city.