{"id":474680,"date":"2026-09-24T23:28:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-24T23:28:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/474680\/"},"modified":"2026-09-24T23:28:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T23:28:10","slug":"beck-delivers-a-thrilling-moody-show-at-the-greek-and-a-surprise-encore-daily-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/474680\/","title":{"rendered":"Beck delivers a thrilling \u2018moody show\u2019 at the Greek (and a surprise encore) \u2013 Daily News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Late in the night, as one more fan shouted a request for Beck<\/a>\u2018s first and best-known hit, the Los Angeles singer-songwriter gently teased him and anyone else who\u2019d come to the Greek Theatre on Wednesday, Sept. 23 expecting that version of Beck to be there.<\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t done a show in over 30 years where people aren\u2019t yelling \u2018Loser\u2019,\u201d he said. \u201cGo to my Instagram. I told you what we were doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

This was what Beck<\/a> later described as \u201cour moody show.\u201d With 23 songs across an hour and 45 minutes, it was a thrillingly different kind of Beck concert, mixing the beautiful melancholy of his new album \u201cRide Lonesome\u201d with similar sounds and themes from records such as \u201cSea Change\u201d and \u201cMutations,\u201d a few deep cuts not played for many years, and yes, a few of those fan favorites, too.<\/p>\n

\"Beck<\/p>\n

Beck performs at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles during his Ride Lonesome Tour on Wednesday, September 23, 2026. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"Beck<\/p>\n

Beck performs at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles during his Ride Lonesome Tour on Wednesday, September 23, 2026. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"Beck<\/p>\n

Beck performs at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles during his Ride Lonesome Tour on Wednesday, September 23, 2026. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"Beck<\/p>\n

Beck performs at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles during his Ride Lonesome Tour on Wednesday, September 23, 2026. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"Beck<\/p>\n

Beck performs at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles during his Ride Lonesome Tour on Wednesday, September 23, 2026. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"Beck<\/p>\n

Beck performs at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles during his Ride Lonesome Tour on Wednesday, September 23, 2026. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"Beck<\/p>\n

Beck performs at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles during his Ride Lonesome Tour on Wednesday, September 23, 2026. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"Beck<\/p>\n

Beck performs at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles during his Ride Lonesome Tour on Wednesday, September 23, 2026. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

Show Caption<\/p>\n

1 of 8<\/p>\n

Beck performs at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles during his Ride Lonesome Tour on Wednesday, September 23, 2026. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

Expand<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cRide Lonesome,\u201d which arrived Friday, Sept. 18, is Beck<\/a>\u2018s first album in seven years, a mostly acoustic reflection on love and loss and loneliness, in which hope flickers throughout. Created in the aftermath of his 2021 divorce, it\u2019s seen as the third in a trilogy of similarly personal and introspective albums that began with 2002\u2019s \u201cSea Change\u201d and continued on 2014\u2019s \u201cMorning Phase.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIn the Night,\u201d one of eight songs off the new record in the set, opened the show and quickly established the creative narrative of this tour. Beck appeared, alone in a blue spotlight, a theater flat painted to look like a weathered old farmhouse behind him. As he sang, accompanying himself with finger-picked acoustic guitar, a string section played from the shadow of the wings almost out of sight.<\/p>\n

Stagehands rolled the farmhouse flat into the wings before \u201cThe Golden Age\u201d and \u201cPaper Tiger,\u201d both from \u201cSea Change,\u201d arrived. A dining room table perhaps 40 feet long arrived before the new \u201cFor Your Love,\u201d with Beck singing seated at one end, an empty chair opposite him in the distance.<\/p>\n

This wasn\u2019t a traditional rock show with the band and instruments and amps lined up on stage in the usual manner. Instead, as one song flowed to the next, it revealed itself as a kind of hybrid, mixing songs with theatrical trappings with each set change by the crew who worked silently in the shadows of the stage.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s All in Your Mind\u201d saw Beck, guitarists Jason Falkner and Wayne Foler, and a cellist seated at one side of the stage as the stagehands brought out rectangular panels to create a new setting on the opposite side. \u201cThe New Pollution,\u201d one of three songs off Beck\u2019s breakthrough 1996 \u201cOdelay\u201d album, followed in a slower, sparer arrangement that linked it to the musical vibes it followed.<\/p>\n

