Band on the Rise: Beach Bunny

Way back in January 2020 when I was checking out bands with upcoming gigs, the band that stood out head and shoulders from the crowd was Beach Bunny.

I immediately bought a ticket for their show at the 100 capacity Gullivers in Manchester that June.

A few weeks later when my father-in-law expressed an interest in going, I checked if there were any tickets left, and sure enough they were.

It was my most anticipated gig of the year, indeed for me they stood out in a way that Skating Polly did when I first heard them in 2019.

Indeed, when the first lockdown was announced, one of my first thoughts were “will the Beach Bunny gig go ahead”.

Unsurprisingly, like every other gig it was sadly postponed until February 2022. By this time Gullivers had sold out, so they upgraded to the 550 Capacity Gorilla.

By the end of last year, all dates on the tour had sold out, so when it was once again postponed, this time to November, the venues were once again upgraded, with the Manchester gig now taking place at the 1,500 capacity O2 Ritz and the London gig upgraded from Electric Ballroom to 2,300 capacity Kentish Town forum – and it looks like tickets are either running low or sold out for most dates.

Indeed Beach Bunny has garnered over a billion streams across their discography (with 25 million views on Prom Queen and counting) and sold over 60,000 tickets since the beginning of lockdown, not to mention getting three consecutive singles on the Alternative radio chart, with “Cloud 9” cracking the top 25 and going RIAA-certified Gold, their second Gold single of 2021 following “Prom Queen.” Honeymoon earned best of the year nods from NY Times to Rolling Stone and saw the band perform on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon. Last year, the band collaborated with Tegan and Sara on a reimagined version of “Cloud 9” and MARINA on “I Love You But I Love Me More.”

Why is their popularity growing so much? I think with any band, it’s a combination of lots of people hearing them (you can’t like a band you haven’t heard) and a high percentage of people who hear them, liking them.

Appearing on the Jimmy Fallon show with a flawless live performance almost certainly helped spread the word in the US

And indeed Bob Odenkirk (Saul Goodman from Better Call Saul) being a fan and appearing in one of their videos (watch to the end) can’t hurt.

But Ultimately, the key reason for their growing success is the music – instantly catchy pop with enough depth to keep the indie crowd on board. In the tradition of bands like The Smiths the bouncy uplifting tunes are often at odds with the sometimes dark lyrics with a serious message.

I suspect on the next tour they will be playing even bigger venues, so if you get the chance to see them on this tour, then you know it makes sense!

2022 Tour

8^th November – London, England O2 Forum Kentish Town
9^th November – Brighton, Concorde
11^th November – Bristol, England SWX Bristol
12^th November – Manchester, England O2 Ritz
14^th November – Belfast, Northern IRE The Empire Music Hall
15^th November – Dublin, Republic of IRE Vicar Street
16^th November – Glasgow, Scotland SWG3