I was lucky enough to see indie pop band Beach Bunny play live at Great Scott in Boston last week. Despite the heartbroken nature of their songs, they radiate positive energy and really know how to hype up a crowd. They’d been watching the show from the sidelines all night and stepped on stage and without saying a word, bursting into a cheery melody.
“Let’s go back,
Let’s go back to the start
Let’s begin at the end
When you tore me apart”
As soon as the lyrics hit, Beach Bunny wasted no time to break our hearts. I find it ironic how happy the crowd is when the music is so sad. Singer Lili Trifilio recognizes this and likes to keep the show upbeat, cracking jokes in between songs. The crowd was dancing the second they got on stage and didn’t stop until the set was over. It is clear that the band feeds off the energy of the crowd and vice versa.
Halfway through the set, Lili mentioned that the song they were about to play was fun to play in Canada, though it “didn’t apply to them”. Confused, the crowd silently waited for what was coming next. Then, we heard the opening riffs to Miley Cyrus’ “Party in the USA”. Screaming the words to a childhood classic was the most fun I’ve had at a show in a long time. They also played a few new songs from their upcoming album Honeymoon, set to be released in February. Though the songs were unfamiliar to the audience, they had the perfect Beach Bunny
sound and fit right in with the set, which featured some more popular songs like “Prom Queen” and “Sports”.
The most surprising moment of the show for me was during the last song “Painkiller”. Prefacing the song with “This is the one you kill each other to”, the crowd knew it was time to go crazy. Alone, that’s a surprising thing to hear from an indie pop band who mainly sings about boys and a broken heart. Halfway through the song, the band stopped and asked us if we’d be willing to try something fun. They instructed the crowd to split in half, leaving a space down the middle, and everyone knew what to do next. The beat picked up and everyone crashed into each other.
I’ve seen a “wall of death” at metal shows before, but never at an indie show like this.
“Take me to the hospital
I need Paracetamol
Tramadol, Ketamine
I just need some pain relief”
Softly, these lines followed the intense moment. Everyone was singing along, and you could feel the energy in the air. There was a strong sense of community that I haven’t felt at a show in years. The band’s banter, the crowd’s excitement and the energetic music, of course, all came together perfectly. I left the show a sweaty, happy mess and I couldn’t have asked for more. If you have a chance to catch Beach Bunny on the Goodbye Summer Tour, it’s not something you’d want to miss out on.
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