The Beaches at the Royale
By Eva McNally ‘25
If you haven’t heard of The Beaches, it’s time you include them on your daily listening rotation. The four-piece rock group from Toronto Canada concluded their sold-out “Blame My Ex Tour” at the Royale in Boston on Friday, March 8th—International Women’s Day. How fitting. Sisters Jordan and Kylie Miller, lead vocals, bass, and guitar and backing vocals respectively, founded the band in 2013 alongside Leandra Earl, keyboards, guitar, and backing vocals, and Eliza Enman-McDaniel on the drums. Together they form a rock band that is gritty, glamorous, and garage.
Boyish, composed of India Shore and Claire Altendahl, was formed at Berklee College of Music in 2016. The queer indie duo brought the energy and the vocals in visiting their old stomping grounds while opening up for The Beaches. The band is named after The Japanese Breakfast’s song of the same title—demarking their fresh start in transitioning from an alternative country band called The Blue. They played a brief, seven-song set which included “Legs” and “FUCK YOU HEATHER.”
The stage setup was nice and simple, with mostly open space to provide space for dynamic movement, jumping, and dancing. Jordan occupied the front and center of the stage, with Kylie to her right and Leandra to her left. Eliza was in the back with her drumset on an elevated platform, bass drumhead covered in Sharpie reading “BLAME BRETT” adorned with stars and hearts with crisscrossed black and silver tape. Jordan, Kylie, and Leandra often leaned over the edge of the stage as they strummed their guitars.
The band opened their sixteen-song-set with their song “T-Shirt” from their 2017 album Late Show. In the second verse, Jordan sings: “I’m not sexy / Itty Bitty Titty Committee / Don’t take me so serious / I just like to make a fuss.” Their songs are only enhanced by their honesty and humor. The poignant, tongue-in-cheek lyrics only add to their charm.
Included on the setlist was the unreleased song “Kinkade,” which was recorded as a possible track on Late Show. Leandra takes the lead in this track, and before launching into the song asked the crowd: “Where are the gays?” She was met with enthusiastic hands and cheering. Some people even held up their phones, their screen displaying their phone numbers or social media handles. She laughed and turned to Jordan: “This might be the gayest city of the tour,” she said. She followed up with another question: “Where are the straights?” citing how on another night of tour, a cis man complained about the lack of recognition. She cracked a joke about loving straight people, saying: “I share the stage with two of them,” earning a laugh from the audience. She came down into the photo pit as she sang, a fun moment interacting with the crowd.
“Blame Brett” released as the lead single for the album Blame My Ex, was released in early May of 2023 and promptly gained traction as it went viral on TikTok. The song is based on Jordan’s breakup with Brett Emmons from The Glorious Sons, a bold move indeed to use his name in the song title and lyrics. In exploring the narrative of someone who has been hurt, the lyrics illuminate the healing process, often complex and nonlinear. Jordan alludes to self-preservation as a way that she copes, adopting a defensive and non-committal attitude. She sings “I’m sorry in advance / I’m only gonna treat you bad / I’m probably gonna sleep around / So sorry in advance.” This song was the last before the encore.
For the encore, they returned to the stage for their last song of a long tour: “Kismet” which means fate or destiny. As the title suggests, the song explores a relationship that feels as if it were fated to be, “Written in the stars, pulled a lover’s tarot card.” Thematically, the song doesn’t quite feel like it fits on a breakup album, but it provides a glimmer of hope for the listener–there is always someone out there who will make you feel excited about someone and finally ready to fall in love again.
The Beaches are headed to Australia for a handful of shows in May and will be accompanying Girl in Red in the West Coast leg of her tour. In the fall, they are playing a special, one-night-only show with Fletcher and Maude Latour at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. The band will perform at an array of festivals this summer, hopefully with more to come!
