In May Beach House returned with new album 7 via Sub Pop Records and while it’s very much a Beach House record, there’s definitely a sonic shift that occurs that takes their sound to another level.
They’ve been touring hard in support of the album all summer and they finally came to us in New York for two sold out performances, with the first at United Palace Theatre and the second at Kings Theatre on August 23, which we were in attendance for.
While one would always prefer to see Beach House in an intimate room such as the last time we saw them, it didn’t take long for me to see why they chose beautiful old school theatres such as Kings in order to bring their vision to life.
The duo of Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally, along with drummer James Barone were not the main visual focus of the evening, rather it was the backing visuals and the ever-shifting color of the lights that kept your focus. Of course it’s the band members who are doing the heavy lifting bringing their songs to life in amazing fashion, but it’s the lighting that really allows the listener to take in these songs in a new way and be taken in for a totally encompassing experience of both audio and visual that suites their sound to perfection.
As expected songs from 7 were the main focus of their setlist, with “Dive” finishing off the three-song encore along with Devotion throwback “Home Again,” and the always welcome “Walk In The Park.” Aside from a quick thank you from Legrand, the band didn’t say much in-between songs, letting the music and the visuals do all the speaking for them and it resulting in a rather breathtaking performance that proves that Beach House have come quite a way from their early days emerging from the Baltimore underground scene.
Beach House setlist:
1. Levitation
2. Wild
3. Dark Spring
4. The Traveller
5. L’Inconnue
6. Lazuli
7. Drunk in LA
8. Myth
9. Elegy to the Void
10. Woo
11. Space Song
12. Wishes
13. Girl of the Year
14. Sparks
15. Lemon Glow
Encore:
16. Home Again
17. Walk in the Park
18. Dive
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