Beach House Creates a Dreamscape at Brooklyn Bowl

It’s been a long winter for Baltimore dream-pop outfit Beach House. Since touring their 2022 record Once Twice Melody and releasing the 2023 Record Store Day exclusive EP Become, the band has largely retreated from the public eye, emerging briefly for short tour runs or the occasional musical offering. In the absence of studio albums, these transmissions are strange and wonderful. This year, they’ve released a cover of Robert Lester Folsom’s “April Suzanne” for an upcoming tribute LP, and scored the documentary Eternity One, which explores Virginia’s rapidly disappearing Tangier Island with a “cosmic, omnipresent” narrator in the form of an asteroid.

These are perfect projects for Beach House, a band that dwells in the unreality of nostalgia. On Sunday night, a week before the 20th anniversary of their debut self-titled album, they took us into that place, embarking on a four-show run with a marathon set at Brooklyn Bowl that spanned their career.

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In some ways, Brooklyn Bowl was a strange spot for it. In 2015, years before achieving TikTok fame, the band played the Ryman, which has double the capacity. Brooklyn Bowl’s various VIP ticket packages do also feel a bit pretentious, though blessedly no one was using the bowling lanes on Sunday night. But the underbooking didn’t discourage anyone: An hour-and-a-half before the show, fans were already queuing around the corner, some reportedly having arrived as early as 1 p.m. In front of my group, three kids exchanged excited looks as they got Xs drawn on the backs of their hands, and I thought back to my own first concerts. Talk about a Teen Dream.

Inside, as “Cheree” by Suicide died down over the speakers, keyboardist and vocalist Victoria Legrand, guitarist Alex Scally and drummer James Barone (a longtime touring member who officially joined the duo in 2022) took to the stage with no opener. Bathed in fog and transcendent lights, they opened with “Levitation” from their velvety album Depression Cherry, which celebrated its 10th anniversary last year. What followed was an eclectic selection of fan favorites and deep cuts — possibly informed by the band’s online set list creator, where fans submit the songs they most want to hear on tour. As each one began, the audience erupted in cheers.

A lot has been made lately of the devolution of concert etiquette. But whether it was because of changing social tides or the specific trance that Beach House can put you in, Sunday’s crowd was rapt and attuned to each other. Phone recordings were considerate and brief. As the band played “Lazuli,” from their 2012 album Bloom, we all swayed along in the same rhythm. With “Sparks,” Legrand leaned back from her keyboard into the light, and Scally’s guitar soared. Next to me, a girl noticed me writing in my notebook and asked if I was psychic.

As the band guided us through the night, their banter between songs was light but potent. Before playing “PPP,” Legrand asked, “Is it smoky enough in here for you guys?” Closer “Space Song” was introduced with thanks to “the ghost that opened for us tonight.” After “Superstar,” as undulating stars faded from the screen behind them, she teared up while addressing the crowd: “You guys are so kind. Thank you for everything.”

Gratitude was a prevailing theme of the night: for the band, for the audience and for the space we created together. During the encore, before the cowbell, cascading keys and warbling guitar introduced “Myth,” Legrand named the feeling perfectly: “It is a sweetness that is unmatched.”