What’s on at

Portland Arms, Cambridge.

129 Chesterton Road, Cambridge, CB4 3BA

19 upcoming events

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Coming up.

TomorrowDoors 19:00

Barbican Estate

Portland Arms · Cambridge

Barbican Estate formed in 2019 and consisted by Kazuki Toneri (guitar, sitar) Miri (bass, vocals) and Koh Hamada (drums, percussion). Each member is familiar with music, movies, and various other arts, and their music is influenced by not only experimental, psychedelic rock, and noise music, but also Beat literature such as Allen Ginsburg and romanticism art such as William Blake and Greek mythology. Their musicality is often described as "Dark Psychedelic". Price includes a 50p venue levy

Gigs

From £13.80including booking fee

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Sun 22 NovDoors 17:00

Baskery

Portland Arms · Cambridge

In association with Cambridge Folk Festival The queens of banjopunk, three Swedish sisters by the name of Baskery, who've played music since they were old enough to hold an instrument. Baskery play a combination of classic 'roots music and Americana' with a twist of rule breaking punk turn this much loved style of music on it's head. Their sound oozes style and playfulness and has helped them accrue a number of plaudits and accolades. The first album, "Fall Among Thieves" (2008) was recorded in Stockholm, co-produced by Lasse Mårtén (Pink; Peter, Bjorn and John; Kelly Clarkson; Lykke Li; Primal Scream ). It quickly established them as an act that people took seriously. In the years that followed they've released several albums and EPs working with the likes of Blackpete (Depeche Mode; Joe Jackson; Peter Fox), Matt Wignall (Cold War Kids; J. Roddy Walston; Wargirl) and were also signed by Dan McCarroll (President and A&R) to Warner Music. "Coyote & Sirens" was released in October 2018, produced and engineered by Andrew Dawson (Kanye West; Rolling Stones; f.u.n; The Revivalists). On the live scene Baskery are experienced in putting on a show have played over 400 of their own in 201...

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From £19.30including booking fee

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Thu 3 DecDoors 19:30

Trash Kit

Portland Arms · Cambridge

TRASH KIT are Ray Aggs (guitar, vocals), Rachel Horwood (drums, vocals) and Clémentine March (bass). Three deeply creative individuals united by a shared musicality that surges through their bodies, hearts and heads. Their songs, once succinct, patchwork post-punk numbers of an honest diary-like nature now tussle more with long-form songwriting, expeditious polyphony and cascades of sung-spoke vocals. Songs on their last album Horizon (2019) have had their very fabric stretched into smart new shapes, allowing the band to run away with refrains and unlock the dancefloor. Although Trash Kit have their forebears in bands like Sleater Kinney, The Ex and The Raincoats, their sound is still very much their own take on facing forwards and relies as much on the naturalism of an internalised folk music as on their sincerity of vision. 2026 marks a new reinvigorated era for the band as they are joined by bassist Clémentine March. Breathing fresh life into their back catalogue on stage and jumping head first into sharing new material live, her spirited and responsive playing is once again steering the trio into new, expansive territory. They can’t wait to get back on the road to light up...

Gigs

From £14.30including booking fee

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Tue 8 DecDoors 19:30

Downtown Boys

Portland Arms · Cambridge

Downtown Boys have pushed relentlessly forward as an artistic and political project since their founding. Singer Victoria Marie and guitarist/singer Joey La Neve DeFrancesco first met at union meetings while working together at a hotel in Providence, RI, writing many of the band’s early songs about labor organizing and exploitative workplaces. The quintet is completed by Joe DeGeorge (sax/synth), Mary Jane Regalado (bass), and Joey Doubek (drums). Over years of touring and three acclaimed albums, including Full Communism in 2015 and Cost of Living, their Sub Pop debut in 2017, Downtown Boys have continued to grow as artists, musicians, and organizers. Now, the band has arrived with Public Luxury, an enthralling album that keeps politics front and center while summoning the band’s most urgent and powerful sound to date. The definition of Public Luxury falls very much in line with that of the title of the band’s second LP, Full Communism. Straight up, Public Luxury means, “everything for everyone.” It’s the stubborn insistence that a better world is possible, while fully recognizing the horrors we witness daily, and the individual and collective responsibility to resist t...

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From £17.60including booking fee

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Sat 9 Jan 2027Doors 19:00

The John Otway Band

Portland Arms · Cambridge

John Otway is an English singer-songwriter who has built a sizeable cult audience through extensive touring, a surreal sense of humour and a self-deprecating underdog persona. From the age of 9, Otway knew he wanted to be a pop star. But even at that young age, having listened to his sister's Beatles and Stones records, he knew he would never be able to do what they do. However, when his sister got the latest Bob Dylan album, he knew there was a place for him and he set about learning how to play guitar. Otway had to wait until 1977 and the rise of punk before his dream of fame and fortune would finally become a reality. Having caught the eye of the producers of the BBC's Old Grey Whistle Test, Otway's performance on that show would grab the attention of the watching audience. Otway, ever the showman, decided to jump on to the amplifier of his colleague during a performance of Bob Lind's Cheryl's Going Home. (Un)fortunately for Otway, he misjudged his leap and sent Wild Willy Barrett's amplifier tumbling as he crashed down straddling the box under the amp. The full force of the impact was absorbed by the most tender body parts, but in doing this one simple act of recklessness and h...

