December 13, 2023
Thom Carroll/For PhillyVoice
Kurt Vile was the surprise opening act Tuesday night during Beach House's show at Johnny Brenda's in Philadelphia.
Kurt Vile made a surprise appearance Tuesday during the Beach House concert at Johnny Brenda's.
Over the weekend, Baltimore band Beach House announced a show at Johnny Brenda's, with tickets going on sale day of and featuring a mystery opener. Come showtime, hometown favorite Vile showed up at the venue, which seats 250 people. Phones were barred from the event, so there aren't any videos of the show, but fans took to the internet with their love for the performance.
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Imagine I am front and center at the Beach House JB show last night unaware there is even an opener …. Then KURT VILE starts playing some of my favorite songs ever….. yes I wept by the end of the nite bitch 💋
— beep (@beep32316667) December 12, 2023
beach house special guest tonight is kurt vile oh i feel sick this is my dream show
— ✿emoly✿ (@emhstnd) December 11, 2023
One fan posted the setlist that Vile played, which included "Turtle Island," "Pay No Mind," "Rough Song," "Master of None" and others.
While tickets were sold online, they were not distributed digitally in an effort to avoid reselling. Attendees had to go to will call and match the credit card they used to buy the tickets with an ID to get inside Johhn Brenda's.
"Apologies if this is inconvenient, we are just trying to make sure no scalpers have a merry christmas on our supporter’s hard earned money," the band wrote in an Instagram post.
Shane Savitsky, editor for Axios Philadelphia, attended the show.
"There's nothing quite like knowing a show is going to be legendary while it's happening," he wrote. "The fact that the audience abided by the band's hard 'no phones' rule made it that much more incredible."
Beach House last played Philadelphia in 2022 at The Met.
