The Beths
Bowery Ballroom
New York, NY
August 25, 2025

AT-853 omni mics (low-sens mod) > SPSB10 battery box > PCM-A10 > WAV 48/24 > Sound Studio (EQ, light dynamic compression, tracking) > FLAC > Tag > FLAC

Recorded and mastered by neil d

01 recorder lesson
02 intro
03 Straight Line Was a Lie
04 No Joy
05 Silence Is Golden
06 Future Me Hates Me
07 Metal
08 Til My Heart Stops
09 band intros and happy birthday to Tristan
10 Mother, Pray for Me
11 Knees Deep
12 Uptown Girl
13 Ark of the Covenant
14 Mosquitoes
15 Roundabout
16 Jump Rope Gazers
17 Best Laid Plans
18 Little Death
19 I'm Not Getting Excited
20 Expert in a Dying Field
21 Take

Elizabeth Stokes - vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar
Jonathan Pearce - electric guitar, backing vocals
Benjamin Sinclair - bass, backing vocals
Tristan Deck - drums, backing vocals

To kick off the world tour for their new album "Straight Line Was a Lie," Auckland's Beths first scheduled two smaller "record release" shows in New York and Los Angeles. This was the first of those two, hence Liz Stokes' remark that this was the first time they were playing most of these songs live. (Which isn't why the first song opens with a false start — listen to the album for elucidation.)

For the occasion, the band handed out blue recorders — the wind instrument, not the taping device — to everyone in the crowd, then the entire band (sans Liz, but plus the comedy opener) instructed us in how to play them during the instrumental bridge in "No Joy." The results were surprisingly not awful! Attempts to ad-lib recorder accompaniment on singing happy birthday to Tristan Deck went not nearly as well.

The Bowery Ballroom has tremendous sound from nearly everywhere in the room, and this was recorded from the balcony, meaning crowd chatter is at a minimum. Enjoy, and by all means buy all of the Beths' albums at https://thebethsnz.bandcamp.com/, there are only four of them and they are all highly recommended.