Show Review: Beach House @ACL Live (7/31)

Beach House have come a long long way since the first time I caught them at old Emos back in the day…but even then, they were onto something. That all culminated in a sold out show at ACL Live, which was a pretty near perfect venue for the band.

Click through for the words and pics.

 

Ed Schraeder’s Music Beat opened the evening. Aside from some of the awkward banter in between songs, the group did their job. The Baltimore duo sounded like a blend of late-era Nine Inch Nails with a large Bowie influence. Tunes were alright, voice was on point.

Beach House have always been a pretty straight-forward act, albeit one shrouded in shadow-play and dense fog. They stuck to that aesthetic for the first 45 minutes, offering little more than songs and a huge wall of light, played out perfectly against the huge backdrop. There was a bit more animation in the latter half of the set, be it geometrical shapes of light, live band shots broadcast behind them or a few things with eyes. But, perhaps the simplicity of their stage show is why the band have been so successful; it’s the music for them that matters.

The night was scattered with various hits from their earlier works, but they spent a great deal of the set on 7, their latest effort for Sub Pop (you can find the whole setlist HERE). It was great to see some of these new songs come to light, and I’ll admit to being pretty entranced for the first 45 minutes. Closing the main portion of the set with “Myth,” amidst a backdrop of stars wrapped up the evening perfectly. The seeming twinkle of stars matched that of the song, and I swooned…a little.

Small Rant: If you’re going to take a photo, fine, I accept it. I hate it when it happens at every song, but I get it, it’s the world we live in. I always shoot the first song on my phone too. But, for all you folks out there doing Facebook or Instagram video of shows, I fucking hate you. It’s inconsiderate to those around you to hold your phone up for an entire track, let alone for multiple tracks so you could encourage your cheap friends to enjoy the show from home. Cut that shit out.

Photo Guy Note: Sorry for not having more photos. We were supposed to shoot songs three, four and five. Unfortunately, we were asked to leave after just one song in the pit. -bgray

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