The Beths @ Summit Were Fabulous 14Mar23

Yoho & I caught The Beths and opening act Sidney Gish at the Summit Music Hall tonight. Know that the Beths are really The Beeeths, as they are an Auckland quartet and an "e" is always long sounding there. The show was completely fabulous. We dined prior at ChoLon right on Blake near the club. After Chinese we arrived ~10min prior to doors open as usual but were shocked to discover we were 150th in line! I didn't expect these artists to have become that popular but the line, and the ultimately packed house, were aware fans of both acts.

Sidney Gish was a very pleasant surprise. Her one woman show was killer. She played back guitar loops created live just moments prior in each of the seven songs she sang. Total indie rocker delivery with a mostly strong voice and always sharp playing. Her writing was keen like Americana stuff flown through Austin and landed in NYC. Hailing from Boston, graduating from Northeastern, and now in New York, she's been touring with The Beths recently but has her own set of rabid fans who knew every word. With good reason... she was very good and a joy to hear. She's dropped LPs, Ed Buys Houses and No Dogs Allowed and a recent "Dubl Single" Filming School (she played both songs from this at the show). Check her out on the Bandcamp links above or your own streamer; she's worth the time.

That was all fine, and a nice surprise, but we came for The Beths, and they delivered solid punches all the way. This Auckland, NZ quartet is an understated but over-delivering tight team. Many refer to the four part harmonies on choruses; some recognize the keen breaking voice and writing of their lady lead; I say just try to keep up with their guitar speed, including, or especially, Stokes, and rapid cool AF lyrics. Whatever, all this was on full display @ Summit. Bandleader Elizabeth Stokes named the band after herself and posted her 1st song on SoundCloud, Idea/Intent, in 2014... she sang this rocker for us at Summit, which she'd not done in a long time; very cool.

Her main collaborator for some long time, since jazz school, delivers searing smoke on his Les Paul, and fine backing vocals, along with the beat boys. Despite the small kit, Tristan Deck knows it and hits it hard, and his self effacing choruses are clean with the other guys. Benjamin Sinclair is the bass dude with more emotion delivered than most in this role; his backup singing is sweet as well.

Elizabeth Stokes

Jonathan Pearce

Tristan Deck

Benjamin Sinclair

Again with all that said, the main Beth is Stokes; she writes the songs, sings the leads, and shreds the lead licks. Lunar Vacation. She's a novelist documenting her vibe, sometimes with existential dread... very good songs. And, even with fandom and success, there appears no pretense. Her work ethic and desire and skill is wildly apparent, just in the music and singing, 'cause that's what matters to her and we feel it. The show was good at every step. Even the NZ kingfish had its place @ the show ~ BTW, Kala & I did have delicious NZ kingfish sashimi on multiple occasions when in the north of the N Island recently. I was able to snag the setlist this time at Summit ~ albeit digitally via photo... she used shorthand titles but you get the idea clearly enough.

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The Beths are awesome and clearly ones to always watch. They've reached up again with their 3rd full album, the excellent Expert In A Dying Field. Listen to all their stuff on Bandcamp HERE; shout out to bandcamp.com for returning more to artists and providing a solid distribution system for recorded media. I recorded two songs fully from the show: "I Want 2 Listen" and "I'm Not Getting Excited." Excuse the phone-only recordings but yeah... so good.