6-Pack of Things To Do in Tacoma: July 7-13, 2025

Welcome to the week, Tacoma—the midsummer fever dream where porchfront banjos collide with cyberpunk shrieks, tacos come with subwoofers, and joy parades itself unapologetically through every possible frequency of the human spirit. The city is humming—literally—with cello reveries on Broadway, Balkan jazz on back decks, harpsichord spells in churches, and bass drops that could exfoliate your soul. This is your Peaks & Pints 6-Pack of Things To Do in Tacoma for July 7–13, 2025: a curated, genre-fluid swirl of sonic rituals, rainbow revolutions, and community exaltations. From the gloriously life-affirming TYSA & Fiends Music Walk to a full-body J-pop exorcism at the Dome, this week wants your feet, your ears, and possibly your tears. Hydrate. Loiter. Don’t fight the funk.

Electric Taco Tuesday | Tuesday, July 8

Behold, Tacoma night creatures and taco disciples, your Tuesday salvation hath arrived—louder, sweatier, bassier, and wrapped in a tortilla. Electric Taco Tuesday, that gloriously unholy communion of meat, music, and mild madness, storms the Airport Tavern Music Hall July 8 like a lime-drenched techno hurricane. Curated by the rave alchemists at Ocean Groove Entertainment, this weekly temple of thump offers a rotating cast of Northwest DJ sorcerers—this week: Mofiya, Sunshine Bloomed (pictured), Ursamajor, and the enigmatically punctuated Dammit.Gabby—all conjuring house, dubstep, trance, and DnB spells loud enough to shake your soul loose from your sandals. Entry is free before 10 p.m., a mere mortal $5 online or $10 at the door thereafter, but truly, what’s a cover charge to witness the divine marriage of tequila and bass drops? Get taco’d. Get electric. Rinse. Repeat. (Airport Tavern, 10 p.m., tickets here, 21+)

Peaks & Pints Cooler Beer Prefunk: Pair this gloriously sweaty taco-rave fever dream with a West Coast Mexican-style lager dialed to eleven—ideally something like Wet Coast Brewing Costa Mejor Mexican Golden Lager.

Salish Sea Early Music Festival | Wednesday, July 9

Oh, you lucky Tacoma, you little portside jewel of madrigal dreams and hardwood pews—because this Wednesday, July 9, the Salish Sea Early Music Festival once again slips into your midst like a velvet-draped harpsichord sonata at golden hour. Enter Irene Roldàn, Baroque sorceress, whisperer of Iberian ghosts, here to summon the molten, flamenco-flecked ecstasies of 18th-century Madrid from the depths of her keys. Expect fiery rhythms, delicate ornamentation, and lavish tonal colors as she interprets works by Scarlatti, José de Nebra, Portuguese phenom Carlos Seixas, and others. This is no ordinary evening. This is a sonic séance at Mason United Methodist, where harpsichord arias swirl like candle smoke and time, gloriously, loses its grip. Bring your ears. Leave your century. (Mason United Methodist, 7 p.m., suggested donations, all ages)

Peaks & Pints Cooler Beer Prefunk: Pair this candlelit Iberian harpsichord séance with a refined, contemplative saison—ideally something like Holy Mountain’s Witchfinder.

TYSA & Fiends Music Walk |Wednesday, July 9

Oh Tacoma, you gorgeous civic symphony of grit and grandeur—have you heard? This Wednesday, July 9, the Tacoma Youth Symphony & Friends Music Walk takes to the twilight streets like a baroque dream with popsicles. Picture it: a breezy downtown loop of antique shops and brick façades vibrates with live mini-concerts from ballet flutists, chamber savants, jazz sprites, and perhaps a stray cello or two humming against the grain of Broadway. The kids craft paper-plate tambourines. The samba drums erupt like joyful tectonics. Music spills from alleys and stoops, while ice cream melts with abandon onto tiny, sticky fingers. It’s all free. It’s all glorious. It’s all absurdly life-affirming in that “why aren’t we doing this every Wednesday?” sort of way. Bring a light sweater, your open heart, and a curious stride—because sometimes, the walk is the concert. (Theater On The Square Plaza, 6 p.m., no cover, all ages)

Peaks & Pints Cooler Cider Prefunk: Pair something fruity and light, such as Incline Cider‘s Basecamp Proctor Dry Cider, for refreshing crispness with just a hint of sweetness.

