THE BETHS + DATELINE – CHALK, BRIGHTON 27.9.25
I must say how proud I am of New Zealand-based indie quartet The Beths, as they have come a very long way from when we first encountered them 7 years ago! Our debut encounter with Elizabeth Stokes (guitar and vocals), Jonathan Pearce (guitar and vocals), Benjamin Sinclair (bass and vocals) and Ivan Luketina-Johnston (drums and vocals) was in the first floor room of the East Street Tap on East Street, Brighton on 10th November 2018. They were performing to something like a mere 20 people and yet they still gave it their all – Read our account HERE.
Wind the clock forward to today and Elizabeth, Jonathan, Benjamin and now current drummer Tristan Deck are back in Brighton on the final date of the UK leg of their UK, Europe and North American tour, having already thrilled crowds in Dublin, Manchester, Glasgow, Leeds, Bristol, Birmingham and London. Rather than returning to the very compact East Street Tap, they are now literally performing right next door at the Chalk venue and they’ve only gone and sold it out! I’m not totally sure of the venue capacity, but it is at least 600 or more, and thus they are now performing to a crowd which is at least 30 times larger than our debut encounter! Congratulations!
The Beths have played live in Brighton on 4 other occasions, these being at Horatios on 10th and 11th May 2019 as part of The Great Escape, (Review HERE) at Patterns on 29th August 2019 (Review HERE), and 5th April 2022 at the Concorde 2 (Review HERE). The last time I caught the quartet was at Latitude Festival in Suffolk on 21st July 2023 (Festival reviews HERE).
Thus far The Beths have released four studio albums and one live album, these being ‘Future Me Hates Me’ (2018), ‘Jump Rope Gazers’ (2020), ‘Auckland, New Zealand, 2020’ (2021), ‘Expert In A Dying Field’ (2022), and ‘Straight Line Was A Lie’ which dropped on 29th August this year, and the reason we are in attendance this evening at Chalk for The Beths 18 track 91 minute set, which ran from 8:18pm until 9:49pm.
This evening is very much about plugging the new LP and as a result, they perform no less than 9 of the 10 songs from it, with only ‘Roundabout’ being omitted. We position ourselves on the crowd barrier and the band take to the expansive stage and with a “1-2, 1-2-3-4-” they are away with the title track from the new 2025 ‘Straight Line Was A Lie’ album. This immediately highlights the vocal harmonies of all four band members and frontperson Elizabeth is in command centre stage on acoustic guitar. Jonathan is furthest away from us on stage right (our left) and it appears that he’s playing a 12-string guitar. To the centre rear of the stage is Tristan behind the drumkit, and immediately in front of myself is Benjamin on bass at stage left (our right). At the song’s conclusion there is a loud roar from the crowd, in fact so much so, that it actually took me quite by surprise! It’s now blatantly obvious that The Beths have well and truly arrived in the music business!
Tristan kicks off their second offering, ‘No Joy’, which is also from the new record, and Elizabeth has switched to electric guitar and both Jonathan and Benjamin make use of transparent plastic recorders in addition to their bass and guitar instruments. The recorders are neatly held upright within a spring contraption which we later learn was designed by Tristan, and with a tap of a foot by both Jonathan and Benjamin, the recorders fly upwards and are caught by the duo. It’s simple but effective and totally unique…cue patent!
The faster rockin ‘Silence Is Golden’ from 2022’s ‘Expert In A Dying Field’ album is up next and is filled with notable guitar riffage, and it’s evident that the band have certainly gone up a notch or two since I last saw them two years ago. The slower melodic title track from 2018’s ‘Future Me Hates Me’ album is up next and many of the crowd join in by hand-clapping. After which, Elizabeth finally says her trademark “We’re The Beths from Auckland, New Zealand”, which has always occurred several times throughout previous sets, although tonight this is the only mention. Elizabeth then goes on to mention the tour support act Dateline (who we will come to shortly), but it’s no surprise that they are on the tour as Elizabeth was actually also a member of the band during their 2019-2020 period and she appears on their first 3 singles. Interestingly she played the drums, something which I haven’t as yet seen her do in The Beths.
Next up is ‘Metal’ which is their recent single from the ‘Straight Line Was A Lie’ album. It sonically sees The Beths fully embracing jangle rock in their own style and yet I spotted a New Order-ish backing sound also going on. ‘Metal’ was born out of a time of rigorous touring, mental health struggles, and several diagnoses for Elizabeth. Here is what she has recently said about the track:
“In some ways ‘Metal’ is a song about being alive and existing in a human body. That is something I have been acutely aware of in the last few years, where I have been on what one might call a ‘health journey’. For parts of the last few years, I kind of felt like my body was a vehicle that had carried me pretty well thus far but was breaking down, something I had little to no control over. All of the steps in the Rube Goldberg machine of life are so unlikely, and yet here we are in it. I have a hunger and a curiosity for learning about the world around me, and for learning about myself. And despite all the ways that my body feels like a broken machine, I still marvel at the complexity of such a machine.”
