The Beths Bring Power-Pop Perfection to Brooklyn Bowl

New Zealand rock outfit The Beths dispelled Saturday night’s rain and gloom with 90 minutes of power-pop perfection, serving up catchy riffs, impeccable musicianship and delightful onstage energy. It was the band’s first headlining set in Nashville since 2023, though they have been back through since, supporting The National at Ascend Amphitheater and playing Bonnaroo.

Despite the weather — and the show arriving immediately after a holiday when folks tend to go out and stuff themselves with booze, candy or both — it was a fairly packed house at Brooklyn Bowl. Fellow Aucklanders Phoebe Rings kicked off the night with slick dream- and city-pop grooves that occasionally sounded like the musicians of Lake Street Dive had swapped out instruments you might expect to hear in a jazz band for spacey, swirly synths. It was just the band’s second performance in the Western hemisphere, and it’s fair to say their recent release Aseurai has earned some new streams stateside.

The first sign this Beths show might be different came when lead singer Liz Stokes opened the night with an acoustic guitar rather than the electric that propelled the group’s first three albums. That’s a reflection of August release Straight Line Was a Lie, which features some gentler, more contemplative arrangements alongside Beths trademarks of introspective lyrics, tight four-part harmonies and infectious guitar melodies. The album has earned some well-deserved buzz, with the band recently performing the energetic title track on Jimmy Kimmel Live! for their U.S. television debut.

“Straight Line Was a Line,” maybe unsurprisingly, was the opening song in Nashville. The band then ripped into “No Joy,” a head-bopping rocker that’s also on the new LP, which features The Beths’ classic crunchy guitar sounds and harmonies — as well as two recorder breaks played by guitarist Jonathan Pearce and bassist Ben Sinclair. As drummer Tristan Deck explained later on, he launched these tiny woodwinds into his bandmates’ hands with a foot-operated contraption called the “Recorder Me.” This all sent a pretty clear message: Just because the latest album had some slower moments didn’t mean the show wouldn’t still be tons of fun.

“Silence Is Golden” and “Future Me Hates Me” — the latter of which is The Beths’ most-streamed song by far — got the crowd moving before Stokes pulled out the acoustic again for a trio of Straight Line’s softer tracks. She played entirely solo on the simple, affecting ballad “Mother, Pray for Me,” which marked an early emotional high point only slightly undercut by Deck afterward: “Thanks for not doing a strike during that song,” he said. Longtime fans knew he wasn’t entirely joking: During the band’s previous show at Brooklyn Bowl, an audience member made the perplexing decision to hurl a ball down the lanes during a similarly quiet acoustic number.

The group then launched into outstanding renditions of “Out of Sight” and “When You Know You Know” before some band introductions and Nashville-specific banter. Pearce recounted a visit to Gibson Garage earlier in the day — he has now convinced himself he needs a very specific edition of the brand’s countless guitar necks — and then asked the crowd if anyone had ever “gotten pissed with 12 of their mates and biked down Broadway.”

The 12 mates Pearce referenced were probably having the time of their lives when he saw them on their pedal tavern, but even those joyful tourists couldn’t have matched the energy when the band cut straight from fan favorite “Little Death” to the frenetic “I’m Not Getting Excited” during the homestretch. The only way to build the hype even further? Playing the deep cut “Less Than Thou,” as requested by a trio of fans near the front row. “Expert in a Dying Field” served as the band’s “last song” before the obligatory encore fakeout.

Straight Line song “Take” was a bit of a curveball for the one-song encore, as it’s a moody, uncharacteristically dark but driving song that finds Stokes musing on coping mechanisms and oblivion. It’s clear the band loves playing it, though, and the crowd would have enjoyed absolutely anything The Beths rolled out by that point in the night.

Set List:

1. Straight Line Was a Lie
2. No Joy
3. Silence is Golden
4. Future Me Hates Me
5. Metal
6. Til My Heart Stops
7. Mother, Pray for Me
8. Out of Sight
9. When You Know You Know
10. Mosquitoes
11. Roundabout
12. Jump Rope Gazers
13. Best Laid Plans
14. Little Death
15. I’m Not Getting Excited
16. Less Than Thou (audience request)
17. Expert in a Dying Field
18. Take (encore)

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