Em Beihold @ Neumos – 6/10/2026
Review by Louise Geri, Photos by Kirk Stauffer
Em Beihold, a pop singer who has built an image surrounding mental health since her 2022 hit “Numb Little Bug”, headlined Neumos for her Tales of a Failed Shapeshifter Tour on Wednesday. Decked out in flower crowns and dresses, fans filled the venue with positive energy. Neumos was the most packed I’ve ever seen.
Janani K. Jha, Beihold’s self-proclaimed biggest fan, was the opener. She took the stage smiling alongside her electric guitarist. The two had an incredible onstage dynamic. She told the stories of her songs, including topics of religion, betrayal, and a “situationship” with a guy from Seattle. One song, “Echo”, was co-written with Beihold and discussed cultural appropriation. Jha told a heartfelt story about the origins of the Greek goddess Echo as it related to the topic. Jha performed both acoustic and with full production. At the end of her set, her guitarist filmed a video of the crowd, telling everyone to go “as crazy as possible”.
When Em Beihold took the stage, her demeanor was comical as she smiled while playing keyboard singing the sad lyrics of “Scared of the Dark”. She had a similar tone to that of jazz-pop singer Laufey. At the end of the bridge, she made a grand first impression on the audience, ordering everyone to scream before launching into the final chorus.
As her set progressed through “Brutus”, the crowd could take note of a band member who would rotate, throughout the show, between violin and acoustic and electric guitar. Adding the orchestral instrument live instead of keeping it in a backing track brought the songs to life in a way that’s not often heard in smaller venues.
Beihold flitted around in a corset tank top with bows on the straps and a black-and-white polka dotted skirt. She teased the audience while introducing “Shiny Little Things”, first pretending she was about to sing the hit “Numb Little Bug”. She shifted into a minor key with “Van Gogh”. Then, she launched into “Medicine” by pulling out a pill bottle onstage. She crouched to the crowd’s level, having fans sing lines. As I filmed the song, I got so distracted by her contagious energy that when I remembered I was filming and looked back at my phone, the stage wasn’t even in the frame.
The crowd energy relaxed for “Exorcism”. The song ended in Beihold screaming and lowering herself to the stage floor. After the song, she told the dads of the crowd to “smile a little more”. Ironically, there was a substantial number of happy looking fathers in attendance compared to the average female-fronted concert I attend. She then warned the crowd that “something that happens toward the end of the tour is I get the coughs… my band plays emergency bluegrass [when that happens.]”
The audience was alive during “Unicorn” as rainbow lights shone. Beihold put her hands in her hair during corresponding lines and danced exuberantly. She informed the crowd afterward that “Unicorn” is tiring for her to sing; hence it makes her hungry. This was a perfect segue into “Soup!” She preluded “God”, from her 2022 record Egg in the Backseat, asking if any members of the crowd had been led on. She seemed disappointed that more people hadn’t been. Nonetheless, everyone screamed along to the song.
Beihold gave the crowd the chance to assert their opinions, asking if they’d rather hear “Groundhog Day” or “City of Angels”. The latter won by a landslide, with deafening cheers. She laughed, “Every crowd picks ‘City of Angels’.” Despite the positive energy of choosing between songs, the performance, during which Beihold sat at the keyboard, was the most low-energy part of the show.
Ironically to Beihold’s prior statement, dads in the back of the venue turned on their phone flashlights and swayed as Beihold sang her popular duet remix of Stephen Sanchez’s “Until I Found You”. A loving voice memo played at the start of the following song, the more synth heavy “Won’t Let Go”. Lights over the stage turned a cheerful yellow for “Lottery”.
Disappointed in her lack of coughing fits that night, Beihold prompted her band to play “emergency bluegrass” anyway. The crowd clapped to the beat as the fiddler owned the stage. Interestingly, despite drums not being a prominent instrument in bluegrass, the drummer played.
Beihold shouted out “all the hot goblins” as she launched into the likewise titled “Hot Goblin”. She used a goblin stuffie from a fan as a prop. Before the final chorus, she jokingly asked the crowd, “Do you guys think I should sing half a key up?” before doing just that.
She returned to the stage for the encore to play “Numb Little Bug”. If the crowd was alive earlier in the show, they gave “alive” a new meaning now. Beihold held up a hand heart and fans reciprocated before she left the stage.
The Tales of a Failed Shapeshifter Tour is near its end, coming to a close at the esteemed Troubadour venue in LA on Monday.
Em Beihold – Photos by Kirk Stauffer
Janani K. Jha – Photos by Kirk Stauffer
