Concert Reviews

Frontwoman Liz Stokes proudly showcased her band’s latest album for its euphoric fans.

The Beths, with Phoebe Rings, at Royale Boston, Dec. 2, 2025.

“You look beautiful,” Beths lead singer, songwriter, and rhythm guitarist Liz Stokes said early in the band’s Tuesday night set at Royale.

“We don’t say that to all audiences,” she humorously added.

Given that this was the Kiwi quartet’s second consecutive night in town, I couldn’t help but jokingly wonder if she had said the same to the previous evening’s attendees.

This is — to quote the title of a song performed — a “roundabout” way of saying that last night’s show had sold out so conclusively that a second show was added, in a somewhat disorientating manner, on Monday, i.e., the night before the originally scheduled one.

Exactly half of the songs from the show were drawn from The Beths’ latest gift to listeners, “Straight Line Was a Lie.” That left one of its tracks unperformed: the sublime “Ark of the Covenant.”

Frankly, they should have gone ahead and played this one while they were at it. While an 18-song set is hardly skimpy, it surely leaves room for one more inclusion. (I also think that they should have swapped one of the other new tracks for it, but to quote an old saying that Evan Dando uses in his new memoir, my opinion on this matter “and five cents will get you a cup of coffee in the Great Depression.”)

The band was wise to establish early on that this would be a “Straight Line”-heavy evening by kicking off with the demoralized duo of the namesake song and “No Joy.” In turn, they smartly followed up the latter with “Silence Is Golden,” its musical kindred spirit of sorts from 2022’s “Expert in a Dying Field.”

“Silence” also showcased the magnificent soloing of Jonathan Pearce. This was all the more cool and satisfying given that The Beths do not revolve around the pyrotechnics of its lead guitarist. His intoxicating style was further demonstrated by “Not Running” and the grin-inducing cover of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” which they released their own version of in 2019. (As I heard a fellow concertgoer observe, Liz Stokes’ accent made “merry” sound like “mere-y.”)

Meanwhile, Pearce’s tastefulness and admirable restraint was on display throughout, such as on the Andy Summers-esque chords of “Best Laid Plans.”

But Pearce was not the only talented six-string wielder on the stage. For the heartfelt and borderline despondent – even for her standards – “Mother, Pray for Me,” Stokes cut a solitary, spotlit figure while flawlessly fingerpicking each note.

The Beths have no intention of making ostentatiousness their trademark. Lasers, props, and costumes never serve to distract from the songs themselves. Nevertheless, they know how to keep a crowd amused.

In addition to Stokes’s remarks about the audience’s appearance, she also noted that she was so enamored by the lion statues on either side of the upper level the last time they played Royale that she never wanted to play a venue without such decorations.

During the band introductions, bassist Benjamin Sinclair went on about his visit to the Harvard Museum of Natural History, leading Pearce to joshingly point out that the pictures of rocks that Sinclair sent to him were “boring.”

Two songs later, Sinclair returned to the matter, speaking at length about Charles Darwin, evolution, the taxidermy pigeons that he saw, and the possibility of breeding that bird with peacocks.

“He could go on for hours,” Stokes noted.

Finally, a pair of brightly colored plastic recorders — seemingly no fancier than the kind that schoolchildren play — made an appearance during “No Joy” and the Christmas song.

Among the particularly crowd-pleasing inclusions were “Future Me Hates Me,” the fourth entry on the setlist, the somewhat ironically titled “I’m Not Getting Excited,” and the main set-closing “Expert in a Dying Field.” “Til My Heart Stops,” “Jump Rope Gazers,” and “Little Death” — propelled forward courtesy of Tristan Deck’s drumming (as was “Silence Is Golden”) — also stood out.

Were I to choose a flaw in the proceedings, I would say that the order of the songs failed to strike a proper balance in terms of tempo. Slow-, mid-, and up-tempo numbers were mixed up among one another in a manner that undermined the establishment of an overall rhythm throughout the course of the 18 songs.

A minor, nickpicky complaint, to be sure. After all, any concert that leaves a venue’s bars virtually deserted for nearly two hours is surely an unqualified success.

But were some of my favorites excluded? Of course. No band with this many awesome songs could possibly play a plurality of them, let alone every single one.

Keep up the good work, Liz Stokes. Yours is still my favorite new band of the past 10 years and there is no indication that you will be dethroned anytime soon.

Setlist for The Beths at Royale, Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025

• Straight Line Was a Lie
• No Joy
• Silence Is Golden
• Future Me Hates Me
• Metal
• Til My Heart Stops
• Mother, Pray for Me
• Not Running
• Your Side
• Mosquitoes
• Roundabout
• Jump Rope Gazers
• Best Laid Plans
• Little Death
• I’m Not Getting Excited
• Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
• Expert in a Dying Field

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