Photos and a review of The Beaches in Ottawa

[Laura Collins shot the photos, Karen Coughtrey provided the words. – AC]

The cold rainy weather did nothing to stop the legions of fans who were ready for a Ladies’ Night as the Beaches, with opening guests Valley, brought their No Hard Feelings tour to TD Place in Ottawa, Wednesday (Nov 5th 2025.)

Valley opened the night with ‘Bass Player’s Brother’ to a sizable and growing dominantly female crowd. They spoke little between songs moving straight into ‘Water The Flowers, Pray For A Garden’ and then ‘Growing (Apart)’.

They thanked the crowd over and over throughout their set for coming out early, spoke of a close friendship and great tour experience with headliners and fellow Torontonians The Beaches and the set included a cover of MGMT’s ‘Kids.’

Drummer, Karah James, took over the mic near the end of the set asking the crowd if anyone was experiencing a heartbreak moment (particularly a gay heartbreak moment) dedicating unreleased song ‘Baby Is A Cowboy’ to those who related.

They asked for audience help on ‘Bop Ba’ before ending with ‘When You Know Someone.’

Headliners The Beaches, took the stage to massive cheers after an avant garde video and recorded voice mail (with audio typed out on screen) a theme or gimmick that would continue as intros to songs all night, leaving little to the imagination as to the inspiration or meaning behind their lyrics. They began as they would end with ‘Last Girls At The Party’ and then straight into ‘Touch Myself’ and ‘Me and Me.’

The band has a unique close chemistry and retro girl power vibe. They are incredibly open and vulnerable and lead singer Jordan really brings a sexy intimate energy, often twirling her way around the stage.

Every song had a story behind it, including relationship advice (ex. don’t text your ex) or catchy intro and before playing ‘Did I Say Too Much’ they offered a fan the chance to come on stage and share a story of oversharing. Emma was the winner this night and shared a story of dishing the details to her friends of experimenting with her sexuality, to the delight of both the band and the crowd, although she kept the juicy details to herself in this retelling.

The band spoke often of their history of performances in Ottawa. Marvelling how far they’ve come and excited to be headlining an arena in the city for the first time and declaring that Ottawa was one of the first cities outside of their hometown of Toronto to embrace them.

They are clearly grateful to their Canadian fans despite doors being open to them to now tour the world and they included a special medley of their older hits, just for the Canadian cities on this current tour which included ‘T-Shirt,’ ‘Fascination,’ ‘Blow Up,’ ‘Give It Up,’ ‘Lame’ and ‘Money.’

The Beaches are obviously a band made up of friends who see themselves as equals and they would share the mic between songs taking turns adding and sharing personal anecdotes. Keyboardist Leandra Earl had one of the most memorable moments of the night as she spoke about coming out, the support she’s received and dedicated ‘Lesbian Of The Year’ to her cousin Frank a song (a true ally she would call him) which she performed alone with Jordan and had the crowd illuminating the arena with their phone flashlights.

The stage set up was simple but intriguing. Featuring the expected large text of the band name it was held up by a chair rail of sorts, made up of panels and vertical strip lights they would use to great effect throughout the show, including creating a very cool thunderstorm rain effect for ‘Everything Is Boring.’

Before ending the main set with their two most recent hits ‘Takes One to Know One’ and ‘Blame Brett,’ Jordan donned a beauty pageant sash adorned with the name Jocelyn and descended into the crowd in search of the night’s Jocelyn. She found the woman behind a The Beaches fan account, who gave the singer a bouquet of flowers and Jordan would also take the time to hug a fan, making a birthday wish come true according to the sign they were holding.

It may have been a cold rainy school night but the fans were not leaving before an encore and the band ended the night with ‘I Wore You Better,’ ‘Sorry For Your Loss,’ and a very fitting reprise of ‘Last Girls At The Party.’

The Beaches
Jordan Miller – lead vocals, bass guitar
Kylie Miller – guitar, backing vocals
Eliza Enman-McDaniel – drums, backing vocals
Leandra Earl – guitar, keyboards, backing vocals, bass guitar

Valley
Rob Laska – lead vocals, guitar
Alex Dimauro – bass, keyboard, backing vocals
Karah James – drums, guitar, backing and lead vocals
Feurd (touring) – guitar, drums, keyboard, piano, backing vocals