Ado | Thursday, July 10

Let us now whisper fevered praise for the faceless siren of J-pop ferocity, the digitized banshee queen known only as Ado—she of volcanic vocal cords and anime-glitch bravado—who descends upon the Tacoma Dome this Thursday, July 10, as part of her incandescent Hibana World Tour 2025, and you, trembling pilgrim, would do well to prepare accordingly. For this is no mere concert, no cheery idol handshake meet-cute, but a full-bodied, retina-scorching opera of cyberpunk melodrama and unfiltered catharsis, a dazzling neon exorcism where voices split the air like lightning and phones are banned as if to say: Be here, really be here, or be gone. Come for the thunderous choreography of emotion. Stay for the shiver of anonymity wrapped in shrieking fire. Tacoma has never seen such a thing, and may never again. (Tacoma Dome, 8 p.m., tickets here, all ages)

Peaks & Pints Cooler Beer Prefunk: Pair this glitch-pop inferno and vocal incantation with a technicolor hazy IPA—something like Great Notion’s Ripe.

Tacoma Pride Festival | Saturday, July 12

Gather your rainbow flags and your dancing shoes—Tacoma Pride Festival storms into Wright Park on Saturday, July 12, from noon to 6 p.m., and it’s shaping up to be an absolute human kaleidoscope of queer joy and creative communion. Expect serenades from powerhouse vocalists like Marsha Morford Project and ecstatic beats from DJ collective Spectrum Soundwalk, each set flowing into the next like a perfectly curated mixtape of love and resistance. Picture a sun-dappled crowd drifting between the beer garden, artisan Makers Market, and spirited community booths—think popup enlightenment disguised as the coolest block party imaginable. And yes, you can still swing by Porchfest in between, because this ain’t just a festival—it’s a worldview: inclusive, spontaneous, and gloriously unpolished. So hydrate, strap in, and prepare to cry-laugh, fist-pump, and maybe even hug a stranger—all in the name of Pride. (Wright Park, noon to 6 p.m., no cover, all ages, photo by Sharon McCutcheon)

Peaks & Pints Cooler Beer Prefunk: Pair this radiant, daylong kaleidoscope of queer joy with a Pride beer — something like Stoup Brewing‘s Paraderade IPA.

Tacoma Porchfest 2025 | Saturday, July 12 & Sunday, July 13

Prepare thy sandals, charge thy phone, and anoint thyself with SPF 50, for Tacoma Porchfest 2025 returns July 12–13 like a gleeful, genre-fluid neighborhood daydream made manifest. This year’s walkable musical kaleidoscope sprawls across porches both south (Saturday) and north (Sunday) of 6th Avenue, with over 60 bands turning stoops into stages and front yards into makeshift dancefloors. Expect the soulful swells of Electric NoNo, the indie reverie of King Youngblood, and the banjo-drenched rebellion of The Cottonwood Cutups to echo down tree-lined streets like some lo-fi Narnia. Pro tip: grab a paper map or download the official route to avoid wandering into the wrong porch and accidentally joining someone’s barbecue (though honestly, would that be so bad?). Hydrate. Don’t rush. Follow the music, the laughter, and maybe a dog in a bandana. And on Saturday at 3 p.m., do not miss the gloriously weird neighborhood parade—a local fever dream of horns, puppets, and civic joy. Porchfest is not a concert; it’s a celebration of place, of people, of the sacred funk of community in bloom. (Saturday: Central Tacoma–south of 6th Ave; Sunday North End of Tacoma–north of 6th Ave., noon to 7 p.m. Saturday, noon 6 p.m. Sunday, no cover, all ages)

Peaks & Pints Cooler Beer Prefunk: Pair this joyful, block-spanning, stoop-swaying sonic pilgrimage with a crisp, lightly hopped Kölsch—think Chuckanut Brewery Kölsch.

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