The Beths with Sidney Gish
Thalia Hall
Chicago, IL
2/25/23
This past weekend, indie rock band The Beths from Auckland, New Zealand made a double feature stop in the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago along their North American tour promoting most 2022 LP, Expert in a Dying Field. The tour announcement originally featured just one Chicago stop, but a second was added due to high demand. Both Friday and Saturday night’s Thalia Hall shows were sold out with long lines of fans wrapping around the venue’s city street corner before doors opened. The Beths brought American singer-songwriter Sidney Gish along on this run to perform her original tracks and a STRFCKR cover with reliance on her Fender Telecaster and looper pedal. Both Nights, Gish had a big portion of the crowd singing along to her originals including “Where the Sidewalk Ends,” “Persephone,” and new single “Filming School.”
The Beths opened their sets on Friday and Saturday with “Future Me Hates Me,” their highest streamed single and the title track for the band’s 2018 LP. Fans went wild with cheer and laughter during the first chorus of the song when a tall inflatable fish, as found on the album artwork of Expert in a Dying Field, rose behind the performing band. Though opening and closing songs stayed the same both nights, the setlist varied, switching out songs from throughout their discography to allow fans to experience a variety of tracks and displaying the band’s tight performance bolts on all the music they’ve written instead of just one static setlist.
The band’s North American Tour is less than halfway complete, so there’s still time to catch them on this run! With a busy schedule of headliners, music festivals, and an upcoming tour opening up for Death Cab For Cutie, you’ll be seeing a lot more of The Beths throughout 2023. In the meantime, do yourself a service and check out Expert in a Dying Field!
