Alela Diane at Earth

Alela Diane

Two Runner

EartH, 4 October 2026

Earlier this year I got to see the amazing Alela Diane do a completely acoustic and intimate instore at Rough Trade Denmark which was incredible but I was also excited to see her again because this time she was playing with a full band accompanying her, for the first time in 12 years. That said, whether she's completely solo or has a band there's always something magical about seeing her live and this show was no exception.

EartH is a lovely venue to see an acoustic show but you have to get there early to get a good spot, in particular to get a proper chair in the front few rows otherwise you are stuck sitting on wide steps at the back. Fortunately I got a central seat a couple of rows back (the stage is high so front row is actually not the best spot) and looking around it was funny to think years ago this place had been a fancy Art Deco cinema before falling into disrepair and re-emerging in recent years as a trendy music venue.

The stage is also pretty huge and we could see the small band set-up in the middle, and it was here that  Paige Anderson aka Two Runner wandered onto the stage, took up an old banjo and began to play, somehow filling the vast space with her music.

She looked like she had stepped out of the past, wearing a mid-length, lace trim black dress, over a white puffed sleeve blouse, she looked like the embodiment of the cottage-core aesthetic, although she later tells us she lives in a cabin in Nevada City, California (which also happens to be the original hometown of Alela Diane before she moved to Portland), so she seems to be real deal.