Rising indie rock stars The Beths return to Glasgow and charm the socks off a sold out Glasgow Garage.
Support was provided by Lande Hekt who people may recognise from Muncie Girls, Lande was still playing with a band but has much more personal touch to her material. Her intimate and well crafted lyrics on top of often catchy indie pop hooks along with an earnest performance is something The Beths fans greatly appreciated.
Since The Beths last visit to Glasgow in March 2022 they released their 3rd studio album “Expert in a Dying Field” to critical acclaim. In just over a year the moderately attended shows have started turning into larger sold out gigs and there was an air of a band who were doing very well.
The Beths have been changing it up during this tour with every show having a different lineup, kicking off with the familiar favourite “Future Me Hates Me” the fans were soon treated to a live debut of “Change in the Weather” while Elizabeth joked about hoping everyone had called in sick to enjoy the uncharacteristically sunny weather Glasgow was enjoying.
Elizabeth Stokes is undeniably one of the best lyricists around at the moment and as a live performance the band are utterly heartwarming, taking turns to introduce each other and grinning as much as the crowd are when Jonathan Pearce turns on to one of his electric guitar solos. While they have always had great lyrics and catchy songs you can definitely feel them hitting their groove as a band as they play hit after hit of recent material. Upon leaving the stage after playing out “Silence is Golden” and “Expert in a Dying Field” there has rarely been a more immediate and louder crowd chant of “one more tune”.
On coming back to the stage we received a beautiful accoustic performance of “You Are a Beam of Light” which provided a brief moment of calm before finishing off with an energetic “Uptown Girl” (not that one).
One of the great problems for a band to have is too many good songs to play, fan favourites like “A Little Death“, “A Passing Rain” and A Real Thing didn’t make it to tonights show and if The Beths continue to produce hits at the rate they are currently churning them out then picking which songs to play will be their biggest problem.
Words and pictures: Dale Harvey @daleharvey