Ride Lonesome Tour
Greek Theater – September 23, 2026
By now, dear reader, you know what a fan I am of Beck. I have seen him at giant venues like SoFi stadium and tiny venues like The Lodge Room. I saw him once at the Hollywood Bowl this summer (Wes Anderson night) and had a ticket to see him a second time at Dudamel’s Concert For Venezuela. I unfortunately had to miss that one, but was at least able to watch the livestream. He announced this tour about the same time as he dropped the single for Ride Lonesome, so I knew we’d be getting sad Beck for this one. When I mentioned that tickets were dropping, my friend (a different friend than usual because my Beck buddies keep moving away!) said she wanted to go – even after I warned her we’d be seeing sad Beck and tempering it with “he will still do Loser, he ALWAYS does Loser.” I scored section B center tickets using the artist presale code, which is better than I usually get for the Greek. To my happy surprise she venmoed me for both tickets with a “happy early/late birthday” message. What a wonderful gift!
The Ride Lonesome album dropped on September 18, and even before the album dropped Beck had been releasing songs. All good and all very, very sad. I was joking with one of my moved-away buddies that I just wanted to give Beck a hug and tell him everything is going to be okay.
I normally pay the $10 and park in the pony lot to shuttle over to the Greek. Usually at the end of the night as we’re waiting and waiting and waiting to get onto a shuttle to go back, we swear that we are never doing that again, but last time it was smooth and easy. So I think they fixed it. Since my friend was treating me for my early/late birthday, we decided to take a Lyft. Just around the time she was supposed to arrive to pick me up, she called to say her kid might have appendicitis, but his dad was on the way over to take him to the ER so we could still go to the show. Yikes! She worried all the way there as any parent would, but was a trooper. We completely missed the opening act, but we did manage to get there well before Beck went on. When we got there, she surprised me with much closer seats. We were maybe 4 rows back. It was insane! I started telling her about when we got the subscription to the Bowl just so we could get good seats to the Beck concert and we turned out to be sitting in front of Haley Joel Osment, which I found out because the blurry back of my head was in his IG story which Beck re-shared. As I’m telling her this, she’s motioning in front of us and going, “Do you see that man right there?” I looked and it was Haley Joel Osment! He was sitting one row up and 2 seats over from us. Lol. I asked her if I should say something and she said I should totally say something. So I tapped him on the shoulder. He had the look on his face of someone who has heard “I see dead people” more times than anyone should ever have to hear in one lifetime as he turned around but then I explained that I just had to tell him that I was in front of him at the Bowl and the blurry back of my head was in his story. He broke into a big smile and we had a conversation about how great that show was and how great this show was going to be. A little later I decided I should have asked for a selfie, but that moment was gone. Maybe I’ll see him at another Beck show some time and I can ask for a selfie then.
As Beck had been teasing on Instagram, this show was staged – with set changes! There was a house facade onstage. The lights dimmed and we had Beck on stage with his guitar spotlit in blue in front of the house opening the show with In The Night. The stage crew quickly rolled the house off and there was the band -including a string section – with Beck for The Golden Age lit in red and orange and a fogged stage. They immediately rolled into Paper Tiger. I was amused to see the fog machine continuously belching fog at the poor cello player. He looked disconcerted and none too happy about it. Every time Beck turned in my direction, my friend would nudge me and go, “Look! He’s singing to you!”
Next came another set change during which Beck told us that we would be hearing songs from the new record, Sea Change and Morning Phase and he had many of the same musicians. Beck took his place in a chair facing an empty chair at the other end of a long table and sang For Your Love. It was heartbreaking. The lights went out for a moment and then the band was on stage for Bleed. Another set change for Slow Canyon and we had the band arranged in little circles of light all facing the same direction, which was pretty much in my direction. Now it really did feel like he was singing directly to me! Next up was the band all huddled around Beck for It’s All In Your Mind. Justin played cello for that one. It was lovely.
Another set change. Justin switched to upright bass and we had the coolest stripped down funky version of New Pollution. Beck still did a little bit of the New Pollution dance because I’m sure he couldn’t help himself. No tambourine at the end though. No set change for Run Away, but they had projections for New Pollution and changed them for Run Away.
As we segued into the next song, Beck told us that his first real concert was at the Greek and he saw Jobim – totally missed opportunity to play Tropicalia – and then the second concert he didn’t have a ticket for so he sat up in the bushes and listened to Neil Young, which then did lead into Old Man (for which Beck won a Grammy a few years back). He moved back to where the rest of the band was set up and played Cold Brains. Yay! Stuff from Mutations!! Edgar Wright was in the audience, so Beck did Ramona and then onto Everybody’s Got to Learn Sometime. Another set change and the band was on a riser at the rear of the stage for Devil’s Haircut. And then Soldier Jane – another oldie and this one from The Information.
It was about this time that my friend got the text that it was indeed appendicitis and she was debating whether to stay for the end of the show or go be with her very sick son.
Back to Mutations with Nobody’s Fault But My Own. I was so happy! Justin played sitar for this one. They reset the stage to represent the band sitting around a campfire and projected stars behind them as they played Lost Cause. Back to the new album with Disappearing Act then a set change for It Ends Right Here.
During Ride Lonesome, my friend decided she couldn’t stay any longer. I assured her that I’m a grown ass woman and I could make my own way home and sent her on her way. She was on her way out when he started Where It’s At, so at least she heard a little of that. The show of course ended with Loser as it always does and as he hinted before Where It’s At when he said, “Don’t leave yet, we’re about to do the songs you like.”
The encore was True Love Will Find You In The End – just Beck and his guitar. I feel like it was his way of leaving us with a little hope after all the heart wrenching Ride Lonesome songs and was a lovely way to end the evening.
And then the fun began. I could not get a signal all night. Nothing. I was on SOS. There was no wifi available. I made my way down the hill to the rideshare lot and still had nothing. I asked someone if I was at the rideshare lot and said I couldn’t get a signal. He asked, “T-Mobile? Me too. Nothing.” His date had Verizon, so he was getting home. So I followed the 600 other people down the hill to Vermont. At some point I saw a DASH bus go by and thought to myself I could’ve just taken the bus to the train station. But eventually I got a bar. I called my husband but he didn’t answer, so I kept walking. There is a gas station at Los Feliz and Vermont that seems to be the rideshare hub for folks with T Mobile. I was able to book a Lyft from there. I have to say, even by myself in the dark, I never felt unsafe. There were just too many people around. I got into my Lyft and he was playing – get this – Italian Deep House music. It was strangely cool. The ride home was quick and uneventful. I think it took me longer to walk down the hill to Los Feliz than it took me to get home once I was in the Lyft.
All in all it was a fantastic show. It really was everything I’d hoped it would be and more. There were a few little mistakes, but it was only the second show of the tour. I’m sure they have everything worked out by now. And the new album really is great. I’ve been listening to it on repeat.