In Between Now and Then – Beach House Illuminates the Greek Theater

On Friday, April 8th, the Greek Theater at UC Berkeley hosted one of the most anticipated artists of the 2022 calendar year. Beneath a deep, navy blue sky dotted with stars, concertgoers packed into the 119 year old amphitheater for the 22nd stop of Beach House’s Once Twice Melody Tour. The air was rife with anticipation, but it never felt overwhelming. 

Center stage in front of a sold out crowd – the largest ever for the Baltimore-based Duo – Beach House wasted no time welcoming all into their world. Black silhouettes glided across the sparsely populated stage. As they have for more than a decade and a half, Alex Scally slung a guitar over his shoulder as Victoria Legrand stood confidently behind a keyboard and mic stand. As the crowd’s reactive cheers to the band’s entrance turned into anticipatory silence, the punching drums of “Once Twice Melody” (2021), played brilliantly by drummer James Barone, were followed soon by the familiar notes of Scally’s guitar and Legrand’s hypnotic vocals. For the next two hours, Beach House stretched the imaginations, emotions, and curiosities of fans from all ages and backgrounds in every dimension; culminating in a concert populated by captivated and present fans, which facilitated, in classic Beach House fashion, both self reflection and intimate connections, and had 8,500 strong afloat in the heights of musical grandeur.

The silouhettes of Beach House: Alex Scally and Victoria Legrand.

The setlist explored the nuances of Beach House’s discography. “Silver Soul” (2010), “Dark Spring” (2018), “Wildflower” (2015), and “Through Me” (2022), followed. The second half of the show was dotted with classics: “Lazuli” (2012), “PPP” (2015), “Take Care” (2010), “Myth” (2012) and “Space Song” (2015) were all played.

What places this concert in contention for ‘Best Concert of the Semester’ was the masterful synergy between the lighting and design crew and the music. “Lazuli” was performed while the stage was lit with deep hues of the songs namesake: lazuli blue. This thoughtful tandem between song and stage effect characterized the entire performance. Stage lights pulsed as if they were blooming throughout “Wildflower”, while “Pink Funeral” (2022) flashed with sporadic beams of hot pink and velvet red. “Lemon Glow’s” (2018) dizzying soundscape was matched with a fast changing and entrancing background. As if the crowd had seen enough and wanted their share, “Myth” was met with the phone lights waving in unison. The three musicians on stage, who up to that point were visible only as black silhouettes, glowed in the concert’s definitive moment. 

The show was laced with nostalgia. It permeated the air like a perfume you catch in passing: intense yet expiring. There was no separating the songs from their respective ages, especially when Legrand remarked: “Sometimes you get this feeling when you ask yourself ‘How much longer can I do this for?’ We want to keep doing this until that day comes.”

So much of Beach House’s appeal is their music’s propensity to straddle between now and then. Perhaps as a byproduct of our distance since the releases of Beach House (2006), Teen Dream (2010), Bloom (2012), or Depression Cherry (2015) – not to mention the other half of their discography – we forget that these albums and the songs on them have existed for an incredible amount of time. As such they’ve been imbued with meaning and taken on a life wholly separate from the vision of Legrand and Scally. It was revealing to overhear the crowd, diverse in age, remark when their peak Beach House listening days were. Responses varied but were all tied together by the shared sentiment that whenever it was when they were first listening to Beach House, those times were missed. I overheard a man, presumably in his late 20s, remark, “Listening to Bloom in sophomore year of college… it was simply the best.”

Even Beach House couldn’t help but get nostalgic. After returning on stage for their encore, Legrand and Scally remarked this was the biggest show they’d ever played, thus they thought it’d be appropriate to play “the first song they ever wrote.” It was a beautiful rendition of “Saltwater” (2006). Now, sixteen years removed from the release of their first, self-titled album, Beach House was unafraid to, as a nearby concert goer remarked, “Give the people what they want!” 

What did we want? Exactly what we got. A sublime performance that held nothing back and impressed on all fronts. A show that played all the classics and, for the devoted fans, some deeper cuts. The concert stands as an example of when masterful musicians, a well curated setlist, incredible stage production, and an invested crowd all collide. As the musicians left the stage and the crowd made their way to the exits, a palpable feeling of joy was shared throughout the Greek Theater.

Article by Joe Sison

Photos by Tovah Popilsky