“I can hold that knowledge in one hand, and yet with the other hand I can point to my reflection and just be like ‘you are shit’. Or ‘ugly’. Or ‘worthless’. I can reliably respond to any suggestion that I might be able to achieve any small thing with ‘no’. And these are variations of the ‘short word’ referenced in the song.”
“There was a propulsion to the acoustic strumming pattern on the original demo. Tristan’s drums meet that feeling so perfectly, the feeling of a train pushing up the tracks. Jonathan got to play his Burns 12 string guitar as sparkly as he wanted, and Ben as usual can’t be contained to the lower register. I think we ended up with an arrangement that embodies the frenetic intricacy of an engine in action. There’s a lot going on, until there isn’t.”
Back to the gig and we are now rewarded with a couple of other cuts from the new album, the first of which is very slow and atmospheric ‘Til My Heart Stops’ and this is followed by a solo number from Elizabeth. It’s ‘Mother, Pray For Me’ and the punters were all so quiet that you could have arguably heard a pin drop. There was a real connection with her and the fans and clearly this number came from the heart: “Mother say a prayer for me; I can never know what you’ve seen; I don’t have what you have; I don’t seek what you seek; But I’d never take it away”.
The energy is restored with the arrival of the next number, this being ‘Out Of Sight’ from their 2020 ‘Jump Rope Gazers’ album. After which we were served with ‘Knees Deep’ from 2022’s ‘Expert In A Dying Field’ album, and this benefits from some swirly guitar action and a very abrupt ending, for which the quartet were absolutely bang on! There was a roll on the drums and they launched into set highlight ‘Uptown Girl’ from 2018’s ‘Future Me Hates Me’ album. This is an energetic tune that always delivers for me, and once again there’s an abrupt ending! The energy levels weren’t maintained though as the band stopped for some banter, which is most unlike them! However we did get an explanation of the website address banner which was showing on the rear curtain of the stage behind Tristan. This was for www.breakfastandtravelupdates.com and you can actually read their tour diary. Clearly they love Brighton – read that account HERE.
It was back to the music with the arrival of two more cuts from their latest ‘Straight Line Was A Lie’ album, these being ‘Mosquitoes’ and ‘Ark Of The Covenant’. The first being a slow chugging number, which saw the guys popping up their recorders, and the second was littered with jangly guitars and distortion as well as some notable drum action, with an early 1970’s vibe going on. After more banter, this time referencing the balancing of plastic beer cups onto mobile phones, the slow chugging title track of ‘Jump Rope Gazers’ was the quartet’s next selection. Drummer Tristan kept the beat going as the band segued straight into ‘Best Laid Plans’ (from ‘Straight Line Was A Lie’) and this sees Elizabeth adding some depth of sound via the use of a triangle whilst playing guitar and an egg-shaker was used at times as well.
My favourite ever Beths tune was up next, this being ‘Little Death’ from 2018’s ‘Future Me Hates Me’ album, with its notable layers of vocals and this featured the best lighting of the whole set thus far, and clearly on a roll they then whizzed straight into ‘I’m Not Getting Excited’ from ‘Jump Rope Gazers’ and this too was a set highlight that also featured some great lighting, and it laughably caught out many in the crowd with its false ending. There was a meaty bass guitar intro from Benjamin for the title track of ‘Expert In A Dying Field’, which when recognised by the punters did receive a number of “yayy’s” as well as some hand-clapping action and singing along. The beat isn’t as speedy as the previous two tunes, and I’m wondering whether this could have been placed two tunes up the setlist and so they could vacate the stage on the fast numbers! Anyhow, they were treated to deafening applause, which, as far as I recall, was the loudest approval that I’ve ever witnessed for a Beths set.
The band left the stage, only to return and offload one final cut from their new ‘Straight Line Was A Lie’ album, this being ‘Take’, which has an atmospheric start care of Jonathan’s foot pedals and then the drums kick in. The track title is repeated a number of times and is therefore very easy to pick up. Not the best track to end the set, but once again The Beths have delivered, although for me personally, I can recall enjoying previous sets even more!
Check out The Beths releases on their Bandcamp page HERE.