After the new \u201cRun Away,\u201d Beck paused to talk about his history with the Greek, how a show there by Antonio Carlos Jobim was his first-ever real concert, how his second concert there was his first time sneaking a view from the bushes beyond its furthest seats.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was in the bushes right up there, right by Tree No. 17,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd the artist that was performing was Neil Young, playing by himself, acoustic, just like this,\u201d Beck continued, playing a little bit of a Young song. \u201cSomething like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve heard him tell the story about the people in the bushes and Tree No. 17 before; but as he continued into a fuller version of Young\u2019s \u201cOld Man,\u201d well, that was an entirely new delight.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow I\u2019m gonna mosey over to my house,\u201d Beck said, walking back to the panels angled behind his band. \u201cIt\u2019s all I can afford in this neighborhood. It\u2019s 150 square feet, but I call it home, and it can fit my whole [bleepin\u2019] band.\u201d<\/p>\n

The audience laughed, and moments later cheered, as Beck and the band, standing like characters in this play, untethered by cords or the usual gear, slide into \u201cCold Brains,\u201d a song off \u201cMutations,\u201d which he\u2019d not played live since 2006.<\/p>\n

With film director Edgar Wright somewhere in the audience, Beck played \u201cRamona,\u201d a song he\u2019d written for Wright\u2019s movie \u201cScott Pilgrim vs. the World,\u201d which he and the band started over after some unnoticeable mistake.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can see the reviews already,\u201d Beck joked. \u201c\u2018Shambolic\u2019 is the word they like to use.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sticking with the Hollywood theme, a cover of the Korgis\u2019 \u201cEverybody\u2019s Got to Learn Sometime,\u201d recorded for the soundtrack of 2004\u2019s \u201cEternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,\u201d followed, Beck singing with both hands in the pants pockets of a vintage suit, tie loosened, shirt unbuttoned, a saloon singer with one more heartache to drown.<\/p>\n

With a wide riser at the back of the stage for Beck and the band, which included Gabe Noel on bass and James McAlister on drums, they dropped into \u201cDevils Haircut,\u201d another of the \u201cOdelay\u201d crowd-pleasers, as clouds of fog glowed ominously in the saturated red lighting.<\/p>\n

A song or two later, Beck paused to riff on public parks, of all things.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, I live near this park, and I\u2019m really happy to have it,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s one of the few parks we have in L.A., and I\u2019d like to take this moment to make my stand for Los Angeles. I mean, I was born here. I grew up here. And I love it, but we have some problems.\u201d<\/p>\n

The problem, admittedly not the biggest, Beck noted, has to do with \u201cthe soul of Los Angeles,\u201d and how it suffers without more public parklands.<\/p>\n

\u201cLook at a map of Los Angeles,\u201d he continued with an apology to his bandmates for going off on this tangent. \u201cSomebody yelled, \u2018Griffith Park.\u2019 I love Griffith Park. It\u2019s a mountain. Every green spot is a golf course. Can we take the golf courses back? OK, that\u2019s my pitch for my mayoral run.\u201d<\/p>\n

The eternally gorgeous heartbreak of \u201cLost Cause\u201d followed, the band now seated on a platform with a faux-campfire glowing orange at their center.<\/p>\n

Other highlights late in the show included \u201cIt Ends Right Here,\u201d another beautifully sad new one, staged with Beck singing directly in an eye-level spotlight at stage left, the band lined up in silhouette behind him, and \u201cRide Lonesome,\u201d the title track of the new record, a brand-new classic with a \u201970s folk rock feel.<\/p>\n

The trickle of concertgoers more interested in beating the traffic than catching the end of the show grew to the point that it caught Beck\u2019s attention on stage. \u201cDon\u2019t leave now, we\u2019re about to play the songs you like,\u201d he joked, and then did just that.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere It\u2019s At,\u201d which took me decades to stop identifying as \u201cTwo Turntables and a Microphone,\u201d and \u201cLoser,\u201d the original Beck hit, followed, with the audience, which stayed seated for most of the mellower, melancholic material, happily rising to dance and sing along to these familiar tunes.<\/p>\n

The encore of Daniel Johnston\u2019s \u201cTrue Love Will Find You in the End\u201d left Beck as we\u2019d found him at the beginning: Alone, but now hopeful for what the future may bring.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

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