The Beths tie their shoes ‘real good’ for Coachella debut

Sunday, 14 April 2024

Kiwi band The Beths tied their shoes “real good” for their Coachella debut.

“I thought ‘what if my shoes fly off in the middle of the Coachella set, what a nightmare’,” lead singer Liz Stokes told the crowd.

The Tāmaki Makaurau based indie-rock band performed on Friday US time and will take to the stage again on April 19.

Big names performing alongside The Beths and the world-famous festival include Lana Del Rey, Tyler, the Creator, Doja Cat, Lil Uzi Vert and special guest 90s band No Doubt.

Performing in front of a giant inflatable fish, the band covered hits including I’m Not Getting Excited, Jump Rope Gazers, Silence is Golden and Expert In A Dying Field.

Drummer Tristan Deck thanked the crowd for making the day so special.

“Today I woke up and was like like ‘this is one of those days where you just tie your shoes real good’, you know?”

“You know it’s going to be a big exciting day.”

Stokes concurred: “I tied my shoes real good”.

“What a pleasure, it’s been a wonderful Friday, hope you have a good rest of the festival - and lots of water,” she said at the end of their set.

On stage with the band was Sidney Fish, a giant inflatable fish seen on the cover of their third album.

(“It's just funny to me during a quite earnest or serious song and then you look in the background and it's just this giant inflatable fish,” Stokes said of Sidney Fish during a 2023 interview with Emmie.)

Speaking to Stuff in June, Stokes said the band, which also included guitarist Jonathan Pearce and bassist Benjamin Sinclair, was excited to take on the festival ahead of their US tour.

“It's a really big country with a lot of people and a lot of music lovers, like there's a real kind of gig culture there because there are bands coming through all the time - it can kind of be your like full time hobby, to just go to lots of gigs.

“We really like playing there, we really like the music culture there, and we’re excited to go back and play a few kind of towns in the Southwest.”

Held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, the Coachella averages 125,000 attendees each day, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Kiwi singers Benee and Lorde have performed at the festival in previous years.

The Beths are the most recent recipients of the 2023 Silver Scroll Award, and were featured in former US president Barack Obama’s 2023 summer playlist.

The Beths perform from the time stamp 5:31:25 in the YouTube video below.