On a cool November evening, The Beaches made a triumphant return to Halifax and The Scotiabank Centre, a room the band is more than familiar with, having played on its stages a handful of times. The first time the band played Halifax back in January of 2018, they found themselves on that very same stage, opening up the show for July Talk and Matt Mays (who was enjoying his first Scotiabank headlining show). Later that same year, the band returned to Halifax twice over the next 9 months, first to headline their own show at The Seahorse Tavern (2037 Gottingen). The room was jammed with a legion of fans who wanted to hear those Late Show tracks in person. So in less than a decade, the band went from performing for a packed Seahorse crowd to a nearly sold-out crowd at the biggest barn in town. Later that year, the band returned to play Dalhousie University’s frosh week on the Quad, where The Beaches would co-headline alongside The Glorious Sons (fronted by Brett Emmons).
The Beaches playing The Seahorse Tavern back in 2018
The band’s trajectory wasn’t a linear one either; having toured Late Show relentlessly, the band garnered their first Juno win for Breakthrough Group of the Year. In the years that followed, the band continued to hone its craft and proceeded to release 3 EPs between 2019 and 2022 (The Professional, Future Lovers and End of Summer). Of those 3 EPs, radio continued to gravitate towards the band’s infectious pop-infused indie-rock tunes and tracks such as “Fascination”, “Want What You Got”, “Lame”, and “Grow Up Tomorrow” became rock radio staples. Even with The Beaches’ growing ubiquity, the band hit a rocky patch as both their Canadian and American labels dropped them, and the band went on to split from their management team. With all of that going on, Jordan Miller (the band’s primary songwriter) was going through a breakup of her own after spending 3 years with Brett Emmons (yes, “Blame Brett”’s namesake). It would have been easy for the band to pack it in, but that is not The Beaches’ style, so they dusted themselves off and opted to move forward as an independent act.
The Beaches opening for Avril in 2022.
In 2023, “Blame Brett” hit the airwaves and propelled the band into rarefied air and starting them on the path to stardom. Shortly after “Blame Brett” was released, the band’s first full-length independent album, Blame My Ex, was released, and with it came another pair of powerhouse singles, “What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Paranoid” and the shimmery “Edge of the Earth”. The band continued to tour relentlessly and was tapped to support Avril Lavigne on her 2022 Bite Me tour (where they would play the Scotiabank Centre stage), and the band then embarked on its own headlining tour in 2023, which included a pair of Halifax dates at the Light House Arts Centre.
In the almost two years that followed the “Blame My Ex” tour, the band’s US following began to grow exponentially as rock radio south of the border discovered The Beaches through “Blame Brett”, and TikTok latched on to the song and kickstarted its virality. Jordan, Kylie, Eliza and Leandra were even featured on Late Night TV thanks to Jimmy Kimmel, where the band made their US TV debut. They returned in 2024 to perform “Can I Call You In the Morning” to promote their latest full-length album, No Hard Feelings. The band continues to grind as they just wrapped this 38-date tour on the East Coast in Halifax and Moncton.
Being so close to the end of the tour, it’s no surprise that Jordan and co. were fending off an illness or two when the band rolled into Halifax, and the show must go on. Had the outspoken lead singer of the band not informed us of her ailment, we may not have been the wiser. As this tour was titled No Hard Feelings (much like the album), it should not come as a surprise that the set included all 11 tracks from the record, with “Last Girls at the Party” serving as bookends for the night. When the band closed out the encore with “Last Girls at the Party”, the band’s supporting act Valley came out to join in the festivities. The other lion’s share of the set was dedicated to Blame my Ex tunes, but in a tip of the cap to Canada, the band included a medley of songs from the band’s early years including “T-Shirt”, “Fascination”, “Lame” and “Money”. That portion of the set really reminded the patrons just how good the Late Show tunes really were.
For a band that got its start in Halifax on this stage, it was fantastic to see them return and absolutely crush their performance (even if they weren’t at 100%). It was apparent that the love the city has for The Beaches was completely mutual, to a point that you would think The Beaches were originally based here in the Maritimes. While they may be born upper-Canadians, they are definitely honourary Haligonians who have come a long way from that sold-out Seahorse show, and have a long and storied road ahead of them. You can be assured that we will be there whenever then band opts to return East.
