The Beths played Royale – 12/1
New Zealand quartet The Beths rolled into town for the first of two shows at the Royale with NZ neighbors Phoebe Rings.
__________
The Beths are the kind of band you can’t help but root for. The New Zealand foursome have spent the past decade crafting indie-pop that’s both thoughtful and irresistibly catchy, a meeting of jangly melodicism in the Flying Nun spirit and resonant introspection that strikes a unique chord. And meanwhile, they’ve been steadily ascending the rock club tiers with the same sort of unassuming charm on stage that radiates through their records. I’ve been a fan since 2018’s Future Me Hates Me, and it’s been gratifying to see the band build a well-deserved fanbase over the years – culminating in a pair of sold-out shows at Royale this month as part of a sprawling North American tour behind new LP Straight Line Was a Lie.
Speaking of introspection, Straight Line is perhaps the most personal album yet for singer/songwriter Elizabeth Stokes, and the band rolled out nearly the whole thing during Monday night’s 90-minute set. The result was a slightly more downbeat Beths in places – particularly with moments like Stokes tackling the emotionally heavy “Mother, Pray For Me” on her own – but the group also found plenty of space for exhilaration. The new record’s title track and counterintuitively bubbly “No Joy” kicked off the set, which also dipped into some cherry-picked oldies like the earworm “Future Me Hates Me” (they’ve got a thing for those title tracks) and “Little Death” – an objectively perfect rock song.
With Stokes at the helm, lead guitarist Jonathan Pearce and the rhythm section of bassist Benjamin Sinclair and drummer Tristan Deck combined to run a tight ship, even synchronizing the deployment of their air-launched recorders (…see below) perfectly. And to add one final touch of charm, the band got seasonal towards the evening’s end with their cover of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” – highlighted by a Pearce solo that went significantly harder than one typically goes on a holiday standard.
Opening the show, as part of their first-ever trip to the states, Aukland’s Phoebe Rings put on a fun, danceable set with an intriguing mix of dream pop, vintage yacht rock and Stereolab-esque Space Age-isms. Check out photos from both sets below.
