One-of-a-kind-show! The Beths play your favorite of their songs by spontaneous request on the By Request US Tour live in NYC at Music Hall of Williamsburg on September 23rd with support from Chelsea Jade.
Formed in New Zealand in 2014 when singer and guitarist Elizabeth Stokes, guitarist Jonathan Pearce, bassist Benjamin Sinclair, and former drummer Ivan Luketina-Johnston met at the University of Auckland while studying jazz, The Beths (named after Stokes à la Lorelai and Rory Gilmore) took their current form in 2019 with the addition of drummer Tristan Deck. After independently releasing their debut EP, Warm Blood, in 2016, the band signed to Carpark Records in the U.S. and Dew Process in Australia to release their debut full-length album, Future Me Hates Me in 2018. Songs like Silver Scroll award finalist “Future Me Hates Me” and Rolling Stone Song of the Summer “Happy Unhappy” introduced a growing audience to the band’s energetic guitar riffs, catchy melodic hooks, harmonized backing vocals, drums that teeter on the edge of chaos, and Stokes’ signature self-deprecating lyrics. They continued to hone their sound on 2020’s Jump Rope Gazers, which included fan-favorite tracks like monster riff-driven, drivingly propulsive “I’m Not Getting Excited” and equally heartwarming and tear-inducing love song “Jump Rope Gazers.”
In 2022, they released Expert in a Dying Field, which went No. 1 in their native New Zealand, landed in the Top Ten of the Billboard Heatseekers Chart, and expertly highlighted all the band’s strengths from Stokes’ memorable witticism (like “here I go again, mixing drinks and messages” on “Your Side”) to Pearce’s incredibly animated guitar and Deck’s athletic drumming (see the wild guitar solo and limb-burning drum part on “Silence is Golden”). The album garnered even further recognition with the full band hits-filled, sing-a-long-heavy title track reaching No. 35 on the NZ Hot Singles chart and Obama placing ever-building, string-containing closer “Watching the Credits” on his 2023 summer playlist.
The Beths released their most recent album, Straight Line Was a Lie, through Anti Records in 2025, which saw the band continuing to embrace humor, beginning the album with a false start by Deck (“1,2,3,4. Sorry I was, I was thinking about something else. 1,2,3,4”) on the purposely-repetitive title track, while not shying away from difficult, deeply personal topics with Stokes explaining her writing process as “I’d write about stuff I don’t normally like to write about because it’s too painful or close to home, or it makes me feel weird. So, I was able to approach some of that stuff and ended up using a lot of that material.” She sings about the side effects of antidepressants on ragged and frenzied “No Joy,” being scared of exploring certain parts of yourself on atmospherically textural, guitar screech-laden “Ark of the Covenant,” her complicated relationship with her immigrant mother on acoustic ballad “Mother, Pray for Me,” and pushing people away on euphorically tender, heartachingly yearning “Til My Heart Stops.” Known for their diaristic and impulsive songwriting style, extremely tight, powerful playing, and amusing stage antics (starting a chant to have the venue turn its wall fountains on, having kazoos magically pop into their hands from the photo pit, etc.,), The Beths have developed an amazingly expansive discography and highly entertaining live show. Throw in the fact that they’ll be playing any song shouted out by the audience and the By Request Tour will be one you don’t want to miss.
Seize the opportunity to hear all of these songs and any others you want at a one-of-a-kind show at Music Hall of Williamsburg on September 23rd!
How To Get The Beths at Music Hall of Williamsburg Tickets
Tickets are available now at Axs.com. You can also purchase a Quick Pass, which allows you to bypass the General Admission entry line upon arrival to the venue.
Location: Music Hall of Williamsburg
Address: 66 North 6th Street, Brooklyn, NY, 11249
Show Time: 8 p.m.
Doors Open: 7 p.m.
Ticket Price: $104 – $254
Ages: 18+