The Beths:
Elizabeth Stokes – vocals, electric & acoustic guitars, triangle, egg-shaker
Jonathan Pearce – guitars, backing vocals, presets, recorder
Benjamin Sinclair – bass guitars, backing vocals, recorder
Tristan Deck – drums, backing vocals
The Beths setlist:
‘Straight Line Was A Lie’ (from 2025 ‘Straight Line Was A Lie’ album)
‘No Joy’ (from 2025 ‘Straight Line Was A Lie’ album)
‘Silence Is Golden’ (from 2022 ‘Expert In A Dying Field’ album)
‘Future Me Hates Me’ (from 2018 ‘Future Me Hates Me’ album)
‘Metal’ (from 2025 ‘Straight Line Was A Lie’ album)
‘Til My Heart Stops’ (from 2025 ‘Straight Line Was A Lie’ album)
‘Mother, Pray For Me’ (from 2025 ‘Straight Line Was A Lie’ album)
‘Out Of Sight’ (from 2020 ‘Jump Rope Gazers’ album)
‘Knees Deep’ (from 2022 ‘Expert In A Dying Field’ album)
‘Uptown Girl’ (from 2018 ‘Future Me Hates Me’ album)
‘Mosquitoes’ (from 2025 ‘Straight Line Was A Lie’ album)
‘Ark Of The Covenant’ (from 2025 ‘Straight Line Was A Lie’ album)
‘Jump Rope Gazers’ (from 2020 ‘Jump Rope Gazers’ album)
‘Best Laid Plans’ (from 2025 ‘Straight Line Was A Lie’ album)
‘Little Death’ (from 2018 ‘Future Me Hates Me’ album)
‘I’m Not Getting Excited’ (from 2020 ‘Jump Rope Gazers’ album)
‘Expert In A Dying Field’ (from 2022 ‘Expert In A Dying Field’ album)
(encore)
‘Take’ (from 2025 ‘Straight Line Was A Lie’ album)
Support came from fellow Kiwi indie outfit Dateline, who comprise songwriter Katie Everingham (guitar, lead vocals), Phoebe Johnson (bass, vocals), Reuben McDonald (guitar, vocals) and Hikurangi Schaverien-Kaa (drums, vocals). According to their social media: “Dateline’s music oozes emotion by blending earnest harmonies that hark back to early 00’s indie pop, with the cool burn of UK guitar groups from the 90s. Dateline’s band has had a revolving roster of friends, including musicians from bands like The Beths, Hans Pucket, LIPS, Bub and more recently Revulva & French For Rabbits”.
They are known for their grunge-pop-punk sound and the current lineup was formed around the release of their single ‘Choose Me’ in early 2024, building on the band’s debut album ‘Dumb For My Age’ (from 2022) and subsequent release ‘It’s All Downhill From Here’ (from 2024), which is a collection of indie-fuzz-grunge-pop-punk songs.
This evening we are in their company for 35 minutes from 7:15pm to 7:50pm and during this time the band perform 8 tunes, and surprisingly 6 of these are unreleased, unless that is, their setlist is written as in-jokes. Clearly frontperson Katie has had a good night out last night after their Roundhouse gig in London, as it immediately became apparent that she wasn’t even sure which day it was today! But having said that, she was coughing between some vocal deliveries and between tunes, and honey was readily available. She appeared to be sweating a bit on her face as well, so it truly was a valiant effort as she was clearly under the weather, self inflicted or otherwise.
The band begin with two cuts from last year’s ‘It’s All Downhill From Here’ album, these being ‘Please Knock Me Out’ and ‘Leaves’, and it’s already evident that soundwise, Dateline, aren’t actually that far away from The Beths. No doubt Elizabeth has left her mark, from being in the band a few years ago. Katie informs us that they are playing some new tunes and two of these haven’t been performed in front of an audience before. Thus the remainder of the performance is I believe all new material. Katie then tells us that tonight is their fourth night in a row and they perform the unreleased ‘Slow Down’, which is followed by the blistering ‘Wanting More’, which features some great drumming from Hikurangi, and it’s the choice track of the set for me….I certainly was “wanting more”.
Sadly the tempo was taken right down for the slow ‘Melt Down’ which we were informed was one of the tracks that they haven’t played live before. After this Katie dedicates the next number to her toddler (who I believe is three), this being ‘Tell Henry’ which certainly has more oomph, especially with the latter lines which are shouted. Their penultimate selection, ‘What Is It Worth?’, was more of a melodic composition, but it did eventually rock on out. They signed off with ‘Hey! You Look Good’ which flits from being quiet and then loud and back again and it has an American rock vibe going on. The crowd absolutely loved Dateline, and what wasn’t there to not like? I would suggest that they are Championship whereas The Beths are Premiership.
Check out the Dateline releases on their Bandcamp page HERE.
Dateline:
Katie Everingham – guitar, lead vocals
Phoebe Johnson – bass, vocals
Reuben McDonald – guitar, vocals
Hikurangi Schaverien-Kaa – drums, vocals
Dateline setlist:
‘Please Knock Me Out’ (from 2024 ‘It’s All Downhill From Here’ album)
‘Leaves’ (from 2024 ‘It’s All Downhill From Here’ album)
‘Slow Down’ (unreleased)
‘Wanting More’ (unreleased)
‘Melt Down’ (unreleased)
‘Tell Henry’ (unreleased)
‘What Is It Worth?’ (unreleased)
‘Hey! You Look Good’ (unreleased)