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From £22.60including booking fee

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Fri 22 Jan 2027Doors 19:30

Shit And Shine

Portland Arms · Cambridge

$hit & $hine. Hailing from Austin, Texas. Craig Clouse, the hardest working man in the business, has released everything from pounding and shiny techno to acid house, electro, funk, krautrock, hip hop, found sound, spoken word, live percussions… He is uninterested in the self imposed restrictions of genre. He has carved out a unique spot in machine music. 2018’s You Were Very High EP, established something of a watershed moment for the majority of his current sound. After weeks of sitting at a sampler loaded with anything and everything - Black Sabbath, Rihanna, Prince, Steely Dan and a host of audio lifted from YouTube clips, the record’s two sprawling sides come together like a hallucinogenic sonic miracle.

Gigs

From £17.60including booking fee

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Wed 27 Jan 2027Doors 19:00

Martial Arts

Portland Arms · Cambridge

Gigs can be a semi-religious experience, Martial Arts shows are transcendent affairs, with their dual frontmen Jim Marson and Matty Pearce often down on the floor with the crowd. The post-punk fivesome are a lynchpin of Manchester’s new music scene, along with their friends Westside Cowboy and Shaking Hand - a scene drawing national attention as a hotbed of creativity across multiple genres. They are also, in the words of Jim, a band of "direct action", part of a thriving grass-roots political movement in the city. Ticket price includes a 50p venue levy

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From £13.80including booking fee

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Thu 28 Jan 2027Doors 19:00

Modern Woman

Portland Arms · Cambridge

Modern Woman, the London art-rock outfit fronted by primary songwriter Sophie Harris, released their anticipated début album "Johnny's Dreamworld" on May 1st 2026 via their new label One Little Independent Records. "Johnny's Dreamworld" represents the culmination of Modern Woman's journey from Harris' early, intimate song-writing project into a full-bodied band capable of folding post-punk, avant-garde, and folk traditions into a live force of dynamic originality. At its heart, the record explores the strange poetry buried within the ordinary. Harris' lyrics, steeped in literary detail and filmic atmosphere, draw from a fascination with the dark underbelly of the everyday and the contradictions of womanhood. Harris explains, "A vital theme I've always wanted in Modern Woman is the idea of conflicting things, of the tender/harsh, loud/quiet and scrappy/polished. The style of everybody’s playing, drawing from a melting pot of influences, coming together to form something new". Modern Woman's sound emerged from years of creative refinement. The band coalesced when Harris met violinist and composer David Denyer, who brought a background in experimental composition and textural sound...

Gigs

From £16including booking fee

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Fri 12 Feb 2027Doors 19:00

Amelia Coburn

Portland Arms · Cambridge

Amelia Coburn has a knack for making the unusual sound timeless. Her honest, occasionally hilarious and quintessentially north eastern persona disarms and beguiles in equal measure. Drawing inspiration from gothic literature and the shadowy allure of film noir, there is a darkness at the heart of many of her songs, populated by vivid characters and nocturnal creatures that inhabit the liminal space “between the moon and the milkman” Price includes a 50p venue levy.

Gigs

From £17.10including booking fee

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Sun 7 Mar 2027Doors 19:00

Tara Clerkin Trio

Portland Arms · Cambridge

Tara Clerkin Trio are Pat Benjamin, Sunny Joe Paradisos and Tara Clerkin, three musicians involved in a number of cult Bristol bands over the years before confidently settling down in triangle formation. They are inspired by and borrow from jazz, trip hop, electronica, psychedelia & minimalism, twirling the non-pretentious strands of these threads together into a trippy green winged-cloak, adorning Arthur Russell and dripping in blue jam. With two extraordinary mini-albums – In Spring (2021) and On The Turning Ground (2023) – making a splash on London’s formidable World of Echo label in wake of their self-titled 2020 debut, Tara Clerkin Trio’s upcoming Somewhere Good LP is, in many ways, the band’s most realised work. In running their usual gauntlet of idiosyncratic (*an overused adjective for which here there is regrettably no sufficient alternative) approaches, Clerkin & co. colour in and outside of compositional lines over the course of 40+ celebratory minutes - never wallowing, despite inherently somber subject matters of self-defeat, disease, displacement, restlessness, gentrification - allowing their arrangements and improvisations ample space and time to situate, s...

