Chromatics brought their Double Exposure Tour with Desire and In Mirrors to Variety Playhouse on Wednesday night, the band’s first full tour in over 5 years. The Double Exposure Tour is not only a long anticipated tour, but it was also the band’s first time in Atlanta since 2006 when they played The Drunken Unicorn. Only adding to the excitement, it was also lead vocalist Ruth Radelet’s first time in Atlanta, having never played with the Chromatics here.
Radelet first joined the band in 2004 after they relocated to Portland from Seattle. The first album to feature Radelet was their 2007 release Night Drive, when the band first really dove into their Italo-disco influenced sound that has built a huge cult following since.
Chromatics’ Variety Playhouse set included a host of the band’s favorites from Night Drive, Kill For Love, Cherry & Dear Tommy. Starting out with Johnny Jewel onstage performing “Tick of the Clock”, the rest of the band joined to go immediately into “Lady” off of Kill For Love, showing the crowd the kind of dreamy existential night it was going to be. Radelet’s vocals were on point, straight from the heavens above, while the rest of the band got the crowd moving in a slow groove like no other.
By the middle of the Chromatics’ set, the band played their latest single “Time Rider”, a hypnotic song officially released in February that engulfing live, like so many of the band’s songs. Next up, founding member and guitarist, Adam Miller, took over vocals with the vocoder on “These Streets Will Never Look The Same”, which feels like your in a crazy psychedelic dream that both haunting and exhilarating. Closing out their set, the Chromatics’ played their Neil Young cover off of Kill For Love, “Into The Black” where Ruth decrees “Hey hey, my my, rock and roll can never die” over the piercing guitar live that will cut to the core.
The band made their way off the stage for a little break before Radelet returned to the stage along to take on Bruce Springsteen “I’m On Fire”, while visuals of burning candles blazed on the screen behind her. If the audience wasn’t already completely wrecked with a myriad of emotions already, then this was the moment that put it over the top as you could feel Ruth’s soul blazing from the stage. It was gorgeous, stunning, emotional, and pure bliss.
But that wasn’t all, the band joined Ruth onstage for “Shadow”, a surreal moment that felt as if we were all lost in time, for the last time. Finally, Chromatics closed the show with “Running Up That Hill”, off of 2007’s Night Drive, which closed out a stunning night. Of course, adding to the dream landscape the band presented onstage sound-wise; visually, the night featured films directed by Johnny Jewel that only added to the Twin Peaks aesthetic, making this Chromatics’ Double Exposure Tour a must catch for a spiritual hot summer night.
Opening the show were the Chromatics’ Italians Do It Better labelmates Desire and In Mirrors, both of whom Johnny Jewel works with. Jewel produced the In Mirrors album, Escape From Berlin (2017) and plays in Desire with Megan Louise and Nat Walker. Desire gained worldwide exposure with “Under Your Spell” which was featured on the 2011 Drive Soundtrack. Johnny Jewel even played with Desire during the Variety Playhouse set, before the Chromatics headlining slot!
Check out photos from the show by Mike Gerry below:
