Cover Image: The Beths are vocalist Liz Stokes, bassist Benjamin Sinclair, drummer Tristan Deck, and guitarist Jonathan Pearce. Image by Frances Carter.

Astor Theatre, 18^th April 2026 

I did not expect to learn about Bernoulli’s law of hydrodynamics on Saturday night, but maybe that’s because I hadn’t seen The Beths live before.  

We’re at The Astor, so the bar and its unavoidable chat is out in the foyer, and the room is chill in a way that could read as inert. Perth audiences are notoriously focused though, and guitarist Jonathan Pearce reads the room correctly when he comments on its attentiveness. 

“There’s a risk,” Pearce says, “Of tangents, if we think people are actually listening.” 

“We call them ‘stage zoomies,’” drummer Tristan Deck confirms. 

There’s a collegiality on display here, which is the heart of the New Zealand indie rock four-piece’s live show. Lead singer, guitarist and songwriter Elizabeth Stokes is definitely The Beths’ front-person, but it’s a non-hierarchical post. Pearce, Deck and bass player Benjamin Sinclair are also a big part of the band’s musical arrangements and its on-stage LOLs. More on this, and fluid dynamics, later. 

The night opens with support from fellow Aotearoa musician Cello Forester of dream-pop band Womb. Womb is usually a three-piece family band, with Forester and her two siblings Haz and Georgette creating densely textured recordings that weave together synths, strings, and percussion alongside guitars and voice. Forester is engaging solo too, using various pedal effects to cover for the missing siblings, but I’ll look forward to catching Womb as a three piece in the future where their lush music can be presented in its richest format. 

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When The Beths arrive, it’s straight to business. “Straight Line Was A Lie”, the title track from the 2025 album they’re touring, is an upbeat opener with shiny backing vocals. “No Joy” follows, featuring a recorder/tin-whistle instrumental section that sees Pearce and Sinclair propelling the traumatic instruments straight into their outstretched fingers using foot operated launchers. The sonic results are fun and, intentionally, slightly painful.  

Newer and older tracks jigsaw together easily. “Silence Is Golden” from Expert In A Dying Field (2022) is classic frantic punk rock that reads as energetic rather than manic; then “Future Me Hates Me” from the 2018 album of the same name and “Metal” from Straight Line see those glossy backing vocals return. 

Stokes’ varied songwriting is the backbone of The Beths. “Jump Rope Gazers” is as catchy as any pop song. “Little Death” is a lesson on slow burn indie rock intensity. “Mosquitoes” has surprising melodic turns and a field recording for an outro. All three translate well live. Stokes’ supple vocal is at the fore when she’s solo for the night’s ballad, “Mother, Pray For Me.” 

Our physics lesson comes with another introspective track, “Til My Heart Stops,” which features the lyric “I wanna ride my bike in the rain”. We learn that when working on the track’s music video, its director Frances Carter suggested that Stokes ride “a shower-bike.” Whatever that is. 

“Is that something you can build?” Carter guilelessly asked. 

It turns out the answer is yes. Deck hacks a discarded shower from Sinclair’s recent bathroom reno onto Pearce’s bike. With the help of Bernoulli’s principle and a helpful plumber named Brett, they figure out how to get the water flowing against gravity. Then Stokes muscles up to ride around with 20L of water on the rear rack while being successfully drenched by the showerhead above. Voilà! Cue the video!

It might seem weird to build a live show review around a passing story about fluid dynamics and music video shoots, but that’s not the point. The DIY-ness and the team labour we see has the same energy that animates The Beths on stage. 

The Beths are one of those bands where every individual is musically superb and somehow the whole is still greater than the sum of its parts. Their songs are restless in a good way, with everyone chucking something important in – a drum flourish, a change to the guitar tone, some bass effect that only lasts two bars, an unexpected lyrical twist – until you end up with something you’ve seen all the pieces of before but which is working in a way that’s fundamentally unique.  

A shower-bike. 

See The Beths tour dates here.