Portland’s Jared Mees and the Grown Children are every bit as exuberant as their moniker suggests. Equal parts pop and spastic rock, this five-piece has a way of leaving its audiences sweaty, winded and gleefully content. Catch them Friday at Amnesia.
When Mees and keyboardist Megan Spear ask the crowd to clap along, the crowd actually claps along. There are no arms folded over chests at these shows. Mees is the pied piper for a new wave of listeners and listening.
Somehow, we are removed from all judgment and we rise above our own self-consciousness. We enter the realm of the musicians and begin to enjoy listening to the music as much as they seem to enjoy playing it. This is a form of entertainment oftentimes forgotten, almost vaudevillian in format — Mees and Co. are true entertainers and the crowd quickly falls under their spell.
Aside from their obvious love of performance and performing, Mees is a veteran of the scene. Having played music for years, he formed Tender Loving 
There is a great advantage to someone who puts as much heart into his own art as he does into the business behind the bands he represents. There is also an altruistic beauty to providing that service and this comes across both in the presentation of TLE and in the live performance of Jared Mees and the Grown Children. Don’t miss this show!
Jared Mees and the Grown Children play Friday, May 20th at Amnesia. Blisses B open, doors are at 7PM and tickets are $7 at the door.