The Beths Announce New Live Album and Film, Auckland, New Zealand, 2020
Recorded at Auckland Town Hall
Images courtesy of Amanda Cheng, Carpark Records
Since arriving with their sizzling, power-pop-infused brand of rock music in the mid-2010s, New Zealander group The Beths have been harnessing the raw energy of their music for compelling and electric live performances. Today (Aug. 10), on the three-year anniversary of the release of their debut album Future Me Hates Me and following 2020’s Jump Rope Gazers, the band have announced a new live album and an accompanying film titled Auckland, New Zealand, 2020, out Sept. 17 on Carpark Records.
Recorded at the Auckland Town Hall, the show is notable for being one of the few any major rock band was able to perform mid-pandemic, due to the anti-COVID measures New Zealand adopted early on. As such, the group’s performance teems with life and the excitement to be gathered in a space with fans during such a dark period. Deliberately choosing the name of the album/film in reference to that fact, Jonathan Pearce comments, “That’s the sensational part of what we did,” and says playing to the sold-out hometown crowd “felt miraculous.” The idea for Auckland, New Zealand, 2020 came from the desire to share the good fortune they had playing shows with the rest of the music-less world.
Other hobbies The Beths partook in during the pandemic included taking over the Paste Instagram to share their favorite pie recipes, as well as starting up their own Patreon page.
Delta variant permitting, The Beths will embark on a headlining North American tour in 2022. “Our last North American tour was in summer of 2019, which feels like a century ago. There is no way to describe how much we have wanted to be over there playing music. Finally it is happening?!” says the band’s Liz Stokes. Tickets go on sale this Friday, Aug. 13, at 10 a.m. local.
Below, catch the trailer for Auckland, New Zealand, 2020 as well as their performance of Future Me Hates Me and their 2019 Paste session. You’ll find their tour dates further down, with their North American shows in bold.