The Beaches – New Century Hall, Manchester (1/9/24)

Manchester on a Sunday night… local heroes Oasis have just frustrated the nation with their fiasco of a reunion tour ticket sale whilst Manchester United have just suffered another embarrassing defeat (okay, the blue half of the city was smiling). If hardly felt like a night set for a joyous celebration of indie rock, but The Beaches at New Century Hall managed to spread a little happiness on what could have been an otherwise grey evening.

The New Century Hall is one of the more unique venues in my ‘can travel to and drive home in the same evening’ range. Back in the sixties it hosted the likes of Jimi Hendrix, The Kinks and The Bee Gees, before falling into disuse. A major refurbishment project saw the venue re-opening in 2022, matching the historic feel of the venue with a state of the art lighting system. I’m pretty sure every attendee visiting for the first time pauses to take a photo of the ceiling lighting as it circles through the spectrum of colours.

But back to the music. Support for the evening came from hotly tipped local singer Chloe Slater, whose songs reflecting the state of the country from the vantage point of a Gen Zer connected well with the audience – it was one of those gigs where upon arriving I’d found I was about twenty years older than the average of the crowd.

And then onto The Beaches as part of the a brief UK tour supporting 2023’s Blame My Ex. Opening with the jangly indie pop of Cigarette they ripped through a high octane set, with drummer Eliza Enman-McDaniel pounding away manically throughout and sunglass sporting guitarist Leandra Earl permanently on the move across the stage.

But singer Jordan Miller shone the brightest as the charismatic front woman, regaling the audience between songs of how at her previous performance in Manchester she got so drunk she ended up catching pneumonia and of course checking which of the audience had been successful in acquiring Oasis tickets – before naming them as her favourite band.

Whilst the likes of Me & Me and Kismet received particularly rapturous receptions, like all good bands they knew how to end on a high. A sing along rendition of Edge of the Earth lead into Blame Brett to finish off the main set, before recent single Takes One to Know One and T–Shirt ended the show and sent the audience home delighted.

As with all good concerts, music has the ability to transport you away from your troubles and The Beaches‘ brand of indie rock was a successful way to forget about everything else in the world. Asides from the music though the performance and communication forged a bond between band and audience – not bad for ‘four gals from Canada’ on what was their second visit to Manchester.

The Beaches performed:

Cigarette
Fascination
Want What You Got
Me & Me
Kismet
Shower Beer
If a Tree Falls
Grow Up Tomorrow
What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Paranoid
Everything Is Boring
Jocelyn
Desdemona
Kinkade
Edge of the Earth
Blame Brett
—
Takes One to Know One
T-Shirt

***

Youtube Highlight of the Evening: Sometimes I have to spend hours trawling through videos to find the best of the night… sadly only one seems to have appeared of The Beaches‘ performance – but that’s not to say it isn’t a heartfelt version of When a Tree Falls courtesy of Rob Hackney.