KPSU and Portland State Professional Sound will host Portland indie-pop group Superhighway and electro-dance band Fringe Class at Parkway North on Feb. 28.
The concert will be held on the first floor of the Smith Memorial Student Union, just around the corner from the food court. It will be free and open to
all ages.
Superhighway is a musical duo that makes sunny indie-pop. Eli Hirsch of Superhighway said their sound is a direct contrast to their beautiful but not-so-sunny hometown of Portland.
Hirsch said he is excited that a venue like Parkway North exists, as all-ages music venues in Portland are an unfortunate shell of what they once were.
“Which is inexcusable because there are just as many kids as there ever were who love and would massively benefit from a musical community,” Hirsch said. “So it’s freaking awesome that kids have a place where they can go rock out, dance and socialize instead of sitting in a basement Snapchatting each other.”
It’s unclear, however, if this is permission to take Snapchats at the concert.
Four-piece Fringe Class is an electro-dance pop group.
“[We try] to make really solid dance music using the format of a four-piece band with all live instrumentation,” wrote Patrick Berry and Sam Gerendasy of Fringe Class in a collaborative email. “Our biggest interest as a group has always been performance, and we bring a lot of energy to each show,” Fringe Class’s style of cerebral dance-pop is fun, catchy and austerely beautiful
at times.
“Parkway North and Superhighway have been on our bucket list for some time now, so this show is a double-whammy for us,” Berry and Gerendasy said.
Fringe Class described their younger following as a reason for their excitement to play an all-ages show.
“The younger crowd definitely knows how to get down, which is always fun” Berry and Gerendasy said. “They are lovers of cassette tapes, aspire to party and probably haven’t heard of us.”
Blake Hickman, promotions director at KPSU, said both Superhighway and Fringe Class have plenty of experience playing all-ages shows, and this is one of the main reasons they were booked.
“It only makes sense to have a bill with two bands that really resonate with the under-21 crowd, particularly since the majority of students that live on campus are within that age group as well,” Hickman said.
Earlier shows at Parkway North ran into some obstacles, but Hickman said KPSU and PSPS have learned a lot about running an all-ages venue on campus in that time.
“Looking back on it, the learning curve was pretty steep. I’m grateful to those within the university, particularly Aimee Shattuck, who have helped us navigate what has been a difficult process,” Hickman said. “Ultimately, we’re looking to reach students with these shows, and I feel much more equipped to do that now than when we started.”
