THE BEACHES STORM, SWIRL, AND SLAY LONDON’S BRIXTON ACADEMY

LIVE REVIEW | THE BEACHES w/ DEA MATRONA | O2 ACADEMY BRIXTON, LONDON | 18th February 2026 by Morris Shamah

The Beaches, your favourite Canadian power-pop-rock all-girl four-piece band, wrapped up the UK leg of their No Hard Feelings Tour in London at the historic Brixton Academy on Wednesday night. Supported by Dea Matrona, your favourite Northern Irish rock-pop girl duo, it was a night of women crushing the stage.

Dea Matrona, who we’ve previously covered opening for The Corrs at Royal Albert Hall last year and with Music Fishbowl at their Garage headline, are still promoting their excellent debut record, For Your Sins. They continue to rock their opening slots like seasoned headliners, and they remain a band to be paying attention to. Songs like So Damn Dangerous and Stuck On You strike the perfect balance of sultry and rock n’ roll. Live, the duo are filled out by a drummer and guitarist, bringing a full, cutting sound to their set.

The Beaches open their set with a pre-recorded hungover voicenote about a missing sweater and then launch right into the pop banger ‘Last Girls At The Party‘. The final track on their latest album, No Hard Feelings, it’s the obvious opener. Not only is it a high energy, upbeat sing along, it also name drops the album, the tour, and the whole vibe with the chorus line “No hard / Feelings / We’re not / Leaving“. You may say that’s more suited to close the show and, well, you wouldn’t be wrong – they reprise the track and play it again to close out the encore, 90 minutes later.

The main set is an 18 song statement of fun and purpose. Frontwoman and bassist Jordan Miller swirls about like Roger Daltery’s microphone used to, a vortex of energy bringing everyone in to the party with her. Her sister, Kylie Miller, plays guitar stage right, and Leandra Earl, lead guitar and keyboards, stand and struts and poses stage left. Holding everything together is drummer Eliza Enman-McDaniel, who’s backbeat pulses and drives all night long.

Their set impressively covers every single song on No Hard Feelings – something more bands should do, play the damn album you’re promoting – and a further seven from their breakthrough, 2023’s ‘Blame My Ex‘. The older songs – including 2022’s ‘Grow Up Tomorrow‘ – stand out as harder hitting than the current record, but the No Hard Feelings tracks clearly connect with the audience and give the set a chance to breathe, with moments of introspection like ‘Lesbian Of The Year‘, which was played on just keys and vocals, and gave songwriter Leandra and chance to commune with her faithful. An absolutely dead-on cover of ‘Silver Springs‘ by the legendary Fleetwood Mac fits in perfectly, even if Kylie insists they are not a cover band. (They also just released a cover of the 1982 classic ‘I Ran (So Far Away)‘, but that’s neither here nor there.)

The Beaches are, undoubtedly, a band’s band. The four of them own that stage without any touring musicians, overly complicated staging or schtick . They don’t need them – Jordan swirls about possessed, and connects with their fans both emotionally and physically throughout the whole show. For Jocelyn, she prowled the front row to find a suitable fan for a sash. For ‘Did I Say To Much?‘, they brought up someone to tell us – live on stage in front of 4,000 people – about a time when they overshared with someone important (in this case – telling her boyfriend’s parents that he lasts too long in bed). It’s the kind of audience work that makes a good band a great live act, regardless of the stage size, the venue, the city, or any other kind of status symbol, and will keep their fans coming back for more, and more, and more.

The Beaches Setlist

1. Last Girls at the Party
2. Touch Myself
3. Me & Me
4. Cigarette
5. Grow Up Tomorrow
6. Shower Beer
7. Did I Say Too Much
8. Fine, Let’s Get Married
9. Dirty Laundry
10. Can I Call You in the Morning?
11. What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Paranoid
12. Everything Is Boring
13. Silver Springs (Fleetwood Mac cover)
14. Lesbian of the Year
15. Edge of the Earth
16. Jocelyn
17. Takes One to Know One
18. Blame Brett

Encore:

19. I Wore You Better
20. Sorry for Your Loss
21. Last Girls at the Party (Reprise)

About the Author

Morris Shamah

Contributor

Visit Website View All Posts