Members of Boston-based band The Femmes. Photo by Jana Heidenreich
The Femmes is a Boston-based band with all female and nonbinary members. Their debut Maine performance is at Portland House of Music on April 29.
Singer Ellie Brigida says she and the band will make it worth your while to go out on a Monday night with era-spanning hits that lend themselves to singing along and dancing.
Songs like Heart’s “Barracuda,” Pat Benatar’s “Heartbreaker” and Brandi Carlile’s “The Story” will be among the offerings.
The Femmes formed in 2022. Brigida had been performing in a wedding and events band for five years but long wanted to assemble a group of her own, featuring exclusively female and nonbinary musicians playing songs by female and nonbinary artists.
The first Femmes performance was a sold-out show in February of 2023 at Boston’s Club Cafe. Many gigs have followed in the Boston area, as well as New York City. “We’ve become a space where women, nonbinary artists and especially the LGBTQ+ community are celebrated,” said Brigida.
The Portland show was preceded by a visit to Portland last summer.
“I just loved the vibe of everything and I wrote down all the venues I thought looked cool and reached out to them,” Brigida said.
She said Femmes shows are meant to be a celebration of female and nonbinary musicians and several genres of music, including disco, ’80s rock and current pop tunes.
Along with Brigida, The Femmes comprises Bailey Katsumata-Smith, vocals (she/her); Lina Marsh, keys/sax (she/they); Vee Van Remoortel, guitar/sax (she/her); and Jamie Eliot, bass (she/they).
To hear The Femmes’ cover of Tina’s Turner “The Best,” head to Spotify.
The Femmes, 8 p.m. April 29. Portland House of Music, 25 Temple St., $15, 21-plus. portlandhouseofmusic.com
Singer Mary Fahl. Photo by Lisa Hancock
FAHL BACK
In 2022, Pennsylvania-based singer Mary Fahl released an album of some of her favorite songs from the ’60s and ’70s called “Can’t Get It Out Of My Head” and played her first full-band show at One Longfellow Square in 2023 to a sold-out audience.
The album includes Fahl’s arresting contralto takes on Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now” and Neil Young’s “Don’t Let It Bring You Down.”
Fahl and her band will be back in Portland on April 27.
The show will include a number of songs from “Can’t Get it Out Of My Head,” and Fahl has other plans for the setlist.
“It’s been 20 years since I released ‘The Other Side of Time’ and there are a couple of songs that I want to honor because I haven’t paid attention to that record in a long time,” said Fahl.
Fans can expect to hear the “Other Side” tracks “In The Great Unknown” and “Want To” in Portland.
Last year was the 50th anniversary of Pink Floyd’s iconic “Dark Side of the Moon” album. In 2011, Fahl released a radically different version of the album that has an experimental, electronic aesthetic. Her version of “Money” will also be part of the show.
Fahl also always throws in a few songs from her former band, The October Project.
Mary Fahl, 8 p.m. April 27. One Longfellow Square, Portland. Tickets are $35 in advance and $45 at the door. onelongfellowsquare.com
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