I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: December 6, 2025] Phoebe Rings

I hadn’t heard of Phoebe Rings and then I found out that she (I now know that Phoebe Rings is a band name and no one in the band is named that) was opening for The Beths on Saturday and Sunday and opening for Speedy Ortiz on Monday.

The Beths and Phoebe Rings are from New Zealand and, it turns out that Phoebe Rings and Speedy Ortiz are on the same record label.

Phoebe Rings began as the solo project of musician Crystal Choi, and is now a four-piece made of jazz students (guitarist Simeon Kavanagh-Vincent, bassist Benjamin Locke and drummer Alex Freer).

We arrived and had ADA seats.  Then we laughed as the tallest person in the room stood in front of us.  We could still see just fine, but it was hilarious how much taller he was than everyone else.

Phoebe Rings was delightful.  They are described as dream pop but they were a bit more like jazz pop.  I’d even go so far as to say they were like lounge music.  There was an early Stereolab vibe musically (not lyrically).

Crystal has a lovely voice and her band sounded great.  They were also very charming and funny.  It was their first time in America so it was also their first time in Philly.  During Drifting everyone played a maraca which was fun to see. Later in the show there was a perfectly executed maraca toss from Benjamin to Simeon (you can see a video of this toss from the following night at Breakfast and Travel Updates, my favorite named website of a musician (Beths bassist Benjamin Sinclair).

Crystal was also really excited to see that the Union Transfer cloakroom is named after Michelle Zauner of Japanese Breakfast.  They recently opened for Japanese Breakfast in New Zealand.  She told a funny story of her mother (they are Korean as is Zauner) coming backstage and saying Hello to Michelle and then PICTURE??

Their final song is about a cat, awww.

They were really delightful and the crowd was totally into them.  I would have liked to see them again on Monday night, but I decided to stay home instead.

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