Show discussion: Beach Bunny, Scarlet Demore @ Crystal Ballroom, Portland, OR 5/26/25
About a month ago Beach Bunny released Tunnel Vision, their third record, which I have listened to on repeat and yet haven't gotten myself to complete a write up for. Earlier this week, luckily, my partner and I caught the Portland date of their current tour, which was a live experience of the album and a deeper look into the band's history.
I had been to Lola's Room, which sits at the second floor of the Crystal Ballroom, but I had never been on the main floor before. The room itself was pretty big, in fact so big I'd say it sort of broke my immersion during sets a bit. Still, it was a beautiful venue, massive chandeliers hung from skylights as well as pretty sprawling murals on the high up parts of the wall. Not to mention the buildings signature bouncy floors! While I did sort of expect a younger crowd I didn't think there would be such a large audience they would have to split the room evenly between twenty-one-plus and not. At first this sort of put off both me and my partner but as the night went on our side of the room filled up and plenty of people our age were singing, dancing and having a good time as well.
The one opener was Scarlet Demore, another Chicago band. I was admittedly a bit disappointed to miss Pool Kids as they, alongside Jayla Kai opened the first leg of the tour but I was pleasantly surprised. I thought the two bands on the bill were a pretty good match in terms of subject matter. Scarlet Demore's set also featured tracks about wicked men and insecurities. Where I think this was a good contrast was Sacrlet's harder edge, fast paced rhythms and a deeper willingness to wear their influences on their sleeve. They were also just enthusiastic and fun performers, it was very clear they like playing shows together. At the moment the band only has about a half an hour of material and I really hope to see them do more soon.
I searched my camera roll for a photo from the first show I caught and didn't recognize the person in it. I started writing again in 2021, just like I said. 2021 was also the first year of my transition. The Boston Beach Bunny show was the first time I wore a dress in public. I also used their music to redefine my taste. Being in the closet is suffocating, for me I always felt like I didn't have permission to enjoy anything. When I heard Honeymoon for the first time I heard a blend of indie rock, power pop, ska, punk, hyper pop and much more, how could I not think there was more out there?
Seeing Beach Bunny a second time was something which meant a lot to me because of how much of a full circle moment it was. The first time was in 2021, their EP from months before was the first music review I had ever written. The only other writing on this page was 2020's year-end write up. This got me back into writing in general. The band themselves had clearly evolved as well in four years' time. Tunnel Vision as a record feels like a path correction sonically and perhaps where Beach Bunny would have been on 2022's Emotional Creature without the pandemic inspiring a concept album. The tracks on Tunnel Vision sound like the sugary sweet sass on Blame Game with the more poised indie styling of Honeymoon and the solo EPs. Nine out of the ten new tracks made the twenty-one song setlist and all of them seemed to go over really well. Of course, I knew about pop anthem like "Big Pink Bubble" would go over in a bigger crowd. I think I even made a joke about a wall of death during "Just Around the Corner" the first time I heard it. They did two!
While all of the new tracks were great setlist pieces, where Beach Bunny strive, and feel the most comfortable, in in their classics. Every time the band played something from Prom Queen or Honeymoon they all sort of lit up and were more willing to improvise. It was nice to see the older songs work, not only with the younger crowd but also with those of us in our thirties and beyond. It's easier to think of this, still, as a newer band but the songs being played on this tour stretch all the way back to 2016. The last time I saw Beach Bunny it was in Boston and, granted, it was pretty much directly post-COVID, but the room was barely full and only half the capacity of this one, which was sold out.
It is something very special for a band to do this tour, on a record they self-released and play to rooms this big. Beach Bunny did have quite a bit of social media fame, but they built it on their terms. It's easy for an artist to explode like this, tour on just the record and give it half their heart. This band played a career spanning set, ninety percent of the record all on a stage set up of the bedroom on their album art made of cardboard and paint. This is what I want for every band, every artist I cover here, to be able to take the image they had to its heights.
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