With Legrande indolently muttering a customary “thanks for being with us tonight”, a member of the audience – as befits certain concert-based customs – shouts “Freebird!” As anticipated, Beach House readily dismiss it by way of the sumptuous ethereality of ‘Norway’, an early highlight marked by Scally’s soaring guitar arpeggios and Legrande’s seductive hand movements throughout. Regrettably, however, what would normally transmute as good-natured banter between artist and audience, Scally’s saying, “That’s a song about Sweden, in case you were wondering” feels much more like a reflection of Beach House’s impersonal and increasingly petulant air tonight.



Admittedly though, a brief panoramic glance at tonight’s crowd reveals a largely dead-eyed, static mass. Whether this is a direct result of Beach House’s “vibes” or the simple fact much of the crowd aren’t actually familiar with the material is neither here nor there. It’s a kind of symbiotic awkwardness: the crowd give little away and Beach House continue to refrain from the kind of genial banter you can’t help but naturally expect. With the smouldering, melancholic ‘Gila’ proving a peak tonight – the band bathed in deathly red light – the considerably more buoyant ‘Other People’ follows; the kind of digestible optimism that’s best followed by tonight’s first truly “upbeat” song, ‘Real Love’.



Shortly afterwards, with the request for ‘Freebird’ continuing, Legrande remarks, "I think you're at the wrong concert lady" before finally – only half-jokingly – playing the first few chords of the Lynard Skynard song. Sadly, however, the seeds have been sown: despite the fact the music never suffers as a result and practically every song receives nigh on rapturous applause, what could have been a hugely enjoyable experience is reduced to a sort of extended collective uncertainty that’s only exacerbated by a reluctant one-song encore of the otherwise superb ’10 Mile Stereo’. Both visually and sonically, tonight’s show cannot possibly be faulted. It’s just a shame that Beach House couldn’t meet their crowd halfway; a crowd that leave visibly hard done-by by a band who may have changed in more ways than one.



Brian Coney