Musical highlights for St. Patrick’s Day in Bend

Published 12:00 am Thursday, March 15, 2018

Break out the fiddles and bagpipes — Saturday is St. Patrick’s Day, and there are plenty of options for music fans to choose from all weekend long, from traditional to not-so-traditional. Here are some highlights:

• It wouldn’t be St. Paddy’s in Bend without McMenamins Old St. Francis School’s annual, weekend-long St. Patrick’s Day Across the Land celebration, which takes place Friday through Sunday. In addition to food and drink specials, each day will feature live music from local and touring artists. Local rockers Travis Ehrenstrom Band and Watkins Glen take over Father Luke’s Room on Friday night, while Bend’s long-running Celtic rock institution Five Pint Mary rocks a long set Sunday. But the big blowout is Saturday, with music starting at noon and continuing all day in three locations: the Fireside Courtyard (featuring bagpiper Steve Alley, Fiddlplay and Coyote Willow), O’Kanes (Bend Fire Pipe and Drums, Whistlin’ Rufus and Five Pint Mary) and Father Luke’s Room (B Side Brass Band and Arcata, California’s Object Heavy).

St. Patrick’s Day Across the Land: Friday through Sunday; free; McMenamins Old St. Francis School, 700 NW Bond St., Bend; mcmenamins.com or 541-382-5174.

• If you’re looking for something heavier, head to M&J Tavern on Saturday for “Strange Patrick’s Day,” featuring local doom/sludge metal quartet Strange Rover and hard rockers Goodbye Dyna. The show doubles as a four-year anniversary party for Strange Rover (and you may catch some sneak previews of the band’s upcoming EP, to boot).

Strange Rover, with Goodbye Dyna: 9 p.m. Saturday; free; M&J Tavern, 102 NW Greenwood Ave., Bend; 541-389-1410.

• Local blues-rock guitarist/songwriter Eric Leadbetter, formerly of Jive Coulis, will bring his eponymous Leadbetter Band to Silver Moon Brewing on Friday, where the band plans to record video and audio of its set for an upcoming live album and film. For the big day itself, Leadbetter will head up festivities at Bend Brewing Co. with a solo performance alongside local acoustic cover band (and Moon Mountain Ramblers offshoot) Popcorn.

The Leadbetter Band: 9:30 p.m. Friday; $5; Silver Moon Brewing, 24 NW Greenwood Ave., Bend; silvermoonbrewing.com or 541-388-8331.

Eric Leadbetter, Popcorn: 5:30 p.m. Saturday; Bend Brewing Co., 1019 NW Brooks St., Bend; bendbrewingco.com or 541-383-1599.

Marketplace