Gigs

On sale Thu 12 Nov, 11:00tickets not on sale yet

Opens in 1d 12:01:53

Thu 22 Apr 2027Doors 19:00

Roxanne de Bastion

Portland Arms · Cambridge

Roxanne de Bastion is a critically acclaimed singer-songwriter, author and artist activist who has built an international career independently with sheer talent and enterprise. Her new album, "Here Lies Human", heralds an exciting new era: 10 energetic, upbeat alt-pop bangers about end of days. Roxanne has worked with producing legends old and new for this album in the form of Tony Visconti (David Bowie, Paul McCartney, T-Rex) and Steph Marziano (MPG producer of the year, Grammy nominated for her work with Hayley Williams). Here Lies Human is the follow-up to her Bernard Butler-produced 2021 album Me and You, We are the Same ("de Bastion broadens her sound ambitiously, to great effect" The Observer) and comes after her acclaimed literary debut, 2024’s "The Piano Player of Budapest", published by Little Brown. Price includes a 50p venue levy

Gigs

From £14.90including booking fee

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Sat 1 May 2027Doors 19:00

The Frank & Walters

Portland Arms · Cambridge

The Frank and Walters are an alternative rock band from Cork city in Ireland. The band was founded in 1990 by Paul Linehan (vocalist/bassist), his brother Niall Linehan (guitarist), who was replaced by Kevin Pedreschi in 2004, and Ashley Keating (drums). They took the band name in honour of two eccentric Cork characters. Cian Corbett joined on keyboard duties in 2005. Price includes a 50p venue levy

Gigs

From £28.10including booking fee

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Wed 12 May 2027Doors 19:00

William The Conqueror

Portland Arms · Cambridge

William The Conqueror, the critically acclaimed, shape-shifting trio from Cornwall, have quietly established themselves as one of the UK’s most vital underground bands. Rooted in groove driven alt-rock and steeped in the storytelling traditions of folk and Americana, their sound is equal parts fuzz and finesse and has seen them tour with everyone from Bright Eyes to Nathaniel Ratliffe and Wilco, making records with Ethan Johns (Kings of Leon, Laura Marling) and Joseph Lorge (Phoebe Bridgers, Perfume Genius) along the way. Now several albums deep, and never content to stand still, William The Conqueror continue to evolve: a band shaped by the road, sharpened in the studio, and sustained by a stubborn belief in the redemptive power of a great song, well played. Price includes a 50p venue levy

Gigs

From £19.80including booking fee

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Thu 13 May 2027Doors 19:00

Red Snapper

Portland Arms · Cambridge

Following the success of their album "Everybody Is Somebody" in 2022, "Live at The Moth Club" is a celebration of the band's legendary live performances around the world that span 30 years. Recorded at London's Moth Club at the end of their 2022 UK Tour, the album features tracks released on Warp Records and Lo Recordings over the years. The album demonstrates the band's ability to constantly rework and update classic and new tracks, keeping them impassioned, experimental and relevant. Notorious for casting convention aside, and remaining one of the UK's most forward thinking and rule breaking live bands, Red Snapper embrace a unique blend of live, euphoric Afro-Jazz, Future Funk, Dub, Dark Hip-Hop and fragile soundscapes. Price includes a 50p venue levy

Gigs

From £24.80including booking fee

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Fri 18 Jun 2027Doors 19:00

Shonen Knife

Portland Arms · Cambridge

Shonen Knife - from Osaka, Japan - formed in 1981 by sisters Naoko and Atsuko. Long before terms like 'riot girrrl' entered the lexicon, the all-female trio were happily snapping guitar strings to the sound of imported Ramones covers. Like fellow cult Japanese girl group The 5,6,7,8s, Shonen Knife have weathered decades of musical change by adhering to what they know best: belting out their own infectious brand of feelgood pop-punk. Over the last 40 years they might not have packed out out stadiums but have been credited as a huge influence on alt rock acts from Sonic Youth to Nirvana. Despite years on the road, their enthusiasm for live performances remains a joy to see as they delve into an extensive back catalogue ranging from solid thrash rock through to hit parade melodies. Price includes a 50p venue levy

Gigs

From £22.60including booking fee

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Fri 9 Jul 2027Doors 19:00

FEEL (ex Felt)

Portland Arms · Cambridge

Felt (the past tense of feel) and also the name of the legendary 80s group that recorded ten albums in that decade. Feel (the present tense of felt) is a new group made up of original Felt members Gary Ainge (who played drums on all ten albums), Marco Thomas on bass and Philip King on rhythm guitar. Along with Martin Davies on keys and Andy Wellings on lead guitar, they will be honouring the beauty of Felt’s music - by playing instrumental Felt songs - and Felt songs instrumentally. As it says so accurately on the Felt album sleeves - the songs were “coloured in by the band” - and that’s what they intend to do. As well as showcasing the melodic ingenuity of Maurice Deebank and Martin Duffy, they will also be performing instrumental interpretations of some of the songs of Lawrence. Price includes a 50p venue levy

Gigs

From £22.60including booking fee

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