By Melissa Herwitt //
Portugal. The Man with Ya Tseen //
The Wiltern – Los Angeles
November 16th, 2025 //
Launching a 20-date North American tour to coincide with the release of their 10th studio album Shish this fall, Grammy-winning indie rockers Portugal. The Man made sure their message of embracing your local community and the artists who shape it was heard loud and clear when they came through LA to headline The Wiltern for the first time in 12 years.
Divided into acts, the group’s performance featured most of Shish during Act I prior to beginning Act II with fan favorites from 2011’s In the Mountain in the Cloud, 2013’s Evil Friends and 2017’s Woodstock. The show’s final stretch saw PTM return after a brief break to play the closing tracks off Shish for Act III and end the evening on a high with the LP’s gritty finale “Father Gun” that had Swiss Army knife Hanni El Khatib on guitar and vocalist David Marion joining them.
The “Denali” tour, which PTM have used to perform Shish in full, is frontman John Gourley’s love letter to his home state of Alaska. Inside the historic Art Deco theater, Gourley’s vocals harmonized beautifully with his wife Zoe Manville’s while visuals inspired by Alaska’s wilderness and rebellious spirit as well as Gourley’s own illustrations flashed on the large screen behind the band. The production also spotlighted other Indigenous musicians as part of the “Pass The Mic” initiative from opener Ya Tseen to hip-hop act Xiuhtezcatl, who dropped bars at the end of “Live in the Moment / Once Was One” to close Act II.
Asa Taccone of Electric Guest
Other highlights included a surprise guest (no pun intended) appearance by Asa Taccone of Electric Guest, first for PTM’s hit single “Feel It Still” that he co-produced with Gourley and then to deliver his own in the form of Electric Guest’s “This Head I Hold”. A new tune titled “Dive into the Ocean” got its moment too, providing singer-songwriter Zeeba with a chance past the midway point to show off his Brazilian-American pipes alongside Gourley and Manville.
There were subtle video tributes honoring those who are no longer with us, including the late PTM hype man Chris Black during “So Young” (despite no material from 2023’s Chris Black Changed My Life being explored) and actor/comedian Norm Macdonald, whose face served as the artwork for timekeeper Kane Ritchotte’s bass drum. But a poignant rendition of “Tanana”, which offers a sobering take on the “murder in the news” from 2014 that left two Alaska State Troopers killed, we heard in Act III underscored the real reason for the song’s chart-rising success.
Although the “Denali” tour marked PTM’s first without the original Lords of Portland crew we had come to love as longtime fans, a mostly female cast of sidekicks and Marion’s often humorous, yet animated presence brought a dose of fresh energy to the stage. It’s clear their collective activism has led them to create and sustain important causes like the Frances Changed My Life fund for not only their daughter who has been diagnosed with an extremely rare genetic disease, but also others across the community, proving that even as the husband-and-wife project with only two permanent members now continues to grow and evolve, its heart and core intentions remain firmly intact more than two decades after forming.
Setlist:
Act 1
Denali
Pittman Ralliers (with David Marion)
Angoon
Knik
Shish
Mush
Tyonek
Kokhanockers
Act 2
Got It All (This Can’t Be Living Now)
Senseless
Number One
Noise Pollution
So Young
Purple Yellow Red and Blue
Glide (NEIKED cover)
Dive into the Ocean (with Zeeba) (new song)
Creep in a T-Shirt
Modern Jesus
Feel It Still (with Asa Taccone)
This Head I Hold (Electric Guest cover) (with Asa Taccone)
Live in the Moment / Once Was One (with Xiuhtezcatl Tonatiuh)
Act 3
Created
Tanana
Father Gun (with David Marion & Hanni El Khatib)
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