Tour Dates

03/19 – Portland, OR – Mississippi Studios
04/20 Hamburg (DE), Aalhaus
04/21 Berlin (DE), Kantine am Berghain
04/22 Leipzig (DE), Baustelle
04/23 Schorndorf (DE), Manufaktur
04/25 Munich (DE), Café Muffathalle
04/27 Duedingen (CH), Bad Bonn
04/28 Heidelberg (DE), Karlstorbahnhof
04/29 Namur (BE), Belvedere
04/30 Brighton (UK), Green Door Store
05/02 Glasgow (UK), The Hug & Pint
05/04 London (UK), The Victoria
05/05 Paris (FR), Espace B
05/06 Duisburg (DE), Grammatikoff
05/07 Groningen (NL), Vera

Portland, Oregon’s Radiation City recently played the 7th Street Entry in Minneapolis on March 11th, in support of their third album Synesthetica (Polyvinyl Records).

Seattle-based Deep Sea Diver opened up the show. The indiepop band were touring in support of their sophomore album Secrets (High Beam). Although the album was only released last month (Feb 19th), there were fans who knew and were singing along to the newer songs. In fact, you get the feeling that the band had a close relationship with their fans, knowing/remembering their names, etc. For example, “NWO” was dedicated to “Dave” in the audience.

Deep Sea Diver started their set about 20 minutes late, but not of their own accord. Singer/bandleader Jessica Dobson confessed that they were actually buying time for the headliner as they were running late to the venue.

The Minneapolis show was the first of several show cancellations because Dobson got sick with a bad case of bronchitis. She was still a little under the weather, but you couldn’t tell by her bright smile at seeing “adoring young people” at last Friday’s show.

When asked where they got their name from, Dobson said it was actually one of the first songs she wrote. She decided to keep Deep Sea Diver as a band name… and changed the song to its new title, “New Caves.”

They ended their set with “You Go Running” from their debut album History Speaks. The song was clearly a fan-favorite, as it got the biggest cheer of the night.

Here’s a little not-so-secret about Radiation City: the band almost, nearly broke up. The band started as simply Cameron Spies and Elisabeth “Lizzy” Ellison in 2010. They were the core of the group, and, naturally was engaged to get married. However, they both agreed to call off the wedding (originally meant for 2014), it nearly dissolved the band!

Instead of disappearing, the band came back with a renewal of their original sound with Synesthetica … their first record with Polyvinyl Records. The new record seemed to emphasized on pop songs of the 60’s.

Originally Radiation City was supposed to take the stage at 9:30pm, it was moved to 10pm… but by 10:20pm, I was told by the venue’s staff that the band just arrived. By 10:30pm, the band was still in a middle of a rather long soundcheck.

The band mentioned that they were just recently at Daytrotter in Iowa … however the show was cancelled because Deep Sea Diver and Future Jobs were both sick.

The Deep Sea Diver and Radiation City tour ends tonight at the Biltmore in Vancouver, Canada.
Radiation City’s Synesthetica is out now on Polyvinyl.