Last night on the first day of the last month of summer (August 1), Beck and Phoenix kicked off their highly anticipated Summer Odyssey tour at the Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, Washington. This co-headlining tour also features some premier choices for opening acts with Jenny Lewis and Sir Chole stepping out in the Evergreen State for an unforgettable lineup. While Beck hasn’t released a full LP since his electro-funk Hyperspace LP in 2019, Phoenix is hitting the road in support of their terrific 2022 album, Alpha Zulu. The two headliners also released the collaborative single “Odyssey” a few weeks ago while Lewis is bringing her outstanding Joy’all LP to life this go around. This tour will have the artists traversing the States until early September and if the rest of the tour looks as good as night one did, tickets are going to be moving fast.
The acts wasted no time jumping into things at the 18,300-capacity arena. Sir Chole and Jenny Lewis split the opening acts with setlists that packed a world of color in their time on stage. Lewis has no shortage of classics to pull from and despite her latest LP only being a few months old, she balanced nostalgia and the present on this setlist. Along with a cover of Girls’ “Lust For Life”, Lewis reached as far back as her ‘08 LP for a performance of the stand-out “See Fernando”. Lewis performed “Puppy and a Truck”, “Psychos”, and the title track from her aforementioned Joy’all LP while the rest of her night was split up between her two stand-out albums, 2014’s Voyager and 2019’s On The Line. Sir Chloe, who recently released their major label debut I Am The Dog performed the title track from her new LP along with fan favorites from their 2020 Party Favor project.
Phoenix did a fantastic job of splitting up their time on stage between their stone-cold classics and fresh tracks. The band delighted fans by not being selfish with selections from their 2009 classic Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, performing standouts like “1901”, “Lisztomania”, and “Lasso”. Phoenix also reached into last year’s Alpha Zulu with selections like “Tonight”, “After Midnight”, and “Winter Solstice”. Phoenix reached all the way back to their 1990 debut United to perform “If I Ever Feel Better” only to bring it back to modern times by playing “Entertainment” and “Trying to be Cool” from their acclaimed 2013 LP Bankrupt! The rest of their setlist traversed their colorful discography and just about touched on every moment from their discography.
Watching Beck cycle through his own discography to piece together this career-spanning setlist must’ve been a show in itself. The virtuoso tackled everything from global hits like “Loser” and “Wow” while his 2005 LP Guero got more love than the rest. Beck pulled “Black Tamborine”, “E-Pro” and more from the ‘05 release only to bring it all the way back to 1996 by performing some select cuts from his cult classic Odelay. Beck also spent a fair share of time performing tracks from his 1999 album Midnite Vultures with “Sexx Laws” and “Cigarettes and Gravy” standing out above the rest. The night capped off with Beck welcoming the whole line-up out on stage for a performance of the brand new collab single “Odyssey”.
While the summer flew by too fast, Beck and Phoenix are just starting their summer shenanigans. The Summer Odyssey tour will cycle through the two openers along with bringing Japanese Breakfast and Weyes Blood to a few dates. Next up the tour will make a stop in Bend, OR before heading over to California for shows in Concord, Inglewood, and San Diego. You can check out the full list of dates, setlists, and footage from last night’s stop in Seattle below.
One Response
Wow, just wow, get your tickets to this show if it is coming your way. Amazing performances and visually stunning as well, wear your dancing shoes!